Paul Abrams received his MB ChB in 1970 from Sheffield University Medical School, was appointed a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1974, received his research MD from Bristol in 1977 and was accredited in Urology in 1981. He was also a Nuffield Travelling Scholar to Hong Kong (1968), Education Officer for the British Medical Student Association (1968-1969) and President of the Sheffield Medical Society (1969-1970). Paul Abrams
MD FRCS is Professor of Urology at the University of Bristol, Consultant Urological
Surgeon at Southmead Hospital, Bristol and was Director of the Bristol Urological Institute until recently. His special fields of interest include incontinence, urodynamics and voiding dysfunction.
Professor Abrams served as General Secretary of the International Continence Society (ICS) from 1985 to 2003. During that time he made the society a true multidisciplinary international forum for research and education in incontinence. He was instrumental in
creating several ICS standardisation reports. In addition, he was Chairman of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th International WHO International Consultations on Incontinence. He chaired the Urodynamic Sub-committee of the International WHO Consultation on Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia, was co-chair of the 2005 Consultation on Male Lower Urinary Tract Dysfunction and Vice-Chairman of the International Consultation on Urological Diseases (ICUD). He was deputy editor of Neurourology & Urodynamics (1995-2006). He has contributed chapters to over 30 academic books & produced over 300 journal articles & published abstracts. He also
founded the ICS-UK (now UKCS) and most recently the ICI Research Society (2009).
Over the years, he has trained several urologists, both nationally and internationally, who have gone on to become consultant urological surgeons with an interest in functional urology.
His contribution to the ICS and to the field of Functional Urology merits the ICS Lifetime Achievement Award and Honorary Membership. Paul Abrams changed the ICS from a small club of enthusiasts into a multidisciplinary society which began to exert a real influence on incontinence research across the world. During the period when Paul Abrams ran the ICS, the society became a truly international scientific society and began to be recognised by major urological and gynaecological associations.