Maidstone And Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust

CPSC Chair

Miss Karina Cox graduated from Imperial College School of Medicine at St Mary's in 1998 and completed her basic surgical training in London. She then spent two years as a clinical research fellow at Imperial College London investigating the function of immune cells in lymph nodes draining breast cancer.

London Regional Representative

Mr Dibyesh Banerjee MBBS MS FRCSEd FRCS, is a Consultant Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon based at St George’s University Hospital in Tooting, SW London. In his NHS and Private practice, he offers a wide range of Aesthetic, Oncoplastic and Reconstructive surgery. He has developed close links with his Plastic Surgery colleagues to offer the full range of surgical options – esp. autologous reconstructions – to his patients. This also allows him to adapt many of the finer aesthetic aspects into his repertoire. Mr Banerjee operates on over 160 breast cancer patients each year. He performs over 60 implant-based breast reconstructions annually, alongside similar numbers of breast augmentations, reductions, therapeutic mammoplasty and mastopexy procedures. These are for symmetrisation as well as for cosmetic surgery, in carefully selected cases. He maintains a high standard of practice, audits his results regularly and seeks patient feedback diligently.

Mr Banerjee qualified in 1990 from Madras University and commenced his Higher Surgical Training in the UK from 1994. He was appointed to his current post in 2004. His overseas experience includes attachments at the Plastic Surgery Dept at Emory University, Altanta and, at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, in NYC. He is an active faculty member of various training courses. He has served on the Advisory Board of some Breast Implant and mesh companies (on Honorary basis). As a keen surgical trainer and educator, he sits on the SW London Training Committee and is on the Faculty for National ST Selection. Mr Banerjee has been the Educational Supervisor and mentor to over 30 Breast Surgery trainees since 2005, many of whom have gone on to become Consultant Colleagues locally as well as, nationally. In his free time, he enjoys listening to music including jazz & blues and travelling. He is an active member of Surrey County Cricket Club.

Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

ABS Trustee

Professor Benson is a Consultant Breast Surgeon at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, Associate Lecturer, University of Cambridge and Visiting Professor, School of Medicine, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK. He has published widely in the field of breast diseases with authorship of more than 160 papers and has written/edited 7 books on breast cancer/reconstructive surgery (ranked in the top 0.084% of the world’s breast cancer experts). He is a former member of the Planning Committee for the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (2013 – 2015) and was a Trustee/member of the Executive Board of ABS until demitting from office in 2021.

ABS President

ABS President

Miss Leena Chagla is the President of the Association of Breast Surgery and past-President of the Liverpool and Northwest Society of Surgeons. She heads the breast unit at St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals which is actively involved in clinical innovation and trials. She continues to publish regularly in peer reviewed journals.

Leena qualified from Grant Medical College, Mumbai, with a gold medal in Surgery. Whilst in India, she trained at the Sir JJ Hospital and at the Tata Memorial Cancer Centre. Her passion for surgical oncology developed in those formative years.

She is a popular speaker both nationally and internationally and is involved in the development of guidelines for the management of breast cancer. She is passionate about MDT working and she launched the Anti-bullying Campaign (#CoreItOut) for ABS in alliance with RCSEd. She represented ABS on the pathology Big 18 and the organising committee of Symposia Mammographicum.

Leena was instrumental in setting up the International Forum at ABS with a view to sharing good practice globally.  She is committed to improving and standardising Breast cancer care through education and training. She is an Educational Supervisor for the National Oncoplastic Fellow and she is a Professional Clinical Advisor for screening to Public Health England.

Outside of work Leena is a keen sportswoman having played water-polo for Maharashtra, Liverpool and the Northern Counties at the highest level.

North West Regional Representative

East Midlands Regional Representative

Carol-Ann Courtney has been a Consultant Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon in Derby since 2007. Her interests outwith breast surgery are in medical education and she is the Locally Employed Doctors Tutor at her Trust and has been involved with the MS Oncoplastics course run by UEA for  many years. She looks forward to representing the views of her East Midlands colleagues. 

Buckinghamshire Hospitals NHS Trust

ABS & NHS BSP Screening Committee Chair

Mr Cunnick is a Consultant Breast Surgeon based in High Wycombe and he is the current Chair of Screening Surgeons Committee. Giles is also the current Chair of the ABS & NHS BSP Screening Audit Group.

