Committees

Mr Khout was appointed as a Consultant Oncoplastic Breast surgeon in 2013. He joined Nottingham Breast Institute in 2015 and introduced the Oncoplastic Forum (OPF) to streamline oncoplastic and reconstruction pathway. 

Mr Khout has special interest in using new technologies to facilitate decision making in oncoplastic surgery. He is also interested in minimising inequality in accessing oncoplastic procedures. 

Research interests include breast cancer translational research; breast cancer clinical trials and peri-surgical window studies and nutritional and metabolic determinants of breast cancer outcome.

Research interests include Improving outcomes in breast reconstruction; Surgical trials methodology; Feasibility studies using mixed (qualitative and quantative) methods; Systematic reviews. Other roles include Chair of the Mammary Fold Academic & Research Collaborative (MFAC) and Trainee member of the NCRI Breast Clinical Studies Group.

Sarah Clark has been a Consultant Oncoplastic Breast & Skin Surgeon at Poole Hospital since 2014. She was awarded an MD in 2009 for her work on immunohistochemical profiling of DCIS. The Poole breast unit takes part in multiple national clinical trials in both  the neoadjuvant and adjuvant setting, including recently the POETIC, SERD2 and iBRA 1 and 2 trials and are currently recruiting to Primetime, POSNOC, i-BRA, Nostra and PARTNER.  She has a particular research interest in Nipple discharge and  implant based reconstruction and has set up the NUND Study which is soon to launch. 

Rajiv is a consultant surgeon in the Nightingale & Genesis Breast Cancer Prevention Centre, at Wythenshawe Hospital, which is recognised as one of the largest Breast symptomatic and screening units in the UK. This is a recognised centre of excellence, providing complex oncoplastic breast surgery and leading on new technology. His specialist surgical training, which spanned over 10 years, includes a TIG Oncoplastic fellowship in Manchester, and an International Fellowship (Breast, Endocrine and Melanoma) in Melbourne, Australia.

Beatrix Elsberger has been a Consultant Breast Surgeon at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary since 2018.She undertook her surgical training  in Scotland and completed a fellowship at the Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. She was awarded a PhD in 2011 (University of Glasgow) investigating the role of Src kinase in Breast cancer. She has recently been awarded a three-year NRS academic fellowship to pursue her research interests comprising clinical trials and translational biomarker research. 

Toral is a Senior Clinical Research Fellow in Clinical Epidemiology at the Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford and Consultant Surgeon at the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. She is the lead principal investigator on several research projects in the UK and India. Her portfolio of work is focused on her main interests which are the epidemiology of breast cancer in women of different ethnicities in the UK and the early diagnosis of cancer as a global health concern. 

Research interests include the management of breast cancer in older women and treatment choices for women with breast cancer.

Research interests include investigation of potential biomarkers in breast cancer patients treated with neoadjuvant systemic therapy. Previously on steering group for the TeaM study. Other previous roles include chair of the Mammary Fold and member of the Mammary Fold Academic & Research committee

Research interests include Chemoprevention in high risk patient groups; Biomarker driven studies in the neoadjuvant treatment of breast cancer; Use of three dimensional surface imaging technologies in breast surgery. Other roles include Deputy Director Northern Cancer Ireland Cancer Trials Network and Member, NCRI Breast Clinical Studies Group.

Jenna is an NIHR Clinical Lecturer in Breast Surgery in the Yorkshire and Humber Deanery. She completed her PhD in 2015, examining the variation of treatment of older breast cancer patients. She is involved in Cochrane, having sat one of their editorial boards and authoring five reviews; she is Secretary of the iBRAnet Localisation group; and she sits on the Steering Committees of several national breast surgery trials, including Bridging the Age Gap in Breast Cancer, SMALL, and MARECA. Her personal research interests include treatment decision making and the management of older cancer patients.

Twitter: @BreastSurgeon

Mr Neill Patani  BSc (Hons) MBBS (Hons) PhD FRCS, is a Consultant Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon (UCLH), Honorary Associate Professor (UCL Cancer Institute) and Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Francis Crick Institute). He has an academic interest in laboratory, translational and clinical breast cancer research and has received prestigious grants and funding from the Wolfson Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Royal College of Surgeons and Medical Research Council. He was awarded 1st Class Honours for his BSc in Tumour Biology at UCL and completed his PhD in Breast Cancer at the Royal Marsden Hospital and Institute of Cancer Research. Working collaboratively with scientists, oncologists and radiologists, Neill is currently exploring how breast cancer metabolism can be targeted for functional imaging and novel therapies. He is also involved in clinical trials studying the optimal sequencing of breast cancer treatments and the de-escalation of surgery following neo-adjuvant therapy. As an Honorary Clinical Fellow for the national Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) quality improvement initiative, Neill contributed to evaluating and learning from litigation in breast surgery.

Research interests include prediction of local treatment side-effects (toxicity) in the breast using clinical and molecular markers, population-based studies of breast surgery and reconstruction outcomes, and qualitative exploration of patients’ views of breast cancer treatments and clinical decision-making.  As academic surgical trainee, other leadership roles include Member of the international Radiogenomics Consortium, Member of the Mammary Fold Academic & Research Committee, and co-PI on two national trainee collaborative studies.

Research interests include geriatric oncology, psychooncology, data modelling, mixed methods research (qualitative and quantitative), quality of life research and clinical trials.   She leads the Age Gap study of cancer outcomes in older women with early breast cancer.

Research interests include the management of breast cancer in older women and treatment choices for women with breast cancer.

