Meet our team of neurosurgeons

Our specialised team of neurosurgeons includes:

• Dr Hamish Alexander
• A/Prof Lindy Jeffree
• Dr Thorbjorn Loch-Wilkinson
• Dr Norman Ma
• Dr Jason McMillen
• Dr Jason Papacostas
• Dr Craig Winter
• Dr Patrick Pearce

Dr Hamish Alexander

Director of Neurosurgery
Dr Alexander trained in neurosurgery in Australia and New Zealand following completion of his neuroscience and medical studies at Otago University, NZ. He finished his advanced neurosurgical training at the Royal Brisbane and Princess Alexandra Hospitals and was awarded Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 2016.

Dr Alexander has thorough experience in all aspects of cranial and spine surgery with a special interest in neuro-oncology. He holds a Master of Philosophy (M.Phil) degree from the University of Queensland following his work on Immunotherapy for Gliomas.

On completion of neurosurgical training Dr Alexander completed a post graduate neurosurgical oncology fellowship at the prestigious Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in New York, USA. There Dr Alexander gained a wealth of experience in management of brain and spine conditions at the world’s premier cancer hospital.

Dr Alexander is a Senior Lecturer in surgery at the University of Queensland School of Medicine. He is a member of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia and Congress of Neurological Surgeons.

A/Prof Lindy Jeffree

Associate Professor Lindy Jeffree studied medicine at the University of Melbourne and the Royal Melbourne Hospital before completing her neurosurgical training in New South Wales. She completed post fellowship training in cerebrovascular surgery at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney and in Paediatric Neurosurgery at the Hôpital Necker Enfants Malades in Paris.

Dr Jeffree’s research training includes proteomics glioma research at the University of Sydney, an MSc in electrophysiology at the University of Montreal and a B Med Sci year in the Physiological Laboratory at the University of Cambridge. She is currently engaged in research to establish an Australian Brain Cancer Registry and to use big data to improve Brain Trauma Care (PREDICT-TBI and Aus-TBI). She has longstanding collaborations with translational researchers at the Sid Faithfull Brain Cancer Laboratory at QIMR-Berghofer, the Breast Cancer Research Group at UQCCR and the Biomedical Imaging Group in the Australian e-Health Research Centre, CSIRO. She is Chair of Brain Cancer Biobanking Australia, a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee for the Cooperative Trials Group for Neuro-Oncology, and a member of the Working Group on Acute Care for the Mission for Traumatic Brain Injury.

Dr Jeffree is a keen teacher and mentor to younger doctors, acting as demonstrator for the University of Queensland Advanced Anatomy courses, teaching neurological examination to Interns at RBWH and supervising neurosurgical trainees. She holds a Master of Higher Education and is a Part II Examiner for the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.

Subspecialty interests include:

• primary and secondary brain tumours
• epilepsy surgery
• hydrocephalus
• chiari malformations
• syringomyelia.

Dr Thorbjorn (Toby) Loch-Wilkinson

Dr Thorbjorn (Toby) Loch-Wilkinson is an Australian trained neurosurgeon with dual fellowship and subspecialty interest in complex spinal conditions and peripheral nerve surgery. He is also undertakes surgery in a wide spectrum of cranial and brain conditions.

Dr Loch-Wilkinson undertook neurosurgical training in multiple centres of excellence in Queensland, New South Wales, and South Australia and received his fellowship from the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 2016. He completed further subspecialty fellowship training in peripheral nerve surgery at the University of Calgary in Canada before undertaking a complex spine surgery fellowship in adults and paediatric spine surgery in Brisbane at the Princess Alexandra Hospital, Mater Hospital and Lady Cilento Children’s hospital.

Dr Loch-Wilkinson is a fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia. He has published multiple research articles in peer reviewed journals on spinal and peripheral nerve conditions.

Subspecialty Interests include:

• Spinal surgery, all basic and complex conditions
  • Adults degenerative spine
  • Spine trauma e.g. fractures, spinal cord injury
  • Spinal deformity e.g. scoliosis, kyphosis
  • Spine oncology e.g. metastatic spine cancer
  • Spine infections e.g. discitis, osteomyelitis
  • Vascular conditions of the spine e.g. spinal dural AV fistula
• Peripheral nerve surgery
  • Brachial plexus surgery
  • Nerve compression syndromes e.g. carpal tunnel syndrome, ulnar nerve compression
  • Peripheral nerve tumours e.g. neurofibroma, schwannoma
  • Reconstruction and repair of peripheral nerve injury

Dr Norman Ma

Dr Norman Ma is a neurosurgeon with specialist skills in the surgical treatment of both adult and paediatric brain and spine. He completed his undergraduate medical degree at the University of Auckland. He then completed his advance neurosurgery training having worked in Brisbane, Melbourne, Auckland and Christchurch.

On completion of his neurosurgical training, he undertook two further post-graduate fellowships in paediatric and functional neurosurgery. He completed the paediatric neurosurgical fellowship at the Mater Children’s Hospital before undertaking a prestigious functional fellowship in movement disorders and pain at Southmead Hospital in Bristol, United Kingdom.

