Akira Wiberg

I read medicine at Merton College, Oxford, where I was a Postmaster (senior scholar), and was awarded the Martin Wronker Prize for taking the top First in my year at Oxford University in the Medical Sciences BA degree. After qualifying as a doctor, I completed the Academic Foundation Programme in Oxford. Following a short stint as a visiting research scholar at UCLA, I undertook my Core Surgical Training in London, and started my higher surgical training in Plastic Surgery in the Severn Deanery in 2013. I was awarded a MRC Clinical Research Training Fellowship to take three years out from my specialty training to pursue research towards a DPhil at Oxford, which I started in 2016. 

Within Plastic Surgery, I am particularly interested in hand surgery, peripheral nerve surgery and upper limb reconstruction. The aim of my research is to understand the genetic basis of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, and ultimately to shed light on the pathophysiology of nerve injury through compression. To this end, I am undertaking a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, in conjunction with functional experiments in human tissues collected at the time of carpal tunnel surgery. My supervisors are Professor Dominic Furniss at NDORMS and Professor David Bennett at NDCN.

Alongside my DPhil, I undertake some clinical work as an honorary Specialty Registrar in Plastic Surgery at Oxford University Hospitals. I am also a Stipendiary Lecturer in Human Anatomy at Merton College, and give tutorials to first year medical undergraduates.