University of Southampton

Sloane Project Rep

Ramsey Cutress is Professor of Breast Surgery and Consultant Surgeon at the University of Southampton and University Hospital Southampton. Ramsey was a member of the writing group for the NICE Early and Locally Advanced Breast Cancer Guideline (NG101) and the ABS BAPRAS Oncoplastic Breast Reconstruction Guidelines, and he is co-director of the ABS Advanced Skills in Breast Disease Management Course. His clinical research interests include breast cancer in young women as a member of the POSH study research team and the investigation of patient and host determinants of breast cancer outcomes including genetic predisposition, immunological and lifestyle factors. He is currently involved in various national research studies and clinical trials including the EndoNET HTA funded trail of neo-adjuvant endocrine therapy. He is Chair of the Academic and Research Committee of the Association of Breast Surgery (ABS) and breast sub-specialty editor for the Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons.

South West Regional Representative

Izzy works as a Consultant Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon in North Bristol NHS Trust and Weston General Hospital. She undertook her surgical training in the South West, followed by a fellowship in Perth, Western Australia.

James Paget Healthcare NHS Trust

ABS Vice President

Ms Downey qualified from Nottingham University in the last century and she undertook SHO training in Bristol, Research in Breast Cancer Oncology in Manchester and Registrar training in Yorkshire. Her first consultant post in Bradford for 4 years and moved to East Anglia in 2005. Sarah's first involvement in RCS was examiner for MRCS at time OSCE introduced. Acted on committee and then Chair of Court of Examiners for RCS England. Part of training committee since came to East Anglia in 2005. Undertook Divisional Director role in own hospital for 5 years – opened new daycase unit. Acted as regional Breast Screening QA Surgeon for 6 years. Joined SAC in 2015 and became regional TPD in 2018. Currently Chair of General Surgery SAC.  Undergraduate PBL tutor and online tutor for oncoplastic MS. Director of Screening for own Trust and also Clinical Appraisal Lead. Former TIG Chair and faculty on Advanced Breast Cancer Course. Currently Honorary Secretary of ABS.

Wythenshawe Hospital

Nursing Trustee

Katy is a Nurse Consultant in Breast at the Nightingale Breast Unit, Manchester Foundation Trust. Katy qualified as a registered nurse in 1996 and began her professional career in theatres before becoming a Surgical Care Practitioner. In 2006 Katy undertook a masters module in advanced skills in breast care before undertaking the Advanced Clinical Practice Msc at the University of Central Lancashire. Katy was a Lead Clinical Nurse Specialist in Breast care for 10 years in Stockport, a unit which supported newly diagnosed breast cancer patients through to palliative care. Since 2019 Katy has worked at MFT, initially in the role of Advanced Nurse Practitioner and more recently as a Nurse Consultant. In 2021 Katy was awarded, along with a colleague, the National Nursing Times Award in Cancer Care for the implementation of a telephone assessment clinic for breast pain. Katy’s current role is 50% clinical and 50% research and she is currently working towards her PhD.

Katy is passionate about her role as a nurse and the value that nursing brings to a patients experience.

Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

Mammary Fold Representative

Yasmin Hassen is an ST7 Breast Trainee on the Northwest Thames Rotation. She completed her medical studies at Imperial College London and returned to Imperial during her early registrar training to complete a PhD in Patient Safety culminating in international presentations of her work as well as publications in leading journals. She currently serves as the vice chair of the Mammary Fold.

South East Coast Regional Representative

Jon Horsnell is a Consultant Oncoplastic Surgeon who has worked at the Royal Surrey Hospital in Guildford since January 2017. He qualified from Bristol University in 2002 and subsequently completed his higher surgical breast training at hospitals in Bath, Bristol and Cheltenham. He was awarded a Doctorate in Medicine (DM) in 2013 following a period of research looking at axillary lymph node assessment using Raman Spectroscopy.  He subsequently completed fellowships in both Oncoplastic Surgery ( at the Royal Surrey County Hospital, Guildford and the Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead) as well as Reconstructive and Cosmetic Surgery (at the Royal Marsden Hospital).

Barts Health NHS Trust

Coding Representative

Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust

GiRFT Representative/ ABS Trustee

Tracey has been a Consultant Oncoplastic Surgeon in Guildford since 2009. She has a special interest in oncoplastic breast conservation, neoadjuvant chemotherapy and management of the axilla and runs the Guildford gene carrier clinic for patients in the KSS region. In 2015 she was awarded the Murray Brennan Scholarship by the American College of Surgeons and spent two months in the major cancer centres in the US. She has been Senior Clinical advisor for the breast Getting it Right First Time (GIRFT) programme since 2017 and is CQC Specialty Advisor for breast, setting up the new breast specialty specific inspection. In 2022 she was appointed National Clinical Lead for Breast Cancer.

