and was elected the Hunterian professorship with a lecture titled "The Investigation and Management of the Neurogenic Bladder". It was published in the Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, where Kirby showed how the use of EMG could distinguish between people with pelvic nerve injury, distal autonomic neuropathy, progressive autonomic failure– multiple system atrophy, and idiopathic Parkinson's disease, thus influencing the selection of people for surgery via the urethra. In 1986, as the PSA test was coming into use, Kirby was also appointed consultant urologist at St Bartholomew's Hospital, London, and later took over from John Wickham. Kirby subsequently became one of the first urologists in the UK to perform open radical prostatectomy for localised prostate cancers. After watching American urologist Patrick C. Walsh at the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, perform open radical prostatectomies for prostate cancer, while simultaneously preserving pelvic nerves, he became a staunch advocate of the procedure. In 1995, he became a professor of urology and director of Postgraduate Education at St George's Hospital, London. By 2005, using a suprapubic transverse incision, Kirby was performing around 130 of these operations a year. Most of these procedures were performed with colleague and anaesthetist Peter Amoroso. The Prostate Centre In 2005, Kirby established The Prostate Centre in Wimpole Street, London. He had previously been watching the development of robotic prostatectomies, and in 2005, for the purpose of performing laparoscopic prostatectomies, a da Vinci surgical robot was acquired. This provided better vision of the pelvic nerves and at the age of 55, he became one of the first surgeons in England to use one. From 2005, the Centre therefore offered minimally invasive laparoscopic prostatectomy with a more holistic approach, advising on a wide range of men's health, including diet and exercise. Over the course of his surgical career, he undertook over 2000 radical prostatectomy operations, of which most of the later ones were robotic. His high-profile patients have included Corin Redgrave, Tony Elliott and Stephen Fry. Fundraising and charities In 1995, Kirby helped found two charities: Prostate Research Campaign and The British Urological Foundation, later renamed The Urology Foundation, which was established with funds from the British Journal of Urology International and the British Association of Urological Surgeons. His fundraising activities have included climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, trekking in Nepal and cycling across the Andes. By 2005, he had completed three London Marathons. In 2010, he stepped down