Ben Dixon

Professor Ben Dixon is the inaugural Garnett Passe and Rodney Williams Professor of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery in the Department of Surgery, Melbourne Medical School, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at the University of Melbourne. He earned his MBBS (Hons) from Monash University in 2001, FRACS from the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 2010, and PhD from the University of Melbourne in 2017 on surgeon-computer interface design. Following Melbourne-based training in Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, he completed a two-year Head and Neck Surgical Oncology fellowship at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, acquiring expertise in cancer ablation, thyroid surgery, endoscopic skull base surgery, and microvascular reconstruction, and received a fellowship diploma from the American Head and Neck Society. He underwent additional training in robotic surgery at the University of Pennsylvania before establishing the Transoral Robotic Surgery program at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, where he remains Melbourne's most experienced practitioner of this technique.

As Director of the ENT, Head and Neck Surgery Department at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, Prof Dixon specializes in head and neck cancer, parotid surgery, transoral robotic surgery for oropharyngeal and parapharyngeal tumours, thyroid cancer, rhinology and sinus surgery, endoscopic skull base surgery, and snoring surgery. He chairs the Head and Neck Cancer Multidisciplinary Meetings at St Vincent’s and Epworth Hospitals. His research focuses on surgeon-computer interface design, image-guided surgery, integration of technology into the operating theatre, transoral robotic surgery for salvage cases, endoscopic and open skull base surgery, and reconstruction techniques including extended orbital exenteration. Key publications include 'Transoral robotic surgery: implementation as a tool in head and neck surgery—a single-centre Australian experience,' 'Outcomes of Craniofacial Resection in Elderly Patients: A 12-Year Review from Two Centers,' 'Surgical outcomes and longitudinal quality of life after endoscopic endonasal resection of craniopharyngioma,' 'Predictors of distress associated with altered appearance and function in people treated surgically for oral cancers—a cross-sectional study,' and 'A cross-sectional study of hybrid reconstruction of the anterior skull base following extended endoscopic transnasal resection of skull base tumours.' Prof Dixon leads academic programs advancing research in head and neck cancer and skull base surgery.