NHS practice · Homerton University Hospital, London GMC 7014473 · GMC Specialist Register: Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery · FRCS (OMFS), Royal College of Surgeons of England

Research & publications

Engineering better operations for the face and jaw.

Will's research sits between surgery and biomedical engineering: computer models, 3D-designed devices and careful measurement of outcomes, so that operations become more predictable for patients.

Research doctorate
MD(Res), UCL
Patent
2017
Textbook chapters
3
Editorial board
BJOMS
Doctorate

A personalised 3D internal mandibular distraction device for craniofacial microsomia

MD(Res), UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, supervised by Professor David Dunaway (craniofacial surgery) and Professor Silvia Schievano (biomedical engineering). The project combined patient scans, computer modelling and benchtop testing to design a jaw-lengthening device that sits entirely beneath the skin and can move the jaw in more than one plane.

The same group's work on spring-assisted cranioplasty and shape-memory devices – modelling how implants reshape a child's skull – appears in the publications below.

Patent & innovation

Fully buried continuous multiplanar mandibular distractor

Filed in 2017 in partnership with UCL Business and Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children. Will was also an NHS England Clinical Entrepreneur Fellow (2016) and authored surgical simulations for the Touch Surgery training app.

Will sits on the Editorial Advisory Board of the British Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and reviews for Neurosurgical Review and the Journal of Maxillofacial and Oral Surgery.

Selected peer-reviewed publications

Showing 17 publications. Will's name is in bold in each author list.

  1. 2025 A rare presentation of tuberculosis of the palate: a case report Devah L, Rodgers W, Ali E, Suchak K Journal of Maxillofacial and Oral Surgery
  2. 2021 Update on noma: systematic review on classification, outcomes and follow-up of patients undergoing reconstructive surgery after noma disease Speiser S, Langridge B, Birkl M, Kubiena H, Rodgers W BMJ Open
  3. 2020 Facing Africa: describing noma in Ethiopia Rickart A, Rodgers W, Mizen K, Merrick G, Wilson P, Nishikawa H, Dunaway D American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
  4. 2018 Advancing the mandibular distractor Rodgers W, Borghi A, Jeelani O, Schievano S, Dunaway D British Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
  5. 2018 Epstein–Barr virus-positive mucocutaneous ulcer of the oral cavity in a renal transplant patient Onafowokan O, Rodgers W, Gruber E British Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
  6. 2018 Spring assisted cranioplasty: a patient specific computational model Borghi A, Rodriguez-Florez N, Rodgers W, James G, Hayward R, Dunaway D, Jeelani O, Schievano S Medical Engineering & Physics
  7. 2017 Proof of concept study for the design, manufacturing and testing of a patient-specific shape memory device for treatment of unicoronal craniosynostosis Borghi A, Rodgers W, Schievano S, Ponniah A, Jeelani O, Dunaway D Journal of Craniofacial Surgery
  8. 2017 Acupuncture for temporomandibular joint syndrome Rodgers W British Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
  9. 2017 Assessment of spring cranioplasty biomechanics in sagittal craniosynostosis patients Borghi A, Schievano S, Rodriguez Florez N, McNicholas R, Rodgers W, Ponniah A, James G, Hayward R, Dunaway D, Jeelani NUO Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics
  10. 2017 Electronic follow-up of developing world cleft patients: a digital dream? Walker TWM, Chadha A, Rodgers W, Mills C, Ayliffe P Telemedicine and e-Health
  11. 2017 Spring-assisted cranioplasty for the correction of non-syndromic scaphocephaly: a quantitative analysis of 100 consecutive cases Rodgers W, Glass GE, Schievano S, Borghi A, Rodriguez-Florez N, Tahim A, et al. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
  12. 2017 Comparison of 3D scanner systems for craniomaxillofacial imaging Knoops P, Beaumont C, Borghi A, Rodriguez-Florez N, Breakey R, Rodgers W, et al. Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgery
  13. 2016 Design, manufacturing and in-vitro testing of a patient-specific shape-memory expander for nasal repair with forehead flap technique Borghi A, Rodgers W, Schievano S, Ponniah A, O’Hara J, Jeelani O, Dunaway D Journal of Craniofacial Surgery
  14. 2015 Microvascular reconstruction of facial defects in settings where resources are limited Rodgers W, Lloyd T, Mizen K, Fourie L, Nishikawa H, Schmidt A, Kuoraite D, Bulstrode N, Dunaway D British Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
  15. 2015 Total reconstruction of the nose in settings where resources are limited Rodgers W, Lloyd T, Fourie L, Nishikawa H, Kuoraite D, Dunaway D, Bulstrode N British Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
  16. 2013 Squamous cell carcinoma in a child with Clericuzio-type poikiloderma with neutropenia Rodgers W, Ancliff P, Ponting CP, Sanchez-Pulido L, Burns S, Hayman M, Kimonis V, Sebire N, Bulstrode N, Harper JI British Journal of Dermatology
  17. 2012 Interrater reliability of Engel, ILAE and McHugh seizure outcome classifications following vagus nerve stimulator implantation Rodgers WP, Durnford AJ, Kirkham FJ, Whitney A, Mullee MA, Gray WP Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics

Book chapters & WHO resources

  • Maxillofacial traumaHamilton Bailey's Emergency Surgery, 14th edition. Taylor & Francis, 2024. Rodgers W, Holmes S.
  • Mandibular and maxillary distraction osteogenesisBailey & Love's Essential Operations in Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, 1st edition, 2023. Rodgers W, Mills C.
  • The management of trismus and ankylosis in nomaIn: Global Surgery (Hochman B, Hardy M, eds). Springer, 2023, pp 465–471. Rodgers W, Dunaway D.
  • World Health Organization noma resourcesContributing author: Information brochure for early detection and management of noma (2016); Promoting Oral Health in Africa (2017).

Selected presentations

  • FESS in tracheostomy patients in a district general hospital; Isthmusectomy in challenging tracheostomy; TMJ septic arthritis27th EACMFS Congress, Rome, 2024 (co-author)
  • Virtually planned osteotomies in orthognathic surgeryInternational Conference on Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (ICOMS), Vancouver, 2023
  • Advancing the mandibular distractor – a fully buried multiplanar deviceEACMFS, Munich, 2018 · ISCFS, Cancún, 2017
  • Benefits and limitations of springs in the correction of scaphocephaly: our first 100 casesEACMFS London 2016 · BAOMS Brighton 2016 · ISPN Izmir 2015 · ISCFS Tokyo 2015
  • A risk–benefit analysis of frontofacial distraction surgeryEuropean Association of Plastic Surgeons, Edinburgh, 2015 · ISCFS Tokyo, 2015
  • Noma: primary health care and operative management in EthiopiaWHO meeting on oral disease including noma, Dar es Salaam, 2012 (invited)

Quality improvement

Measuring and improving care

Clinical audit checks real practice against agreed standards. Will's recent projects include:

  • CBCT justification and diagnostic quality
    Homerton, 2025
  • MRI selection criteria for TMJ problems
    Homerton, 2024
  • Zygomatic osteotomy outcomes
    Epworth Hospital, Melbourne, 2023
  • Paediatric mandibular distraction referrals
    Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, 2023
  • Time to theatre for jaw fractures
    Royal London Hospital, 2019
  • Skin cancer excision margins and patient satisfaction
    Northwick Park and Barnet, 2017–2018