Lifetime Achievement Award 2021
– Mr Abdul Sultan FRCOG
Mr Abdul Sultan FRCOG – nominated by Miss Bini Ajay 2021
Abdul graduated in South Africa and came to England in 1984. He completed his postgraduate training at St George’s Hospital with Professor Stuart Stanton.
His research at St Mark’s and The Homerton Hospital involved studying the effects of childbirth on the anal sphincters. His pioneering work introduced a new classification of perineal trauma, now adopted globally. This also led to a landmark paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine and to his Doctorate. He highlighted the deficiencies in training of doctors and midwives in detecting and repairing obstetric third-degree tears.
He became Consultant Obstetrician and Urogynaecologist at Croydon University Hospital and, along with Miss Ranee Thakar, he established the Croydon Urogynaecology and Pelvic Floor Reconstruction Unit. He set up the first multidisciplinary Combined Pelvic Floor Clinic and performed complex pelvic floor surgeries. He also introduced endoanal ultrasound and manometry investigations for faecal incontinence and anorectal fistulae and created a referral centre.
He is an Honorary Reader at St George’s University in London and co-director of a tertiary referral Urogynaecology Unit at Croydon University Hospital, along with subspecialty training and an active research programme.
Abdul has over 200 publications in journals and textbook chapters. He also co-produced the first comprehensive textbook on Perineal and Anal-Sphincter Trauma and a new textbook on Pelvic Floor Disorders. He is the co-director of the popular International Perineal Trauma and Pelvic Floor Ultrasound courses. To date, he has conducted 104 hands-on courses in Croydon and 82 internationally (training more than 8000 doctors). He has also carried out voluntary work in low resource countries.
His committee positions in Croydon include: Drugs & Therapeutics, Medicines Management, Osteoporosis Screening, Theatre Executive, Vice Chair Research & Development, Clinical Excellence Awards and Gynaecology Risk Management. He was also a Trust Consultant Appraiser, Lead Consultant for Gynaecology and facilitator of Practice Based Commissioning. He has been actively involved in introducing joint pathways for primary and secondary care to improve the patient journey that Croydon patients benefit from, including the seamless pathways in urogynaecology and in the management of obstetric related perineal trauma.
In recognition of this work, following an open competition involving all specialities in the UK, The Croydon Urogynaecology Team was awarded the UK Hospital Doctor Continence Team of the Year. Abdul was also awarded the prestigious overall “UK Hospital Doctor of the Year”.
He is a past President of the Royal Society of Medicine (O&G) and also a past President of the Croydon Medical Society. He is definitely a worthy winner of this prestigious award and I am delighted to be able to nominate him.
