Jalesh N. Panicker is a neurologist specialising in Uro-Neurology, and is Professor of Neurology and Uro-Neurology at University College London (UCL) and Clinical Lead of the Department of Uro-Neurology at The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, under University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
He developed a clinical and academic interest in Uro-Neurology after recognising the limited opportunities that neurological patients have for the assessment and treatment of their neurogenic urinary, sexual and bowel problems. His clinical interest spans voiding dysfunction in young women, characterisation of pelvic somatic and visceral dysfunction in neuroinflammatory, neurodegenerative and neurogenetic disorders, and developing non-invasive therapeutic options for managing neurogenic urinary incontinence. He has been involved in setting up multidisciplinary care pathways between Urology, Neurology and Gastroenterology that also involve Pelvic floor physiotherapy and Psychology. Despite the challenges of being a full-time clinician on the NHS, Dr Panicker has established a robust research programme with external funding, exploring multimodal techniques to evaluate the lower spinal cord and its role in the control of pelvic functions. He leads on a multi-site collaborative project establishing novel non-invasive neurophysiology techniques for evaluating the pelvic sensory and motor innervation, and his team has been phenotyping pelvic visceral and somatic dysfunction in patients presenting with unexplained urogenital symptoms. Dr Panicker has been involved in developing an MRI sequence imaging the lumbosacral spinal cord to understand spinal correlates to urogenital dysfunction and applications in neurological disorders. He has been involved in, and led, numerous projects evaluating innovative treatments for managing LUTS in neurological disorders including transcutaneous and percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation, melatonin for treating nocturia in Parkinson's disease, transperineal botulinum toxin injections for treating voiding dysfunction in women and D-Mannose for preventing urinary tract infections in patients with Multiple sclerosis. He has published over 200 articles and book chapters, has been editor of two textbooks. He has been a panellist for a number of committees involved in validating LUTS questionnaires, establishing best Uro-Neurology practice and developing national and international guidelines for managing neurogenic urogenital dysfunction. He has been involved with setting up a Uro-Neurology platform in his native India.
Dr Panicker is involved in teaching and training that includes academic supervision of PhD and MSc students and direct Uro-Neurology training of fellows across Neurology, Urology, Gynaecology and Physical medicine and Rehabilitation in the UK and abroad. He is a module convenor for the MSc Clinical Neuroscience program at UCL which includes Uro-Neurology in its curriculum. He has taken on a mentoring role for neurologists interested in taking on a career in Uro-Neurology and Pelvic neurology. Dr Panicker’s prominent international reputation has led to invitations to several invited lectures. He has served on the Neurourology Promotion Committee of the International Continence Society and has been involved with all the International Consultations on Incontinence since 2012. He serves on the editorial board of several continence related journals.