‘I want to achieve high-quality healthcare for all’: an interview with Professor Kurinchi Gurusamy
Posted on 27th February, 2025
Today marks the publication of the open access textbook A Guide to Performing Systematic Reviews of Health and Disease. This new open access guide to performing systematic reviews in a healthcare context provides a practical step-by-step approach for students and health professionals.
We caught up with Professor Kurinchi Gurusamy to discuss why he wrote the book, wanting to achieve quality healthcare for all and why you shouldn’t be afraid to fail.
Tell us more about your background and experience.
I trained as a surgeon in India. I completed my PhD at UCL.
Currently, I am a Professor of Evidence-based Medicine and Surgery, Head of Research at Division of Surgery and Interventional Science, and Lead of Surgical and Interventional Group at Comprehensive Clinical Trials Unit at University College London (UCL). I have authored more than 150 systematic reviews. More than 50 of my research publications have been used in one or more clinical practice guidelines. I am considered as one of the top 2% of the scientists who have published their research in Medicine since 1960, based on the standardized information on citations, h-index, co authorship-adjusted hm-index, citations to papers indifferent authorship positions and a composite indicator.
How and why did you get into this subject area?
My father, mother, and my paternal grandmother were doctors and from a young age, I wanted to be a surgeon “like” my father. Therefore, my main interest has always been related to healthcare, particularly gastrointestinal surgery from a very young age.
I wanted to contribute something to the improvement of society. I learnt performing systematic reviews by chance while working with Mr Martyn Parker, a hip surgeon from Peterborough. Being autistic, I was always “methodical” or “systematic” in my approach (even if the approach was not always correct)! I took to writing systematic review like fish takes to water. I wanted to apply my newly learnt method in gastrointestinal surgery. Since Cochrane reviews were widely considered the best systematic reviews, I wanted to write Cochrane systematic reviews. My first Cochrane review as an independent author was on early versus delayed laparoscopic cholecystectomy in acute cholecystitis, which changed clinical practice.
Writing systematic reviews came natural to me, helped me in my career progression, and most importantly acted as a diversion from the feeling of despair that I felt in relation to my personal life by being able to contribute to society’s improvement.
What motivated you to write and publish this book?
The main motivation was to help health professionals without statistical knowledge perform systematic reviews. Currently, systematic reviews are considered the highest level of evidence for making clinical decisions. With increasing emphasis on evidence-based medicine and shared decision making, health professionals perform systematic reviews increasingly while developing clinical practice guidelines. Increasingly funders of clinical studies require systematic reviews before funding primary research with a view to decrease research waste. However, health professionals often do not have the sufficient knowledge and expertise to perform high-quality systematic reviews. So, I wanted to write a textbook that will help such people in mind providing practical advice in performing high-quality systematic reviews.
Why did you choose to publish your work Open Access?
One of the barriers for accessing knowledge is the cost of acquiring the knowledge. UCL and UCL Press have given me the opportunity to disseminate my knowledge to others without others having to pay to acquire this knowledge.
How do you see your research contributing to a better understanding of the world, and what potential benefits might it offer in the future?
In order to use the limited resources optimally, it is important to know the best way to diagnose a health condition, whether a health condition requires any treatment, and what the best treatment is for a health condition (if any) taking the individual’s preferences and resources into account.
My published research has focused around finding the best way to diagnose health conditions what the best treatment is for a health condition is. I am currently developing methods for personalised treatments to individuals taking their individual circumstances and preferences into account.
What do you think sets your approach apart from others in your field, and how do you stay innovative?
I am not afraid of failure or accepting limitations (whether it is my own limitations or those of the processes that I followed). Once you accept limitations and are not constrained by “conventional wisdom”, innovative ideas are born. Once you are not afraid of failure, you can test those innovative ideas. I think that combination of accepting limitations and not being afraid of failure is the reason why I can develop and test disruptive ideas.
What do you see as the most exciting future directions for research in your field, and what breakthroughs do you hope to see in the coming years?
I think that there are two major impending breakthroughs in this field.
1. Personalised clinical guidance: Providing clinical guidance on whether a person will benefit from a treatment based on their circumstances and preferences rather than based on the average treatment effects from clinical studies.
2. Living systematic reviews and clinical practice guidelines (not in the context of how they are defined currently, i.e., a person has to do the analysis and interpret information, but in the context that as new information from clinical studies appear, the information provided to patients and clinical guidance for a health condition are automatically updated).
What advice would you give to students who are interested in pursuing a career in your field, and what skills or qualities do you think are most important for success?
This is my approach to life and my advice to anyone and not just those pursuing a career in my field.
1. Success and failure are just perceptions. Do not allow others define what your success should look like: follow your heart.
2. Do not be afraid to fail.
3. Be prepared to change your plans when new opportunities arise.
4. Look for different opportunities if there are persistent failures on an idea.
5. Do not be afraid of acknowledging your limitations. Our understanding of everything in life improves over time. That also means that you are able to forgive your own mistakes you made because of your understanding at that time.
6. Do not be shy in acknowledging your achievements, even if the society thinks that people should be modest and should not “blow their own trumpet”.
What do you do to stay motivated and inspired in your work, and how do you maintain a positive attitude even in challenging situations?
I want to achieve high-quality healthcare for all. It is probably an ambition that I will never be able to achieve in my life. However, I hope that I can inspire a lot of others who want to achieve high-quality healthcare for all and my dream comes true even if it is long after my existence.
From a young age, my mother has taught me and led by example how to manage with what we have rather than long for what we do not have. This simple philosophy has helped me overcome many challenges in life and bounce back from the depths of despair in life.
About the Author
Kurinchi Gurusamy is Professor of Evidence-based Medicine and Surgery, Head of Research at Division of Surgery and Interventional Science, and Lead of Surgical and Interventional Group at Comprehensive Clinical Trials Unit at UCL.