Name Henry Marsh Books Do No Harm Education University of London | Role Neurosurgeon | |
![]() | ||
Similar People Kate Fox, Robin Fox, Atul Gawande, Warren Ellis, Nick Cave | ||
Nominations Guardian First Book Award |
Dr henry marsh neurosurgeon in conversation with alan rusbridger
Henry Thomas Marsh CBE FRCS (born 5 March 1950) is a leading English neurosurgeon, and a pioneer of neurosurgical advances in Ukraine. His widely acclaimed memoir Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery was published by Orion Publishers in 2014 and according to The Economist is "So elegantly written it is little wonder some say that in Mr Marsh neurosurgery has found its Boswell."
Contents
- Dr henry marsh neurosurgeon in conversation with alan rusbridger
- A day in the life of nhs neurosurgeon henry marsh newsnight
- Early life and education
- Career
- Awards and honours
- Personal life
- References

A day in the life of nhs neurosurgeon henry marsh newsnight
Early life and education
Marsh attended the Dragon School in Oxford and Westminster School in London. Later he read Politics, Philosophy and Economics at University College, Oxford University, achieving First Class Honours, before graduating with Honours in Medicine from the Royal Free Medical School.
Career
Marsh was until 2015 the senior consultant neurosurgeon at the Atkinson Morley Wing at St George's Hospital, south London, one of the country's largest specialist brain surgery units.
He specialises in operating on the brain under local anaesthetic and was the subject of a major BBC documentary Your Life in Their Hands in 2004, which won the Royal Television Society Gold Medal.
He has been working with neurosurgeons in the former Soviet Union, mainly in Ukraine with protégé neurosurgeon Igor Kurilets, since 1992 and his work there was the subject of the BBC Storyville film The English Surgeon from 2007.
He has a particular interest in the influence of hospital buildings and design on patient outcomes and staff morale; he has broadcast and lectured widely on this subject.
In 2017, Marsh published Admissions: Life as a Brain Surgeon, a second memoir with Weidenfeld & Nicolson, an imprint of Orion.
Awards and honours
Marsh was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2010 Birthday Honours. Also in 2010 he presented the Leslie Oliver Oration at Queen's Hospital.
Personal life
Marsh is married to the social anthropologist Kate Fox and spends his spare time making furniture and keeping bees. He is the younger brother of the architectural historian Bridget Cherry.