Speakers

Mr Amit Agrawal Portrait

Mr Amit Agrawal Cambridge University Hospitals

Dr Amit Agrawal, MS, FRCSEd, DM, FRCS, Consultant Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon, transformed Cambridge into an internationally recognised Oncoplastic unit and established the Oncoplastic Breast course (chest wall perforator flap, mammaplasty and implant dissection). He leads the ‘Brecon’ collaborative research, including the 'PartBreCon-Pro' (a prospective international study on chest wall perforator flap) and 'PerfAct' studies. He has received several grants including from the UK National Institute for Health & Care Research (NIHR) and UK Research & Innovation (UKRI). He is a member of several societies, including the ABS Academic and Research Committee and is a Research module lead and examiner for MSc and MS Oncoplastic degrees in Breast Surgery (Uni. of East Anglia, UK). He has been an Expert Reviewer and Adviser for NICE, NIHR and journals. He lectures worldwide and has 120+ publications (including co-editing a book on perforator flaps) and presentations, including endocrine therapy-related research (Academic Surgical trainee, Uni. Of Nottingham). He has been a co-investigator in multiple trials: Pioneer, PBCP, Atnec, Miami, Neo-RT, MarginProbe, LoRis, Posnoc, POETIC, ATAC, IBIS1&2. Iressa57, 225, 004; EFECT, FIRST, LATTE, ZOFAST, FHEM.

Mr William Allum Portrait

Mr William Allum The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust

Consultant Surgeon at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, London. Past President of the Association of Upper GI Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland (AUGIS) 2012-14. Former UK Council member of the International Gastric Cancer Association and Board member of the European Society of Surgical Oncology. Past chair NHS England Specialist Cancer Surgery Clinical Reference Group. He has maintained an interest in surgical training throughout his consultant career and was chair of the UK Joint Committee on Surgical Training (2015-2017). He has worked with the GMC, the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and Health Education England leading the joint HEE / RCS England Improving Surgical Training project. Member of Council of the Royal College of Surgeons of England with responsibility for Workforce and Training. Visiting Professor of Surgery at the Kent and Medway Medical School. He was awarded the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh ad hominem in 2014 and Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow in 2017.

Mr Matthew Barber Portrait

Mr Matthew Barber Edinburgh Breast Unit

Matthew Barber trained in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Manchester and has been a consultant breast surgeon in Lothian since 2004. He is chair of the South East Scotland Breast Cancer Network, clinical lead for symptomatic breast disease for the Modernising Patient Pathways Programme for NHS Scotland and member of the National Cancer Quality Steering Group in Scotland. He has particular interests in breast training, treatment audit and reconstructive outcomes.

Mr Peter Barry Portrait

Mr Peter Barry The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust

Mr Barry qualified from University of Sydney, Australia and obtained a Fellowship in Surgical Oncology in sarcoma, melanoma and breast cancer at The Royal Marsden from 2000–02. He now focuses on breast oncoplastic techniques and reconstructive options following cancer surgery as well as preventative surgery for high-risk women and has been a consultant surgeon at The Breast Unit, Royal Marsden since 2012. He introduced the chest wall perforator flap service for breast conservation and has led development of targeted axillary dissection. He has an interest in translational medicine with publications on tumour evolution and heterogeneity in breast cancer and also leads development and trialling of new devices in surgery.

Miss Salena Bains Portrait

Miss Salena Bains University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust

Salena Bains is a Consultant Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, UHB and graduated from University of Leicester in 2002. She completed a PhD in Breast cancer-related lymphoedema at King’s College London in 2015 and was a TIG fellow before taking on her consultant post in Birmingham. Salena is lead breast sarcoma surgeon and clinical lead for breast surgery in UHB.

Professor John Benson Portrait

Professor John Benson Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

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.

Lois Blackburn Portrait

Lois Blackburn Artist

Since 2007, Derbyshire based artist Lois Blackburn, has worked in the field of arts and health. Her projects, often using textiles and stitch, explore and tell the stories of difficult, taboo and embarrassing subjects in meaningful ways. She collaborates with people with lived experience, health professionals, charities, museums, academics. Her current project ‘Comfort, the Breast Quilt’ made by 180 women and teens (including trans and non-binary people) uses creativity to breakdown boundaries. It brings people together to forge greater understanding of each other, fostering new ways of looking & sharing experiences. Her artwork has been exhibited all widely. Venues include: The Houses of Parliament, The Peoples History Museum, The Royal Festival Hall Southbank, Imperial War Museum North, the National Gallery of Art in Vilnius, Lithuania, and numerous healthcare venues.

Miss Rachel Bright-Thomas Portrait

Miss Rachel Bright-Thomas Worcestershire Acute NHS Trust

Rachel was appointed as a Consultant Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon in Worcester in 2006. She has a long history in surgical education having been college tutor and MRCS & FRCS examiner. She is now an Area Training Programme Director for General Surgery in the West Midlands, the Breast Lead and the anti-Bullying and Harassment Lead for the General Surgery Specialty Advisory Committee and sits on ABS Education and Training Committee and the Oncoplastic Breast TIG committee.

