Dr Xand van Tulleken
Xand’s main interests and expertise lie in Public Health, Medicine, Humanitarian Aid and Anthropology.
Alongside his twin brother Chris, Xand presents CBBC’s Operation Ouch! The series has been a huge global success, involving self-experimentation and lab work to find weird and wonderful ways of showing kids what goes on in hospitals, and inside our bodies. The seventh series has just started filming, previous series having won many nominations and two children's BAFTA awards plus a Broadcast Award for Best Children's programme. Their second Operation Ouch tour of Australia this January was a massive hit, selling out all venues including the Sydney Opera House. Plans for a UK tour are on the horizon in 2018.
In 2017 Xand’s solo projects included a thrilling anthropology / adventure series, Expedition Volcano, for BBC2 and a BBC1 current affairs film, Fighting For Air, about the horrific levels of pollution in British cities, and how it affects us and our children. Both programmes were critically acclaimed. Xand also filmed ‘Truth About Carbs’, which is due to air early in 2018 on BBC1.
Last year saw Xand publish no less than three new books – How to Lose Weight Well, to accompany the hit Channel 4 series; Operation Ouch! The HuManual - a book all about human biology for children; and Secrets of the Human Body which tied in with his and Chris’ ground-breaking BBC2 Science series.
Xand's first solo Horizon about the online dating phenomenon in 2016 gained him many admirers! 2016 also saw Chris and Xand report on the harrowing winter migrant crisis in Frontline Doctors for BBC One, and Xand presented his second solo Horizon on Doping in Sport. Xand’s next Horizon for 2018 will explore the sensitive issue of Male suicide.
In the US, Xand has been a health reporter for CNN. He was at the forefront of the Ebola crisis, appearing on US networks including Al Jazeera, MSNBC, FOX5 and BBC world service. In 2016 he also filmed his first US series for MSNBC, ‘The Chain’, a series that dramatically unpicked real medical mysteries.
Xand and Chris grew up in London, they both studied medicine at Oxford University and Xand specialised in Tropical medicine. As a junior doctor he worked in the genocide in Darfur and this inspired a passion for the politics and medicine of conflict zones which lead to his Academic appointment at Fordham in the US. He has now moved back to London to concentrate on writing, Broadcasting, and healthcare in the UK.
TV CREDITS
XAND
Truth About Carbs, BBC One, 2018
Horizon: Male Suicide, BBC Two 2018
Fighting for Air, BBC One, 2018
Expedition Volcano, BBC Two, 2017
How to Lose Weight Well, Channel 4, 2016, 2017, & 2018
Horizon: Sports Doping - Winning at any Cost?, BBC2, 2016
Horizon: How to Find Love Online, BBC Two, 2016
US News health expert on networks/shows such as:
BBC America
Rachael Ray Show
MSNBC
Al Jazeera America
Al Jazeera English
Dr Oz Show
Exclusive CNN health expert Sept/Oct 2014
Kill or Cure, BBC Worldwide
CHRIS & XAND
The Human Body: Secrets of Your Life Revealed, BBC Two, 2017
Frontline Doctors: Winter Migrant Crisis, BBC1, 2016
Horizon, Is Binge Drinking Really That Bad?, BBC2, 2015
Blow Your Mind, CBBC, 2014
Horizon, Sugar V Fat, BBC2, 2014
Operation Ouch, CBBC (5x series) 2011 – ongoing
Which Doctor? Sky One, 1x1hour pilot
The Secret Life of Twins, BBC1, 2009
Medicine Men Go Wild, Channel 4, 4x1hour, 2008