About
Trained at Harvard. Practising in Sydney.
Paediatric ENT, rhinology and endoscopic skull base surgery — grounded in Australian training and international fellowship experience.
Dr Catherine Banks is an otolaryngologist — head and neck surgeon based in Sydney, with subspecialty expertise in paediatric ENT, rhinology and endoscopic skull base surgery. She holds public appointments at Sydney Children's Hospital and Prince of Wales Hospital, Randwick, and consults privately at Prince of Wales Private Hospital and St Luke's Private Hospital.
Her training spans three continents. After graduating in medicine from the University of Auckland, she completed otolaryngology training in Australia, attaining Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 2016. She then undertook two international fellowships: in rhinology and skull base surgery at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and in rhinology at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston.
At Sydney Children's Hospital she is a founding member of the Base of Skull Service (BOSS) and serves as its Fellowship Director, and she contributes to multidisciplinary teams spanning skull base, head and neck, pituitary, vasculitis and cystic fibrosis care. She is an examiner for the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and a Conjoint Senior Clinical Lecturer at UNSW, where she is completing an NHMRC-funded PhD in sinus stem cell therapeutics.
Qualifications & Fellowships
- 2019Clinical Fellow in Rhinology, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Boston, USA
- 2018Clinical Fellow in Rhinology and Skull Base Surgery, University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA
- 2016Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons — FRACS (OHNS)
- 2000Bachelor of Medicine & Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB), University of Auckland, New Zealand
Hospital Appointments
- Sydney Children's Hospital, Randwick — VMO
- Prince of Wales Hospital, Randwick — VMO
- Prince of Wales Private Hospital, Randwick — VMO
- St Luke's Private Hospital, Potts Point — VMO
The value of public hospital appointments
Dr Banks holds active public appointments at Sydney Children's Hospital and Prince of Wales Hospital, Randwick — a deliberate cornerstone of her practice alongside her private rooms.
A public appointment at a tertiary teaching hospital is not honorary. It means a surgeon is credentialled and continuously peer-reviewed by the hospital; serves on the on-call roster for ENT emergencies — as Dr Banks does at both Sydney Children's Hospital and Prince of Wales Hospital; cares for the most complex and acute cases in the public system; works within multidisciplinary teams alongside colleagues in neurosurgery, ophthalmology, respiratory medicine and oncology; and trains the next generation of ENT specialists. This everyday engagement with emergency and complex care keeps a surgeon's skills broad, current and independently scrutinised.
When choosing a specialist, patients and referrers may find it helpful to ask whether a surgeon holds a current appointment at a public teaching hospital.
Leadership & Academic Roles
Founding Member & Fellowship Director
Base of Skull Service (BOSS), Sydney Children's Hospital
Establishing and directing a dedicated paediatric skull base service on the Randwick campus.
Examiner, Court of Examiners
Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS), ASOHNS
Appointed 2025; SET selection panellist since 2021.
Supervisor of Training (ASOHNS)
Sydney Children's Hospital, Randwick
Supervisor of surgical training and NSW Regional Training Committee member, 2020–2025.
Conjoint Senior Clinical Lecturer
University of New South Wales, Medicine
Randwick Clinical Campus, 2020–present.
Multidisciplinary Team Commitments
- Base of Skull Service (BOSS), Sydney Children's Hospital — founding member
- Head and Neck MDT, Prince of Wales Hospital
- Neuro/Pituitary MDT, Prince of Wales Hospital
- Vasculitis MDT, Prince of Wales Hospital
- Cystic Fibrosis MDT, Sydney Children's Hospital