In order to continue running the London General Surgical Skills Programme in some format for the second half of the 2019-20 academic year, we began a series of webinars via Zoom. These sessions covered a wide range of surgical topics and were led by a selection of our consultant trainers.

Sessions and trainers

Surgical webinars 2019-20

Surgical webinars 2020-21

Vascular training

Trainers

Ms Mairéad Aherne
Lead pharmacist (Vascular Surgery) at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

Mr Christopher Aylwin

Consultant vascular and trauma surgeon at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

Mr Christopher Aylwin qualified from Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry in 1999. His training in vascular surgery was in the North East Thames region. He has a particular interest in major trauma and was trained at the Royal London Hospital, as well as undertaking a year’s trauma fellowship at the trauma unit of Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town. He also supplemented his training with a vascular fellowship at St Thomas' Hospital. Expertise- Major trauma, vascular surgery, varicose veins, claudication, carotid disease, abdominal aortic aneurysm Research & publications- Research interests include trauma training and metabolic profiling of trauma patients.

Twitter: @cjaylwin

Mr Neal Banga
Consultant surgeon at Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust

Mr Banga is a Consultant Transplant and Endocrine Surgeon at the Royal Free. His main interests are renal transplantation, robotic & laparoscopic surgery, and adrenal & retroperitoneal tumours. Having first worked on the transplant unit at St James’s Hospital in Leeds, Neal completed his general surgery training in London and then underwent specialist training in renal transplantation and minimally invasive renal/adrenal surgery at Guy’s and the Royal Free hospitals.

Specialities:
Renal Transplant
Endocrinology

Special Interests:
Renal Transplantation
Robotic and Laparoscopic Surgery
Adrenal and Retroperitoneal Surgery
Parathyroid Surgery

Miss Lindsey Barker
Consultant Colorectal and General surgeon at King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Mrs Ritchie Chalmers
Consultant Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon at Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust

Mrs Chalmers read Medicine at Keble College in Oxford and undertook clinical training at the John Radcliffe Hospital. She trained as a general surgeon with an interest in breast cancer surgery in Leeds, London and the South East and subsequently undertook a Fellowship in Oncoplastic Surgery at the Canniesburn Unit in Glasgow. This combined training has allowed her to offer techniques to preserve the breast wherever possible and to reconstruct the breast in the event of mastectomy. She continues to be interested in clinical and translational research and has a PhD for studies looking at mechanisms to disrupt tumour blood supply. Mrs Chalmers teaches regularly, both trainee surgeons, GP trainees and on courses at the RCS in London. Breast Surgery has changed greatly in the last decade with many new plastic surgical techniques now on offer to improve cosmetic outcomes. She now works as a Consultant Surgeon at Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells and is part of a superb breast care team.

Mr Jeremy Crane
Consultant transplant and vascular surgeon at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

Mr Crane is a consultant transplant and vascular surgeon based in London. He is an honorary senior lecturer and the lead for education and training in transplant and vascular access surgery at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. His practice encompasses kidney and pancreas transplantation, dialysis access surgery, vascular surgery (including varicose vein surgery) and he has a specialist interest in treating chronic wounds. After qualifying from the University of Liverpool in 1997, Jeremy completed his house jobs at the Royal Liverpool University, St George’s, Chelsea and Westminster, St Mary’s and Great Ormond Street hospitals. He underwent higher surgical training in north west London, completing vascular surgery training at St Mary’s Hospital and specialist transplantation surgery training at Hammersmith, St George’s and Guy’s hospitals.

Further reading: https://www.imperial.nhs.uk/consultant-directory/jeremy-crane

Mr Michael Dialynas
Consultant vascular surgeon at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust

Michael was appointed consultant vascular surgeon at Kings College Hospital in 2009 with the view to expand the endovascular aortic service. He has organised and expanded the aortic service at Darent Valley hospital in Kent which he runs along with A Mcirvine a full outpatient vascular service. Michael is an active trainer for juniors and teaches various courses mainly for endovascular aneurysmal disease. Michael graduated from Athens Medical School. He completed a full training programme in the UK with his specialist registrar training in the North East Thames region. He was awarded an MS for his thesis on the effects of oestrogens in the regulation of VEGF and NO and completed a two year fellowship in complex open and endovascular aortic work at St Mary’s Hospital, London.

Specialist interests:
Open and endovascular complex aortic disease
Thoracoabdominal aneurysms
Distal leg ischaemia and revascularisation, redo surgery
Endovenous ablation of varicose veins.

Professor George Hanna
Consultant Upper GI Surgeon at Imperial College Healthcare Trust

George Hanna was trained in Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, Scotland in laparoscopic and oesophago-gastric surgery. He obtained FRCS (Edinburgh) in 1993 and PhD (University of Dundee) on the ergonomics of laparoscopic surgery in 1997. He joined Imperial College as Clinical Senior Lecturer and Upper Gastrointestinal Consultant Surgeon in 2003 and promoted to Reader in 2005 and Professor of Surgical Sciences in 2008. He became the Head of Division of Surgery in 2012. Professor Hanna’s clinical work is based at St Mary’s and Hammersmith Hospitals, and includes oesophageal and gastric cancer and advanced laparoscopic surgery. The current interests of his laboratory revolve around volatile organic compounds analysis for biomarker discovery and understanding the molecular drivers of volatile compounds in an attempt to develop non-invasive breath test to diagnose oesophageal and gastric cancer.

