Akira Wiberg

I studied medicine at Merton College, Oxford, where I was a Postmaster (senior scholar), and was awarded the Martin Wronker Prize for finishing top of my year at Oxford University in the Medical Sciences BA degree. After obtaining my medical qualification, I completed the Academic Foundation Programme in Oxford followed by Core Surgical Training in London, plastic surgery training in the South West and Thames Valley Deaneries, and a post-CCT Fellowship in peripheral nerve surgery at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Stanmore and the Cleveland Clinic, London. 

I was an MRC Clinical Research Training Fellow from 2016-19 and undertook my DPhil (PhD) under the supervision of Prof Dominic Furniss and Prof David Bennett at Oxford. My thesis delineated the genetic architecture of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), a very common and disabling hand disease caused by compression of the median nerve in the hand. 

I was appointed as NIHR Clinical Lecturer in Plastic Surgery in Oxford in 2020, and I was awarded a Versus Arthritis Career Development Fellowship in 2024. As a surgeon-scientist, I split my time between the hospital and the laboratory. My clinical interest is in peripheral nerve surgery and surgery for chronic headaches, and my closely related research theme is translational at its core. I use genomic, molecular biology, and experimental medicine techniques in "bench-to-bedside" research that has the ultimate goal of improving clinical outcomes for people with CTS and related types of nerve injury. This includes:

- Elucidating the pathological mechanisms that underlie CTS and related nerve compression injuries, with a focus on understanding the changes that take place in the connective tissues that surround the nerve.
- Using genetic information to stratify risk of developing CTS and the risk of needing surgery. 
- Developing non-surgical therapies for patients with CTS that target specific cells, genes and molecules. 
- Using electrical stimulation to augment nerve regeneration in people with CTS and other nerve injuries.
- Studying the contribution of peripheral nerve compressions to migraine and other chronic headaches.

I currently co-supervise three DPhil students and one MSc by research student. I am also a Stipendiary Lecturer in Human Anatomy at Merton College, where I tutor first year medical students.