Kneebone was born in February 1954 and attended Westminster School, London. He then studied medicine at St Andrews and Manchester universities. He received his PhD in surgical education from the University of Bath.
Career
Kneebone performed trauma procedures in the war zones of Southern Africa before returning to London in the late 1980s. Over the next 15 years he practised surgery at the localcottage hospital, while he also continued to practice as a general practitioner in Trowbridge, Wiltshire and becoming increasingly involved in GP training. Over the next decade he established an innovative national training programme for minor surgery within the primary care setting, based around simulation, computer-based learning and intensive workshops. In 2003, Kneebone left his practice to join Imperial College, London. Kneebone has worked with other professions to obtain insights into their working practices that can be applied in surgery. These include racing teams, puppeteers and jazz musicians, who all have distinctive skills such as the need for teamwork or careful timing. He has said that he feels that young surgeons required greater craft skills, and has worked with tailors to observe their skill in sewing. His published dialogue with instalment artist David Cotterrell concluded with one point being that a greater sense of truth and empathetic understanding could sometimes be obtained from historical medical sketches and paintings than from photographic images and that simulation challenges the "documentary framework". In 2005, with Dr Kirsten Dalrymple he commenced the United Kingdom's only Masters in Education in Surgical Education. In 2011, he became a National Teaching Fellow. In 2016, with Professor Aaron Williamon, he led the Royal College of Music – Imperial College Centre for Performance Science, tackling major challenges to performance in the arts, medicine, engineering, natural sciences, and business. With his co-director Dr Fernando Bello, he guides the Imperial College Centre for Engagement and Simulation Science, established within the Chelsea & Westminster campus, aiming to bring together clinicians, scientists, patients, the public and experts outside medicine.
Personal life
Kneebone lives in London. He is married and has two daughters. His hobbies include listening to jazz, playing the harpsichord and walking.
