Staff Profile

I am a Consultant Pancreaticobiliary Physician and Endoscopist based at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle and an Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer based in the Population Health Sciences Institute at Newcastle University. I am involved in research in pancreaticobiliary disorders including benign and malignant conditions as well as outcomes from therapeutic/advanced endoscopy. I was appointed a consultant in 2010 initial in Aberdeen but moved to Newcastle in 2015. 

I am a member of the British Society of Gastroenterology and Pancreatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. I serve on the endoscopy and Pancreas committees for BSG and am the website lead for PSGBI.

I am a founder member of the BSG Pancreas Clinical Research Group which is coordinating research for the society. Additionally, we have begun the pancreatitis priority setting partnership to identify key research priorities in pancreatitis.

I have been active in research since 2002 with interests in exocrine pancreatic function, pancreaticobiliary cancers and outcomes from advanced endoscopic procedures.

I am actively researching the role of radiofrequency ablation in the treatment of patients with malignant diseases affecting the pancreas and bile ducts and was awarded an NIHR grant which has recently completed. I am leading the research for this in the UK with the plan to conduct a multicentre study examining the benefits of RFA.

A further research theme is exocrine pancreatic insufficiency which is commonly under recognised. My research has promoted this condition with incorporation of testing now included in national guidance. A current area we are investigating is the link between the endocrine and exocrine pancreas.

I am the lead for the gastroenterology component of the EOCP course (8 week teaching programme for 3rd year medical students).

I supervise 3 ACE students (4th year medical students)

I am an academic clinical mentor for 2 students

I am currently supervising 1 MRes student and have previously supervised >10.

