Prof. dr. Sir Alfred Cuschieri
Born September 30, 1938 in Sliema, Malta, Sir Alfred Cuschieri graduated with
honors from the Malta Medical School of the Royal University in 1961. He began his
started in academic career in Liverpool in 1963, where he was lecturer in surgery
from 1968-70, senior lecturer from 1970-74, reader from 1974-76 and then continued
at the University of Dundee beginning in 1976, where he rose to Professor and Head
of the Academic Department of Surgery and Molecular Oncology at Ninewells
Hospital and Medical School in Dundee. At the present time, he is part-time
Professor of Surgery at the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa and Chief Scientific
Advisor to the Institute of Medical Science and Technology (IMSaT) in Dundee. He
also holds honorary professorship at the University of St Andrews, Imperial College
of London and several European and North American Universities.
Sir Alfred has contributed, as author or editor, to scores of medical or allied sciences
books and chapters, and to more than 530 original articles in major peer review
journals and holds some 50 patents for medical devices and instruments.
Sir Alfred’s primary interests were first in upper gastrointestinal (esophagus, stomach,
biliary, hepatic and pancreatic) surgery, but is best known today as a pioneer in the
development of minimal access (MA) surgery. He has been instrumental to the wide
diffusion of MA surgery through his seminal research in ergonomics and clinical
evaluation and is responsible for the development of several techniques and MA
instruments in use today.
Unfatiguable, among his long list of merits, he has earned several prizes and
scholarships since the 1961 Moynihan prize/ medal from the Association of Surgeons
of Great Britain & Ireland including the Gold Medal of the Royal College of Surgeons
of Edinburgh, the SAGES outstanding achievement award, Gimbernet’s prize from
the Catalonian Surgical Society, as well as the Queen’s award for higher and
continued education. He is Honorary member/fellow of several National and
International Societies including the Society of American Gastrointestinal Endoscopic
Surgery (SAGES), International Society of Surgery/ Société Internationale de
Chirurgie, Society of Surgery for the Alimentary Tract (SSAT), Society of University
Surgeons, Italian Surgical Society, Spanish Association of Surgeons, Indian
Association of Endoscopic Surgeons, Academy of Science, Royal Society of
Edinburgh, American College of Surgeons and the American Surgical Association.
He has held several national (UK) and international appointments, including
President of the British Association of Surgical Oncology, 1984 -1986, International
Hepatobiliary pancreatic association, 1992-3, and the European Association of
Endoscopic Surgeons, 1995-1997.
He holds several visiting professorships at universities world-wide, including the
Universities of California, Utah, and New York in the United States, Dublin, Ireland,
Hong Kong, Cape Town, Pisa, and Bologna in Italy. He is examiner in surgery at a
number of universities in UK and Europe.
He was knighted by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth in 1998.
Sir Alfred Cuschieri has trained and mentored several outstanding surgeons, world
reknown in their own right, including George Hanna, current chief of Surgery at the
Imperial College of London, Scott-Connor, Andreas Melzer, head of
His research interests include minimal access therapy and endoscopic surgery,
nanotechnology and micro-robotics, ergonomics, and virtual/augmented reality
systems for skills training.
Sir Alfred has held several editorial appointments, including editor of Journal of the
Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, 1987 – 1997, Seminars in Laparoscopic
Surgery 1993, and European Editor-in-Chief of Surgical Endoscopy Surgical
Endoscopy, 1992 to present, Alfred Cuschieri serves on the Editorial Board of 10
other peer review journals.