James Paget Healthcare NHS Trust

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.

University of Sheffield

Vice President

Lynda Wyld underwent surgical training in the UK, spending time in Sheffield, Nottingham and Manchester. She did her PhD at the University of Sheffield. She was appointed to an academic post at the University of Sheffield in 2002 and is now Professor of Surgical Oncology. Her clinical interest is the management of breast cancer in older women and she practices as a Consultant Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon at Doncaster Teaching Hospitals in the UK. Her main research interest is in age related inequalities in cancer surgery where she has led projects to improve outcomes and develop decision aids for older women with breast cancer. Her other career focus has been to develop training in breast cancer surgery and in particular to see the development of breast surgery as a specialty in its own right. She is a Trustee of the ABS and is the current secretary and President Elect of European Breast Exam Board.

The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust

Honorary Secretary

Dr Raghavan Vidya is a Senior lecturer at Birmingham University and Consultant Oncoplastic breast surgeon at the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust. She graduated from University of Madras, India followed by Postgraduate training in General Surgery. She completed her MD (Research) on aromatase inhibitors from University of Edinburgh. She has introduced and mentored new innovations including muscle-sparing implant-based breast reconstruction.  

She serves as a Trustee of the Association of Breast surgery and actively contributes to its working. Dedicated to teaching and training, she contributes actively as a Higher Surgical Trainer, delivers lectures, and runs workshops as invited faculty for national and international meetings. Through her role as Royal College, International Surgical Training Programme Lead for Breast Surgery, she is committed to advancing breast training. She has a strong focus towards clinical research exemplified by over 150 publications. She has published two books on breast reconstruction and an ebook on Global Breast Training in collaboration with RCS and ABS. She promotes clinical application of Genomics in NHS as Associate Director of Genomics in West Midlands.  She is actively involved in clinical trials and have a special interest in new technology and advances in breast surgery.

Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust

Honorary Treasurer

Henry Cain qualified in 2001 from Leicester Medical School. Following the award of MD in breast cancer signalling pathways and higher surgical training in Newcastle upon Tyne he spent a year as the Oncoplastic Fellow at the Canniesburn Unit in Glasgow. He was appointed a Consultant Oncoplastic Surgeon at the Royal Victoria Infirmary Newcastle upon Tyne in 2013. Henry Cain was the surgical QUIPP lead for the introduction of day case mastectomy pathway to the Royal Victoria Infirmary.  Henry Cain continues a commitment in teaching advanced oncoplastic breast surgery.  Driving improvements in surgical care he has led the introduction of Radioactive Seed Localisation of impalpable breast cancer and post neo-adjuvant chemotherapy I125 seed Targeted Axillary Dissection to the UK.  With a significant recruitment into national trials he is the surgical lead Co-Investigator for the NOSTRA trial and the Chief Investigator for the PRE-DX national RCT.

Mid and South Essex NHS Trust

Meetings Secretary

Yazan Masannat is a Consultant Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon based at Broomfield Hospital in Essex. He has many areas of specialist interest in Breast Cancer Surgery including Oncoplastic Breast Surgery, Breast Reconstruction, and Revision Surgery after breast cancer treatment.

Yazan has more than 80 peer reviewed publications and has been awarded numerous research grants. He is the Simulation Lead at Broomfield Hospital and a visiting Associate Professor at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge. He is also an Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer at Queen Mary’s University of London, the University of Aberdeen/Scotland and an E-Tutor with the University of East Anglia/England.  

He is the Meetings Secretary and an elected member of the Board of Trustees of the Association of Breast Surgery, in addition to being an examiner at the European Board of Surgical Oncology and the European Board of Breast Surgery exams (UEMS). 

Yazan is the creator of www.iBreastBook.com which is a free online resource with contributions from many of the leading Breast and Plastic surgeons across the world. The iBreastBook Webinar series, which started during the covid pandemic has been a huge international success. As a result, Yazan is regularly invited worldwide to lecture and teach on the different Oncoplastic Breast Surgical Techniques. 

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.

Maidstone And Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust

Clinical Practice & Standards Committee 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.

James Paget University Hospital

Education & Training Committee Chair

Sue Down is an Associate Professor at UEA and Consultant Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon and Clinical Lead for Breast surgery at the James Paget University Hospital. She Completed her initial surgical training in Manchester, and has a PhD in Cancer Studies at the University of Birmingham. She also Undertook a National TIG Oncoplastic Fellowship and was Chair of the National Breast Trainees Group. In addition to her clinical role, she is Course Director for several award winning Mastership programmes in Specialist Breast Surgery at the University of East Anglia and has broad experience in clinical assessment methods. Sue is the Current Chair of the National Education and Training committee, Association of Breast Surgery, UK.

Nightingale Breast Cancer Centre, Manchester, UK

Academic and Research Committee Chair

Cliona is an Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon at the Nightingale Breast Cancer Centre in Manchester, UK. She studied medicine, including a BSc in the History of Medicine, at Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School, London and University College London. Her surgical training was in London, Bristol, Bournemouth, South Africa and Greater Manchester. She completed a PhD entitled ‘The Role of Procoagulants in Cancer and Chemotherapy Induced Venous Thromboembolism’ at the University of Manchester in 2006.

She delivers and teaches in all forms of oncoplastic breast surgery including reconstruction. At the University of Manchester, she leads the Cancer and Thrombosis Research Group, performing basic, translational and clinical research, investigating the symbiotic relationship between cancer and thrombosis. She also supervises MRes, MD and PhD students.

She is Chief Investigator on the TIP Trial and CHAMPion Study and surgical lead for LORIS, PRIMETIME, POETIC-A and FAST-Forward Boost and is on the Sloane Committee. Cliona leads the Association of Breast Surgery guideline development group for Idiopathic Granulomatous Mastitis and is a key member of the International Society of Haemostasis and Thrombosis guideline development group for VTE in breast cancer. She is Director of the North West Surgical Trials Centre, and mentors the North West Research Collaborative and North West Breast Research Collaborative. She also chairs the Scientific Committee for the Prevent Breast Cancer charity.

In her personal life, she enjoys dressmaking, knitting and endurance sports, having previously completed two Ironmans and the Everest Marathon.

Worcestershire Royal Hospital

Aesthetic Breast Surgery Committee Chair

Steven Thrush is an experienced breast reconstructive and aesthetic surgeon who has been a Consultant Breast Surgeon in Worcester since 2004. He is passionate about education and has been involved with the the ABS (previously Royal College of Surgeons of England)  breast courses since 2005. He is also a module lead for the Oncoplastic Breast Masters Course run through University of East Anglia. He has lectured internationally and published numerous academic papers on breast surgery.

Luton and Dunstable University Hospital

International Committee Chair

Ruth James is a Consultant Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon at the Luton and Dunstable University Hospital. She is a member of the International Committee of the ABS.

Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust

Ordinary 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.

Frimley Park Hospital

Ordinary Trustee

Isabella has been a Consultant Oncoplastic Surgeon at Frimley Health NHS Trust since 2009, where she is the Clinical Lead for Frimley Park Breast Unit and The Parapet Unit in Windsor. She is passionate and dedicated in the training of oncoplastic breast surgery where she now mentors three Oncoplastic Fellows across the Trust. She was recently appointed Communications Ordinary Trustee to the ABS and she currently serves as Director of Course Development. Isabella has taught on the UEA Masters in Breast Oncoplastic Surgery for 13 years and has been the ABS Yearbook Editor since 2021. Her special interests include revisional surgery and using Lean methodology to improve efficiencies and surgical outcomes.

Ordinary Trustee

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.