Dr Adam Wells is an Adelaide neurosurgeon with research interests in traumatic brain injury, brain tumours, and degenerative spine disease. He graduated from the University of Adelaide Medical School in 2003 with First Class Honours and is currently a Senior Lecturer at the University of Adelaide and Clinical Academic Consultant Neurosurgeon at the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH). His advanced neurosurgical training, commenced in 2008, took him to Adelaide, Hobart, Perth and the United Kingdom before he returned to a clinical academic position in Adelaide. In 2015 he was awarded his PhD for original research into ischaemic stroke, receiving the Peter Leech Memorial Prize and the Nimmo Prize for full-time research. In 2017 he undertook a Neurotrauma Fellowship at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge University, under Professor Peter Hutchinson.
 
Since returning to South Australia in 2018, Dr Wells has held appointments as Senior Lecturer at the University of Adelaide, Clinical Academic Consultant Neurosurgeon at the RAH, and Visiting Medical Officer at St Andrew's Private Hospital. He is the Abbie Simpson Clinical Fellow of the Neurosurgical Research Foundation (NRF) and founded and leads the Clinical Neuroscience Research Group (CNRG) at the RAH, spanning traumatic brain injury, cerebrovascular disease, and neuro-oncology. Under his leadership the CNRG has secured over $7 million in competitive research funding, including major NHMRC and MRFF grants, and supports a full-time research officer and an active HDR supervision program.
 
Dr Wells co-supervises multiple PhD and Masters students and has supervised Honours and undergraduate projects to completion, including a student awarded Dux of Program and University Medal. He is Deputy SET Supervisor for Neurosurgery training at the RAH, Course Coordinator for the AHMS Year 6 Surgery program, an NRF Board Member, and a Review Editor for the Journal of Clinical Neuroscience and Frontiers in Neurology.
 
Why neurosurgery and neurosurgical research?
 
"Neurosurgery has always fascinated me. It wasn't until third year of medical school, when we were introduced to neuroanatomy, that I knew what I wanted to do. A research project in Professor Nigel Jones's neurosurgical laboratory at the RAH set me on this path. Professor Jones was instrumental in my pursuit of neurosurgery, and I credit my love of research to him. Today, my greatest privilege is working as a consultant neurosurgeon at the RAH, continuing South Australia's long tradition of neurosurgical research, and training the next generation. With a new hospital and research facility, this is an exciting time to be involved."
 
Research area: PhD thesis (2015): A Surgical Model of Occlusive Middle Cerebral Artery Stroke in the Sheep. Research interests centre on traumatic brain injury, with published work in brain tumours, neurovascular and spinal pathology, and machine learning applications in neurosurgery.
 
Awards and career highlights:

Neurosurgical Research Foundation Abbie Simpson Clinical Fellowship
$7M+ in competitive research funding as CI/Co-CI (NHMRC, MRFF, Category 1–4)
Australian Medical Students Association/Medical Defence Association of Australia Research Scholarship, 2002
A. R. Riddle Scholarship, 2002
Education Prize (Neurotrauma), Neurosurgical Trainee Seminar, April 2009
Neurosurgical Research Foundation Research Fellowship, 2010 and 2012
National Health and Medical Research Council Dora Lush Biomedical Postgraduate Scholarship, 2011
NIMMO Prize for Full Time Research, Royal Adelaide Hospital, 2011
Peter Leech Memorial Prize, Neurosurgical Society of Australasia Annual Scientific Meeting, 2014
Teaching Award, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, 2017