Wales Regional Representative

East Suffolk & North Essex NHS Foundation Trust

Eastern Regional Representative

Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

Co-opted Member

Daniel is a Reader (Associate Professor) in Breast Surgery working in the Departments of BioSurgery and Surgical Technology, the Hamlyn Centre for Robotic Surgery and the Cancer Research UK Centre at Imperial College London. Daniel is Co-PI on the CRUK funded “REI-EXCISE” trial which seeks to validate a mass-spectrometry based intelligent knife or “iKnife” as an immediate margin detection system to improve the precision of breast conserving surgery, reduce re-operative intervention, and enhance
quality of life. He leads a UK wide team working on a CRUK-EPSRC funded project “MAMMOBOT” to design a flexible growing ductoscopic robot for early breast cancer detection. Daniel Co-Chairs the “Precision Therapy” theme of Imperial’s CRUK Centre and represents cancer surgery for the Imperial ECMC. He has published over 150 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals on subjects relating to the application of surgical technologies, sensing and robotics to improve cancer surgery. His teams research has won national and international recognition, including the Hounsfield Prize, British Journal of Surgery Prize (ABS), Patey Prize (SARS), Sir Pat Forrest Award (BBG), Parasuraman Award, Athanasiou Medal (ABME), and the young scientist award nomination at MICCAI. He has attracted funding from Industry (Waters Corp, Hitachi Medical Corp), the Academy of Medical Sciences and Wellcome Trust, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Association of Breast Surgery, Cancer Research UK, and the National Institute for Health and Care Research.

Daniel won the Ronald Raven Prize Travelling Fellowship to learn from experts in Breast Cancer and Reconstructive Surgery at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, the forefront Cancer Center in USA, and more recently the Price Thomas Fellowship of the Travelling Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland. More recently he won the highly prestigious James IV Travelling Association of Surgeons. He has delivered a number of key-note lectures including “McGuire Lecture in Surgical Oncology”(Queens University, Kingston, Canada).

Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Representative

Rick Linforth trained in the regional teaching hospitals of  Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool, and Leeds and completed his oncoplastic fellowship in Manchester in 2004. He was chair of the Mammary Fold in 2005.

He completed a higher degree as a Doctorate in Medicine (MD) in 2005 following a two- research period studying mechanisms of breast cancer metastasis.

He was appointed Consultant Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon at Bradford Teaching Hospitals in 2006, where he has held senior management posts including Divisional Clinical Director of all Surgical Specialties and Anaesthesia. He has also been the Breast Specialty lead and  MDT lead. He is a National Trainer in Breast Surgery for the Association of Breast Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS Eng). He holds dual fellowships from both the RCS England and RCS Edinburgh.

Oxford University NHS Trust

South East Central Regional Representative

I have been a Consultant Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon at Oxford University Hospitals since 2014. I trained in London and Oxford region and completed an oncoplastic fellowship in Stockholm, Sweden.

I have been involved in surgical education throughout my career and was the first Honorary Secretary of the Faculty of Surgical Trainers at RCS Edinburgh where we produced the guidelines for accreditation of Educational Supervisors adopted by the GMC. I have also been on the organising committee for ICOSET (International Conference on Surgical Education and Training) the largest conference of its kind in the world. I am also an RCS examiner.

I was delighted to be appointed as south central region ABS rep and I look forward to bringing the concerns and issues of my breast surgical colleagues to this national forum and work to maintain and improve clinical standards in breast surgery.

West Midlands Regional Representative

Northern Ireland Regional Representative

Society of Irish Breast Surgeons Representative

Damian McCartan commenced as a Consultant Breast and General Surgeon at St Vincent’s University Hospital, Dublin in September 2017.  His sub-specialist area of interest is oncoplastic breast surgery having completed international fellowships in oncoplastic and reconstructive breast surgery at the University Hospital of South Manchester in the UK and in breast surgical oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York.

Queen Elizabeth Hospital

Northern Regional Representative

Merseyside Regional Representative

Ninewells Hospital, Scotland

Scotland Regional Representative

Mr Vassilis Pitsinis is a Consultant Breast Surgeon and Clinical Lead for Breast Surgery in NHS Tayside (Ninewells Hospital and Medical School) with an interest in Oncoplastic Surgery. He is also an Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer in the University of Dundee Medical School.
His current research among other projects involves into breast cancer is focused on in a novel technique of replacing radioisotope and blue dye with fluorescence as localization for sentinel lymph node biopsy in early breast cancer. 
He has been elected as a Tayside Academic Health Science Partnership Clinical Fellow.  
He is the British Association of Breast Surgery (ABS) representative for Scotland and Medicolegal lead.

Communications Rep

BAPRAS Representative

Ruth Waters is a Consultant Plastic and Reconstructive surgeon at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital of the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust. She has specialised in all aspects of breast reconstruction but with a particular interest in microsurgical reconstruction and the surgical management of lymphoedema. She is the West Midlands representative on BAPRAS council and the breast TIG representative on the SAC