Lucy Khan qualified from the University of Edinburgh in 2006 and trained at the Edinburgh Breast unit before completing her oncoplastic fellowship at Frimley Park Hospital, Surrey, including training in aesthetic and cosmetic breast surgery. She worked as a consultant at Mid-Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust before returning to Scotland where she is a consultant oncoplastic breast surgeon based at Forth Valley Royal Hospital but also working in NHS Fife and NHS Lanarkshire.

She has interests in lipofilling, symmetrising surgery and immediate breast reconstruction. She has a busy private practice focused on cosmetic breast surgery and is keen to support breast and plastic surgeons to undertake safe, best practice in this area. Lucy is keen to promote the cosmetic surgery accreditation scheme and the national breast and cosmetic implant registry.

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.

Research interests include the management of breast cancer in older women and treatment choices for women with breast cancer.

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. 

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.

Sue currently works as an ANP (Breast) and continues to work in diagnostic clinics, family history clinics, home visits for elderly patients on primary endocrine patients on Primary Endocrine therapy.  She is chair of her hospital’s breast support group and is involved with patients having moving forward/end of treatment visits.

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.

Vassilis Pitsinis is a consultant breast surgeon 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.

Following his graduation from medical School in 2000 he completed his MD thesis in experimental surgery in the University of Athens medical School in 2004. His surgical training took place in London and in East Anglia as well as in the University hospitals in Athens and Strasbourg's Louis Pasteur University. He has completed a breast surgical fellowship in Cambridge and in Paris.

His current research 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.

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

I trained in Nottingham, Bristol, Manchester and Yorkshire. I have been a consultant surgeon at the James Paget Hospital since 2005.  I was an MRCS examiner and Chair of the Court at the time of significant changes to the format. For 5 years, I was Divisional Director which gave me a broader understanding of the relationship between service provision and training. More recently, I have been Chair of the oncoplastic breast Training Interface group, a member of the SAC in General Surgery and appointed as Training Programme Director for the East of England. I am currently a QA surgeon. 

Research interests include the management of breast cancer in older women and treatment choices for women with breast cancer.

Research interests include geriatric oncology, psychooncology, data modelling, mixed methods research (qualitative and quantitative), quality of life research and clinical trials.   She leads the Age Gap study of cancer outcomes in older women with early breast cancer.

Rachel has been a consultant breast surgeon in Worcestershire since 2006. Within the breast surgery community Rachel has been a faculty member of the MS in Oncoplastic Breast Surgery Course and the Advanced Breast Disease Management course. More widely, she has been a clinical and educational supervisor for all levels of junior doctors, the college tutor for surgery, the director of the West Midlands’ core surgical teaching programme and she has recently become the area TPD for General Surgery in Coventry, Warwickshire and Worcestershire.

Matthew Barber is a Consultant Breast Surgeon in Edinburgh and West Lothian, Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, External Advisor on breast surgery consultant appointments for the Scottish Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and chair of the South East Scotland Cancer Network Breast Group.  He trained in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Manchester.  He has interests in breast surgery training and outcomes of implant-based breast reconstruction.

Geeta Shetty has been an Oncoplastic and reconstructive surgery Consultant since April 2013. She has been passionately involved in Education and Training for consultant colleagues, fellows and trainees in UK and Internationally. She is the founder and director of the Live Chest Wall Perforator Course, which is a first of its kind in UK and is a regular occurrence at Birmingham City Hospital. She has been an Educational and Clinical supervisor for MIPDed candidates (Edinburgh University) and MCH candidates (Edge Hill University) with formal affiliations as an honorary senior supervisor and honorary senior lecturer in respective universities. She is a Visiting professor at Manipal University, India. Her recent achievement is being the founder and lead for implementing an ingenious Breast Care Teaching Programme internationally.

Mr Douglas Ferguson qualified in 1993 (St George’s, London), achieved FRCS (Eng) in 1997, a TiG Oncoplastic Fellowship in 2004 and in 2005 both an MS and the Gold medal for FRCS(GenSurg). He was appointed Exeter’s first Oncoplastic Surgeon in 2006 and Clinical Lead 2009; developing an accredited Oncoplastic centre of excellence, with National TiG Fellow Host status and is the ABS TiG rep. He has worked on regional STCs, as RCSEng College, University representative and as Medical Director at AAC panels. He established and convened several Oncoplastic SWOBS Courses. He was a RCSE Breast Tutor and is Faculty for ABS courses portfolio. He is a University of Exeter Hon Associate Professor for teaching/ research, supervises an MD student and is PI for 9 NCRN trials. He was privileged to be elected as ABS Honorary Treasurer in 2019.  He is the Chairman and a coach of his junior football club and continues to learn the guitar!

Miss Sami works as a Speciality Doctor, Breast Surgery, at Lincoln County Hospital, Lincoln, where she promotes education and training in my role as Breast surgical Audit and Education Lead. She is dedicated and committed to the teaching of healthcare professional and take active part in training of Advanced Nurse Practitioner and Theatre first assistants. She has been part of the RCS faculty for 4 years, experienced examiner of undergraduate medical students for the University of Nottingham and an active member of IBRANET Localization steering group.

Dick Rainsbury was Foundation Breast Tutor then Director of Education at The Royal College of Surgeons and President of ABS. A strong advocate of comprehensive NHS breast and reconstructive services, he secured funding for the National Oncoplastic Fellowship programme, now training >100 consultants. He chaired the UK National Mastectomy and Breast Reconstruction Audit, and subsequent Guidelines for Oncoplastic Breast Reconstruction. He currently co-chairs the ABS International Forum with Leena Chagla, which aims to improve training in Low and Middle Income Countries.

Research interests include investigation of a fluorescent navigation system for sentinel lymph node (SLN) detection and development of a model for assessing fibroblast transformation. Other roles include local Principle Investigator for several national trials including POSNOC and MarginProbe and co-investigator for BUBBLES, PRIMETIME and PIONEER.