Further reading: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/g.hanna

Mr Alberto Isla
Consultant upper GI surgeon at London North West Healthcare NHS Trust

Alberto Isla has been a Consultant Upper GI surgeon in West London for the last 13 years. He joined St Marks in April 2010. He is purely a laparoscopic upper GI surgeon with an interest and track record in benign and malignant laparoscopic gastroesophageal surgery and obesity, laparoscopic management of complex gallbladders and bile ducts and laparoscopic management of pancreatic insulinomas and adrenal tumours.

Mr Michael Jenkins
Consultant vascular surgeon at St Mary's Hospital

Mr Michael Jenkins trained at the Middlesex Hospital, London and qualified in 1989 as the Broderip Scholar. He trained in surgery at Charing Cross, University College London, the Royal Brompton and Royal Free hospitals and was awarded the Gold medal at FRCS. Appointed as a consultant to St Mary’s and Chelsea and Westminster hospitals in 2001, he has since developed both a local and a national tertiary referral practice. He currently serves on the council of the Vascular Society of Great Britain and Ireland, is chairman of the Circulation Foundation and is President of the British Society of Endovascular Therapy. He has an international reputation as a speaker, is a well recognised teacher and examines for the European vascular exit exam, FEBVS.

Expertise: Aortic aneurysms, stroke and carotid disease, claudication, diabetic foot, varicose veins, carotid surgery, stroke prevention

Further reading: https://www.imperial.nhs.uk/consultant-directory/michael-jenkins

Mr Jonathan Knowles
Consultant general surgeon at Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust

Mr Knowles has specialist interests in colorectal cancer, inflammatory bowel disease and laparoscopic surgery. He studied at Magdalen College Oxford and the Royal Free Hospital. He completed a year fellowship in Melbourne, Australia in 2012 in complex colorectal cancer and laparoscopic/robotic surgery.

Mr Daniel Leff
Clinical senior lecturer and honorary consultant oncoplastic breast surgeon at Imperial College Healthcare Trust

Mr Leff trained in oncoplastic breast surgery at several centres of excellence including the breast unit at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. He completed advanced training in oncoplastic breast surgery as a national oncoplastic fellow (one of only nine posts awarded in the UK) at Broomfield Hospital and the St Andrews Centre for Plastic Surgery in Chelmsford, Essex. Mr Leff has completed a master of surgery degree in oncoplastic breast surgery, graduating with distinction, and was recently awarded the Gukas Medal for outstanding achievement. Mr Leff sees patients in diagnostic breast clinics and performs all forms of breast cancer surgery and implant-based breast reconstruction. His research interests include studying and improving surgical performance and minimising re-operation rates following breast conserving surgery through innovative technologies.

Mr Mark Ornstein
Senior lecturer and hon consultant surgeon at QMUL and Homerton University Hospital

I am a general surgeon with nearly forty years experience specialising in breast disease but other interests include hernia, abdominal disease, minor trauma such as whiplash injuries and urology. I provide medico-legal reports for Doctors Chambers, Mobile Doctors, ewitness, Forensic Healthcare Services, Harley Street Medico Legal Services, Legal Reports & Services and Speed Medical Examination Services. I also provide reports for eighteen individual solicitors and a list can be provided. I can see clients in central London, North London and Guildford and am prepared to travel elsewhere if necessary. I regularly attend medico-legal updating courses and seminars such as those of Bond Solon and The Expert Witness Institute.

Further reading: http://www.marcusornstein.co.uk/

Mr Ashish Patel
Consultant vascular surgeon at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust

Ashish Patel is a Clinical Senior Lecturer specialising in vascular surgery at King’s College London and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, London. He was awarded a British Heart Foundation Clinical PhD Studentship and graduated with a PhD in in 2013, focussing on monocyte/macrophage biology in neovascularisation. He completed his Higher Surgical Training in General & Vascular Surgery as a Clinical Academic Lecturer at King’s College London & Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, during which time he received an Academy of Medical Sciences Grant and the Circulation Foundation’s George Davies Visionary Award. Dr Patel is trained in open and endovascular surgery and his research interests involves the development of novel advanced therapies for treatment of the ischemic limb, including cell and gene therapy.

Further reading: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/ashish-patel

Miss Celia Riga
Consultant vascular surgeon and clinical senior lecturer at Charing Cross Hospital and St Mary's Hospital

Miss Celia Theodoreli-Riga is a consultant vascular surgeon and clinical senior lecturer in surgery at the Trust. She is the Head of School of Surgery (HEE) and is responsible for the quality of surgical training in London for more than 1500 trainees. She previously served as the surgical training committee chair and training programme director in vascular surgery for the London region. She serves on the UKRI/EPSRC Healthcare Technologies Strategic Advisory Board.

