The Specialist Spinal Unit
Mr Colin Natali
Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
MBBS BSc (Hons) FRCS (Eng) FRCS (Tr & Orth)
Expertise
Consultant orthopaedic surgeon Mr Colin Natali brings many years of experience and expertise to The Specialist Spine Unit. He has a particular interest in the spine, including back pain, neck pain, prolapsed intervertebral discs, whiplash syndrome and spondylolisthesis.
Education and training
Mr Natali graduated in medicine at the University of London in 1986, followed by an FRCS (Eng) in 1989 and an FRCS (Tr & Orth) in 1996. He then spent 15 years as a substantive consultant at St Barts and The Royal London Hospital, and served as the programme director for the London Hospital Rotation.
Background
Since 2011, Mr Natali has been a private consultant. He is passionate about helping patients avoid surgery and, when surgery is unavoidable, developing surgical devices and techniques to improve patient outcomes.
He dedicates much of his time to the relief of painful spinal conditions, with a particular focus on the diagnosis and treatment of conditions affecting the neck, thoracic and lumbar spine. He was a senior lecturer for undergraduates at Queen Mary and Westfield College, and is actively involved in training undergraduates and postgraduates. He was also the medical director of the Back2Normal, a private rehabilitation clinic in Tower Hill that specialises in neck and back pain.
Mr Natali is a proud member of many medical associations, including the British Orthopaedic Association, the British Association of Spine Surgeons, the British Medical Association, the North American Spine Society and The General Medical Council.
Mr Ramsey Chammaa
Consultant Orthopaedic and Spinal Surgeon
MD (Hons) MRCS Eng Dip SEM FRCS
Expertise
Consultant spinal surgeon Mr Ramsey Chammaa specialises in infections and trauma of the spine and degenerative conditions, including complex disorders of the cervical and lumbar spine. His spinal surgery expertise also includes use of robotics and navigated spinal surgery.
Education and training
Mr Chammaa has specialist training in trauma and orthopaedics, as well as sports and exercise medicine and, in 2016, he was appointed a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in trauma and orthopaedics. He completed two fellowships in spinal surgery in the UK (The Royal London Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospital) and New Zealand (Auckland City Hospital).
Background
Since 2019, he has worked as a consultant orthopaedic and spinal surgeon within Whittington Health NHS Trust, where he is the clinical lead for Trauma and Orthopaedics and the Virtual Fracture Clinic. Mr Chammaa introduced day case lumbar discectomy surgery to his NHS practice, one of only a handful in the UK to offer such a service. He also works closely with the specialist pain team to optimise postoperative pain relief following lumbar fusion surgery.
An honorary lecturer at University College London, Mr Chammaa has also contributed to many peer-reviewed papers. He is a local principal investigator for PQIP (Perioperative Quality Improvement Programme) and is currently working to introduce Kinesiometrics, a methodology for real-time measurement of post-surgery outcomes, to the UK through an international clinical collaboration.
Mr Rohit Shetty
Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
MBBS MS (Tr & Orth) DNB (Tr & Orth) DIP (Tr & Orth) FRCS (Tr & Orth)
Expertise
A consultant orthopaedic surgeon, Mr Rohit Shetty specialises in complex spinal surgery. He has a particular interest in adult degenerative neck conditions and lower back pain, deformity and spinal infections, and minimally invasive spine surgery. His main subspecialty area of interest is adult reconstructive deformity.
Education and training
After graduating from Manipal University in India in 1995, Mr Shetty obtained his MS in trauma and orthopaedic surgery in 1997 before achieving his Diplomate of National Board in trauma and orthopaedics from the National Board of Examinations in 1999.
In 2002, he undertook the Higher Surgical Training Programme in the South East Thames rotation in London. During this period, he also completed a Diploma in trauma and orthopaedics at the University of Brighton and, in 2007, gained his FRCS from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.
Trained in all aspects of spinal surgery, he completed two UK fellowships at the Royal Berkshire in Reading and the Centre for Spinal Studies and Surgery, Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham. Mr Shetty also completed an international fellowship at The Inselspital and Swiss Olympic Medical Centre in Zurich, Switzerland.
Background
From 2010 to 2015, he worked as a consultant orthopaedic and spinal surgeon at The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in Queen Square, London. Since 2010, he has worked as a consultant orthopaedic and spinal surgeon at The Whittington Hospital in North London.
He has served as an education lead for the British Association of Spine Surgeons and is currently the United Kingdom Surgical Society Board secretary. Mr Shetty is also a member of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, the British Association of Spine Surgeons and The General Medical Council.
Mr Hanny Anwar
Consultant Orthopaedic and Spinal Surgeon
BMedSci MBBS MRCS FRCS (Tr & Orth)
Expertise
A consultant orthopaedic and spinal surgeon, Mr Hanny Anwar’s areas of expertise include: minimally invasive spinal surgery, steroid injection, spinal oncology, acute spinal conditions (sciatica, disc prolapse, arm pain, back and neck pain), spinal deformity, spine injuries, complex spinal disorders, and degenerative spinal conditions.
Education and training
Mr Anwar obtained his intercalated Bachelor's degree in Medical Sciences with Honours in London and graduated from St Bartholomew's and the Royal London Medical School, University of London, in 2003.
He trained in Trauma and Orthopaedics on the prestigious Percival Pott training programme, rotating at several renowned hospitals. Mr Anwar is actively involved in research focusing on primary spinal tumours, minimally invasive spinal metastasis treatment, and safety in spinal surgery.
Background
Alongside his areas of expertise, Mr Anwar sub-specialises in the surgical treatment of spinal tumours and complex spinal deformity, and is also interested in the non-surgical management of spinal conditions, including sciatica, neck and back pain. He uses modern, minimally invasive techniques and computer-assisted spinal navigation to achieve the best outcomes and improve patients’ recovery from complex spinal surgery.