Dr Ma now works as a neurosurgical consultant specialist at the RBWH. He also works as a specialist paediatric neurosurgeon at the Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital as a Visiting Medical Officer.

Dr Ma has a special interest in research and teaching working closely with the University of Queensland. He is currently completing a Masters in Philosophy in neonatal research at the University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research. He is a member of the Asian-Australasian Society of Stereotactic Functional Neurosurgery and Pain Medicine Section member of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.

Subspecialty interests include:

• functional neurosurgery particularly movement disorders
• pain surgery (cranial and spine)
• hydrocephalus and chiari malformation
• endoscopic neurosurgery
• brain Tumours
• epilepsy surgery
• paediatric neurosurgery.

Dr Jason McMillen

Dr Jason McMillen is a consultant neurosurgeon who completed his undergraduate medical degree at the University of Queensland, including a period studying at Johns Hopkins University medical school in Baltimore.  He then undertook advanced neurosurgical training at units throughout Australia, including Brisbane, Townsville, and Adelaide.  He completed his training in Melbourne and was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in neurosurgery.  He has specialist expertise in the surgical and non-surgical management of adult and paediatric conditions of the brain, spine, and peripheral nerves.

After completing his neurosurgical training Dr McMillen undertook a prolonged subspeciality fellowship at Cambridge University’s Addenbrooke’s Hospital in the United Kingdom, acquiring clinical expertise in the surgical management of vascular disorders of the brain and spine, as well as neurotrauma.  Whilst working in the United Kingdom’s premier clinical and academic neurosurgical unit, he was able to complete a number of research projects and contributed to prestigious neurosurgical textbooks.

Dr McMillen is employed as a staff specialist consultant neurosurgeon at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.  He also practises at the Mater Centre for Neurosciences in Brisbane as a member of the Brisbane Clinical Neuroscience Centre, and consults at the Mater Hospital in Rockhampton.  He is a Senior Lecturer in surgery at the University of Queensland School of Medicine, and has a special interest in the training and nurturing of the future generations of neurosurgeons.  He is a member of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia and a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.

Subspeciality interests include:

• Cerebrovascular neurosurgery, including cerebral aneurysms and arteriovenous malformations, and dural AV fistulae
• Brain tumours
• Neuro-oncology
• Neuroendoscopic surgery
• Spine surgery, including degenerative, traumatic and oncological conditions of the spine, both basic and complex
• Minimally invasive spine surgery
• Peripheral nerve surgery, including tumours

Dr Jason Papacostas

Dr Jason Papacostas is a consultant neurosurgeon at the RBWH. He also practices at Mater Private Hospital Brisbane and is a member of Brisbane Clinical Neurosciences Centre. He is a graduate of the University of Queensland and underwent advanced training in neurosurgery in Australia.

He undertook further subspecialty training in paediatric neurosurgery in Brisbane before travelling to North America to undertake fellowships in epilepsy surgery and endoscopic skull base surgery at Foothills Hospital in Canada. Dr Papacostas’ special interest areas include minimally invasive skull base surgery, awake cranial neurosurgery and epilepsy surgery.

He also specialises in minimally invasive spinal surgery. Dr Papacostas has an interest in teaching and research and is a member of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and Neurosurgical Society of Australasia.

Subspecialty interests include:

• pituitary surgery
• skull base neurosurgery including endoscopic neurosurgery
• cerebrovascular neurosurgery (aneurysms and AVMs)
• neuro-oncology
• epilepsy
• spine (basic, complex and minimally invasive).

Dr Craig Winter

Dr Craig Winter is a neurosurgeon working at the RBWH and is a senior lecturer in Surgery at the University of Queensland. He also works at the Brisbane Private Hospital. Dr Winter completed his education at the University of Cambridge in England and went on to surgical training, becoming a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

He completed his neurosurgical training and was awarded the Intercollegiate Examination in Surgical Neurology in the UK. Following two years as a Neurosurgical Fellow at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, he also gained the Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.

Dr Winter is actively involved in the teaching of neurosurgery to neurosurgical registrars rotating through the RBWH and has ongoing research projects involving subarachnoid haemorrhage, aneurysms, hypoxic and traumatic brain injury. He is a member of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and Neurosurgical Society of Australasia.

Subspecialty interests include:

• cerebrovascular neurosurgery (aneurysms and AVMs)
• brain tumours
• neuro-oncology
• anterior skull base neurosurgery
• spine (basic and complex)
• spinal DAVF
• endoscopic neurosurgery
• hydrocephalus and chiari malformations.

Dr Winter is currently an Adjunct Associate Professor at Queensland University of Technology and has recently gained a PhD from the University of Cambridge, UK.

Dr Patrick Pearce

Dr Pearce completed his undergraduate medical training at the University of Queensland before undertaking Neurosurgery training at The Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Princess Alexandra Hospital and at various hospitals in Melbourne.

Dr Pearce has undertaken further post-fellowship training in complex spine surgery.

Dr Pearce treats a wide variety of brain and spine conditions.