Miss Riga is also an honorary consultant surgeon at The Royal Marsden Foundation Trust. She qualified from Imperial College London in 2003. She completed her higher surgical training in London with placements at Charing Cross, Northwick Park and St Mary’s hospitals. She obtained a doctorate in medicine from Imperial College and was appointed a clinical lecturer in surgery in 2010. She became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 2014. Her clinical expertise includes aortic aneurysms, occlusive vascular disease, endovenous management of varicose veins, carotid disease and stroke prevention, aortic dissection and endovascular robotic surgery. She has introduced team training and simulation programmes to the current vascular curriculum in collaboration with the patient safety research group.

She has an international reputation as a speaker with over 300 podium presentations, over 100 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters. She has significant experience in Medtech and clinical translation for medical devices. She sits on the New Interventional Procedures Committee which regulates and monitors clinical adoption of novel devices and techniques across all Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust sites. She serves as an examiner for Imperial College and Oxford University. Her research interests focus on innovative techniques for the treatment of arterial and venous disease, training and education, incorporating new advances in technology. She works closely with the engineering group at the Hamlyn Centre, Imperial College London.

Miss Riga has led the translational endovascular robotic research theme at Imperial College, publishing the first pre-clinical evidence for the advantages of robotic technology in complex endovascular tasks such as supra-aortic branch intervention and fenestrated endografting. Her research has won 30 national and international prizes, attracting over £10million in funding including a UK flagship EPSRC investment to make Imperial the UK’s largest translational micro-robotics facility.

Expertise: Aortic aneurysms, occlusive vascular disease, venous disease and endovenous management, carotid disease and stroke prevention, aortic dissection, endovascular robotic surgery

Further reading: https://www.imperial.nhs.uk/consultant-directory/celia-theodoreli--riga

Dr Ganan Sritharan
Consultant geriatrician and physician, vascular surgery liaison at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

Dr Ganan Sritharan attended the University of Oxford and University College London. His special interests are in vascular surgery liaison, pre-operative assessment and optimisation and surgical rehabilitation including that involving amputees. He provides embedded medical liaison to the vascular surgery team at St Mary's Hospital, caring for patients of all ages. Expertise Geriatric medicine, Pre-assessment for surgery Research & publications Vascular surgery pre-operative assessment and perioperative management. Clinical 'Flow Coaching Academy' member, developing a vascular surgery-tailored patient pathway. Frailty assessment in vascular surgery patients. Education including perioperative medicine for the surgical trainee.

Mr Adrian Steger
Consultant General Surgeon at Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust

Mr Phil Tozer
Consultant Colorectal Surgeon at London North West Healthcare NHS Trust

Mr Tozer was trained as a general and colorectal surgeon in London with a focus of both his clinical and academic training under Professor Robin Phillips at St Mark’s Hospital. His thesis in idiopathic and Crohn’s anal and rectovaginal fistula was the beginning of a passionate interest in advanced proctology and IBD. His clinical and academic work continue to focus on these areas of the Fistula Research at St Mark’s. He has published numerous papers in scientific journals on these topics and supervises research fellows in the FRU, continuing research on aetiology, investigation and novel treatments for fistula. 

Twitter: @philtozer1

Mr Vincent Yip
Consultant HPB and General surgeon at Bart's Health NHS Trust

Mr Yip is a specialist in treating gallstones and biliary disease, pancreatic and liver pathologies, hernias, and all general surgical procedures. He is currently a consultant Hepato-pancreatico-biliary (HPB)/ General Surgeon at the Royal London Hospital. Mr Yip graduated from the University of Glasgow in 2000. He undertook his Doctor of Medicine research degree on acute pancreatitis at the University of Edinburgh between 2003 – 2006. His higher surgical training was at the Mersey Deanery from 2006 to 2013. He was trained by imminent Professor John Neoptolemos in pancreatic surgery and Professor Graeme Poston for liver surgery in Liverpool. To advance his HPB surgical skills, he undertook his post specialist training fellowship at Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong University and King’s College Hospital, London for 2 years in HPB and Liver transplantation.

Further reading: https://www.bmihealthcare.co.uk/consultants/vincent-yip#gdpr-out

Professor Giovanni Zaninotto
Consultant upper GI surgeon at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

In 2013 Prof Zaninotto became Clinical Senior Lecturer and Consultant at the Department of Surgery and Cancer at Imperial College London (St Mary's Hospital) and Senior Teaching Fellow at the same University from 2014 to 2016. He is currently Visiting Professor at Imperial College where he continues to contribute to the teaching and research activity Editor in Chief of the Diseases of the Esophagus magazine.

"My main clinical interests are represented by both functional and neoplastic esophageal diseases and by laparoscopic and minimally invasive surgery. I am part of the board of the International Society for Esophageal Diseases (ISDE) and I am the co-Chairman of the Program Committee of the European Society of Endoscopic Surgery (EAES). In Italy my work soon as a consultant for Esophageal Diseases at the Policlinico di Abano".