In the classrooms of Medical College, Kolkata, a young student named Prokar Dasgupta graduated with his MBBS in 1989. He carried with him a clear ambition: to push the boundaries of what surgery could achieve. Soon he left for the United Kingdom, where advanced training and research would shape the rest of his career.

He earned his FRCS, specialised in urology, and in 2002 became a consultant urologist at Guy’s Hospital in London. There he pioneered robotic surgery in his field within the UK. In 2009 he was appointed the first Professor of Robotic Surgery and Urological Innovation at King’s College London, later chairing the King’s College–Vattikuti Institute of Robotic Surgery.

One of his early innovations became known worldwide as the “Dasgupta technique”—a method of injecting Botulinum toxin into the bladder wall using a flexible cystoscope to treat overactive bladder. The procedure brought relief to millions of patients. He led early robotic kidney retrievals for transplant, image-guided and 3D-printed prostatectomies, and groundbreaking trials in telerobotics.

A colleague once asked him after a complex robotic case, “How do you keep pushing the technology forward while still focusing on the patient?”

Prokar answered thoughtfully, “The robot is only a tool. The real skill is knowing when and how to use it so that the patient recovers faster and with less pain. Innovation must always serve the person on the table.”

He has published more than a thousand papers, trained hundreds of surgeons, edited the British Journal of Urology International, and advanced surgical simulation across the world. Honours followed: the St Peter’s Medal, the King James IV Professorship, Fellowship of King’s College, an OBE for services to surgery and science, and in 2022 the Padma Shri from the Government of India.

Even as his reputation grew internationally, he remained connected to his roots and to the idea that advanced care should reach further. From the lecture halls of Kolkata to the robotic operating theatres of London, Professor Prokar Dasgupta has spent a lifetime turning precise technology into gentler, more effective healing for patients around the world.