• Bourne DM, White H, French JJ, Leeds JS. A retrospective cohort study of nutritional status, nutritional interventions and hospital admissions in patients with chronic pancreatitis managed at a tertiary referral centre. Clinical Nutrition ESPEN 2021, 43, P290-295.
• Phillips ME, Hopper AD, Leeds JS, Roberts KJ, McGeeney L, Duggan SN, Kumar R. Consensus for the management of pancreatic exocrine insufficiency: UK practical guidelines. BMJ Open Gastroenterology 2021, 8(1), e000643.
• Leeds JS, Awadelkarim B, Dipper C, Nayar MK, Oppong KW, Nylander DL. Effect of the SARS-CoV2 Pandemic on Endoscopy Provision–The Impact of Compliance with National Guidance. Expert Review of Gastroenterology and Hepatology 2021, 15(4).
• On W, Paranandi B, Smith AM, Venkatachalapathy SV, James MW, Aithal GP, Varbobitis I, Cheriyan D, McDonald C, Leeds JS, Nayar MK, Oppong KW, Geraghty J, Devlin J, Ahmed W, Scott R, Wong T, Huggett MT. EUS-guided choledochoduodenostomy with electrocautery-enhanced lumen-apposing metal stents in patients with malignant distal biliary obstruction: multicenter collaboration from the United Kingdom and Ireland. Gastrointestinal Endoscopy 2022, 95(3), 432-442.
• Ammar Khaled, Leeds J, Ratnayake Bathiya, French Jeremy, Nayar Manu, Oppong Kofi, Loveday Benjamin, Pandanaboyana Sanjay. Impact of pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy on short- and long-term outcomes in advanced pancreatic cancer: meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. Expert Reviews In Gastroenterology and Hepatology 2021, 15(8), 941-948.
• Haugk B, Horton D, Oppong K, Leeds J, Darne A, Sloan P, Ness T, Jones C, Bassett P, Nayar M. Morphological and p40 immunohistochemical analysis of squamous differentiation in endoscopic ultrasound guided fine needle biopsies of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Scientific Reports 2021, 11(1), 21290.
• Nayar MK, Bekkali NLH, Bourne D, Young S, Leeds JS, Oppong KW, Logue JL, Sen G, French JJ, Scott J, Cressey D, Pandanaboyana S, Charnley RM. Novel multidisciplinary hub-and-spoke tertiary service for the management of severe acute pancreatitis. BMJ Open Gastroenterology 2021, 8(1), e000501.
• Oppong KW, Bekkali NLH, Leeds JS, Johnson SJ, Nayar MK, Darne A, Egan M, Bassett P, Haugk B. Fork-tip needle biopsy versus fine-needle aspiration in endoscopic ultrasound-guided sampling of solid pancreatic masses: a randomized crossover study. Endoscopy 2020, 52(6), 454-461.
• Leeds JS, Raviprakash V, Jacques T, Scanlon N, Cundall J, Leeds CM. Risk factors for detection of SARS-CoV-2 in healthcare workers during April 2020 in a UK hospital testing programme. EClinicalMedicine 2020, 26, 100513.
• Tsang KFP, Oppong WK, Leeds SJ, Bekkali LHN, Nayar KM. Does IgG4 level at the time of diagnosis correlate with disease outcome in IgG4-Related disease?. Pancreatology 2019, 19(1), 177-181.
• Bekkali NLH, Nayar MK, Leeds JS, Thornton L, Johnson SJ, Haugk B, Darne A, Howard-Tripp N, Charnley RM, Bassett P, Oppong KW. Impact of metal and plastic stents on endoscopic ultrasound-guided aspiration cytology and core histology of head of pancreas masses. Endoscopy 2019, 51(11), 1044-1050.
• Nayar MK, Paranandi B, Dawwas MF, Leeds JS, Darne A, Haugk B, Majumdar D, Ahmed MM, Oppong KW. Comparison of the diagnostic performance of 2 core biopsy needles for EUS-guided tissue acquisition from solid pancreatic lesions. Gastrointestinal Endoscopy 2017, 85(5), 1017–1024.
• Leeds JS, Nayar MK, Charnley RM, Oppong KW. Lumen-apposing metal stents for pancreatic fluid collection drainage: May not be business as usual?. Gut 2017, 66(8), 1530.
• Mansour D, Page C, Whiteway S, Thompson N, Leeds JS. 30-Day Mortality Following PEG Insertion: Could the Sheffield Gastrostomy Score Require Modification?. In: British Society of Gastroenterology Annual General Meeting. 2016, Liverpool: BMJ Publishing Group.
• Paranandi B, Oppong KW, Dawwas M, Leeds JS, Darne A, Haugk B, Majumdar D, Ahmed MM, Nayar MK. Comparison of Diagnostic Performance Between Two Core Biopsy Needles for Endoscopic Ultrasound-Guided Tissue Acquisition of Solid Pancreatic Lesions. In: British Society of Gastroenterology Annual General Meeting. 2016, Liverpool: BMJ Publishing Group.
• Mitra V, Nayar MK, Leeds JS, Wadehra V, Haugk B, Scott J, Charnley RM, Oppong KW. Diagnostic Performance of Endoscopic Ultrasound (EUS)/Endoscopic Ultrasound - Fine Needle Aspiration (EUS-FNA) Cytology in Solid and Cystic Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumours. Journal of Gastrointestinal and Liver Diseases 2015, 24(1), 69-75.
• Leeds JS, Nayar MN, Dawwas M, Scott J, Anderson K, Haugk B, Oppong KW. Comparison of endoscopic ultrasound and computed tomography in the assessment of pancreatic cyst size using pathology as the gold standard. Pancreatology 2013, 13(3), 263-266.
• Dawwas MF, Taha H, Leeds JS, Nayar MK, Oppong KW. Differential diagnosis of focal pancreatic masses by semiquantitative EUS elastography: between strain ratios and strain histograms Response. GASTROINTESTINAL ENDOSCOPY 2013, 78(1), 189-190.
• Dawwas MF, Taha H, Leeds JS, Nayar MK, Oppong KW. Diagnostic accuracy of quantitative EUS elastography for discriminating malignant from benign solid pancreatic masses: a prospective, single-center study. GASTROINTESTINAL ENDOSCOPY 2012, 76(5), 953-961.
• Leeds JS, Oppong K, Sanders DS. The role of fecal elastase-1 in detecting exocrine pancreatic disease. NATURE REVIEWS GASTROENTEROLOGY & HEPATOLOGY 2011, 8(7), 405-415.