Mr Marcus John Drake

Mr Marcus John Drake

Consultant Urological Surgeon

Professor Marcus Drake is an expert in diagnosis and management of all forms of bladder problems, including incontinence, lower urinary tract symptoms, urinary retention and neurological diseases. He is in regular demand for state-of-the-art lectures on these subjects world-wide. He is Consultant Surgeon at the Bristol Urological Institute and Visiting Professor at the University of the West of England. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Section of Female and Reconstructive Urology for the British Association of Urological Surgeons.   He is Associate Editor of the BJU International (formerly British Journal of Urology) and Editor of the BJU International website (www.bjui.org). He will shortly start as Associate Editor of the journal Autonomic Neuroscience: Basic and Clinical. He was educated at Eton College, where he was a scholar and Captain of the Oppidans. He did his undergraduate medical degree at Cambridge University (St John’s College) and his graduate medical degree at Oxford University (ChristChurch), qualifying in 1991.   His basic surgical training was completed in teaching hospitals in London, Southampton and Cambridge. He became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1995, winning the best candidate award in the preparatory course. He joined the Oxford Higher Urological Training Scheme in 1996, He was appointed Clinical Lecturer in Urological Science at Newcastle University in 2000. He was appointed to the Bristol Urological Institute in 2005, where he is Director of Research.  

Professor Drake is an expert in diagnosing and managing urinary incontinence, painful bladder syndrome / interstitial cystitis and urinary tract infection. He is responsible for the complex cases at the world-famous urodynamic unit at Southmead Hospital, which is the regional referral centre. He provides a tailored service for continence, focussed on patient needs and comprehensive evaluation of the basic problem. Non-surgical interventions are followed where appropriate.   He undertakes the full range of operations for stress urinary incontinence in women, including tranvaginal tape (TVT), transobturator tape (TOT), autologous slings and colposuspension. For the overactive bladder, the comprehensive service provides all recognised forms of treatment, including botulinum injections (bladder botox), tibial nerve stimulation (TNS), sacral nerve stimulation (SNS) and surgery. He delivers a national referral service for idiopathic urinary retention in women (Fowler’s Syndrome). He provides the male continence service for the South West region of England, including surgery to place artificial urinary sphincters (AMS800). He manages bladder problems resulting from neurological disease such as spinal cord injury and multiple sclerosis (MS).   As a reconstructive surgeon, he provides the service for complex urological surgery including Mitrofanoff operations. In addition, he undertakes the full range of standard urinary procedures, including cystoscopy and prostate surgery. He is a lecturer on urodynamics, continence surgery and neurourology for several national and international courses and meetings.  

Professor Drake is an authority on the overactive bladder and detrusor overactivity, and has received awards from the European Association of Urology and the Royal College of Surgeons (the Arris and Gale Lecture, 2006) in recognition of advancing the understanding of the scientific mechanisms. He is a visiting professor at the University of the West of England, where he is leading research to generate new insight into urinary tract infections.   His Doctorate Thesis was undertaken at the Department of Pharmacology at Oxford University, and the National Spinal Cord Injury Centre, Stoke Mandeville, studying effects of spinal cord injury on human bladder. He is Director of Research for Female and Reconstructive Urology in the British Association of Urological Surgeons. He is Specialty Director for Urogenital Diseases for the National Health Service Western Collaborative Local Research Network and Clinical Director of the NHS Health Technology Co-operative, the BioMed Centre.   He is a clinical scientist at the University of Bristol, investigating neurophysiology of bladder control. He is Co-chairman of the Neural Control committee in the World Health Organisation Fourth International Consultation on Incontinence. He is a specialist advisor to the Interventional Procedures Programme of the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). He is a member of UK national consensus groups for bladder management in spinal cord injury and multiple sclerosis. He has published more than 60 articles and book chapters. He has reviewed/ refereed papers for numerous journals and was the world-wide top reviewer for Neurology and Urodynamics in 2007.  

• British Association of Urological Surgeons
• European Association of Urology
• International Continence Society
• International Consultation on Incontinence
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