Miss Leena Chagla Portrait

Miss Leena Chagla 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.

Ms Anushka Chaudhry Portrait

Ms Anushka Chaudhry Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Ms Anushka Chaudhry is a Consultant Oncoplastic and Cosmetic Breast Surgeon in Wiltshire. Being at the forefront of breast cancer care, she combines surgical expertise with a deep commitment to advocacy and education. She is also Acting Deputy Chief Medical Officer of her hospital trust. In addition to her clinical work, Anushka serves as the chair of a young women's breast cancer charity, Aurora Breast Cancer Wellbeing, where she spearheads initiatives to support and empower those affected by breast cancer. Driven by a passion for equity in healthcare, Anushka is deeply involved in efforts to reduce inequalities in breast cancer treatment among ethnic minorities. Through educational outreach, community engagement, and advocacy campaigns, she works tirelessly to raise awareness and address systemic barriers to care. As an educator, Anushka shares her knowledge and expertise with colleagues, students, and the public. Through lectures, workshops, and mentorship programs, she inspires the next generation of healthcare professionals to prioritize compassion and advocacy in their practice.

Miss Sarah Clark Portrait

Miss Sarah Clark University Hospitals Dorset

After completing a research MD in DCIS Sarah trained in the North East Thames region and then undertook a TIG Fellowship in Leeds. Sarah has been a Consultant Breast & Skin Surgeon at Poole hospital for almost 10 years and is currently the Clinical lead for the Breast, Endocrine, Skin & Sarcoma department at University Hospitals Dorset. Sarah has sat on the ABS Academic & Research Committee for almost 5 years and is principle investigator for the NUND study. Sarah is particularly interested in finding ways that all breast units can take part in research, especially those who are not part of a large academic unit. Sarah is also interested in global healthcare and has spent time with Poole Africa link teaching medical, nursing and midwifery students in Uganda on all aspects of surgical care.

Dr Peter G. Cordeiro Portrait

Dr Peter G. Cordeiro Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, USA

Dr Cordeiro is a renowned oncologic plastic surgeon with a special expertise in breast reconstruction, head and neck reconstruction, and microsurgical procedures. Within breast reconstruction his work has focused on long and short term surgical, aesthetic and patient reported outcomes in addition to extending the use of implants for breast reconstruction, particularly in the previously irradiated patient and patients who need post mastectomy radiation. Within head and neck he has described several defect specific classification systems with algorithms pertaining to free flap reconstruction, particularly in the area of the midface, mandible and the oropharynx. Dr Cordeiro received his MD degree from Harvard Medical School, completed his general surgery training at the Harvard Surgical Service and plastic surgery at New York University. He is currently Professor of Surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University and holds the William G. Cahan Chair in Surgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer where he served as Chief of the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center from 2001 to 2016. Dr Cordeiro is the author of more than 300 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters, two books, has served on 8 editorial boards including Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Journal of Reconstructive Microsurgery, and Annals of Plastic Surgery and has delivered over 250 presentations and lectures around the world throughout the Plastic & Reconstructive Surgical community.

Miss Karina Cox Portrait

Miss Karina Cox Maidstone And Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust

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.

Mr Tim Crook Portrait

Mr Tim Crook HCA Consultants

Mr Giles Cunnick Portrait

Mr Giles Cunnick Buckinghamshire Hospitals NHS Trust

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.

Professor Ramsey Cutress Portrait

Professor Ramsey Cutress University of Southampton

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.

Gabriel D’Alessandro Portrait

Gabriel D’Alessandro Israeli Hospital Albert Einstein

Dr Jill Dietz Portrait

Dr Jill Dietz American Society of Breast Surgeons

Jill Dietz, MD, MHCM, FACS is a breast surgeon and Chief Medical Officer of a Women’s Health start-up company, Cyduct Diagnostics. Prior to this Dr Dietz served as Chief Transformation Officer and Director of Breast Growth and Strategy at Allegheny Health Network Cancer Institute, Pittsburgh PA. She completed a fellowship in breast surgical oncology and general surgery residency at Cleveland Clinic and received her Master’s in Health Care Management from Harvard School of Public Health. She is Principal at TrueNorth Medical Consulting LLC, focusing on value-based transformation and Centers of Excellence guidance. Dr Dietz is the past President and current Chair of the Board of the American Society of Breast Surgeons and Vice Chair of the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers (NAPBC). Dr Dietz led the 2024 standards revision for NAPBC. She is an invited member of The American Cancer Society National Breast Cancer Round Table. Dr Dietz co-leads Global Breast Hub, an international organization with a mission to lessen gaps in breast cancer care around the world. She also provides consultation for Cancer Expert Now, an international cancer consultation program. Dr Dietz has taken part in the development of several guideline and consensus statements, has served as director of the United States breast surgical oncology training program, has directed and been faculty for numerous courses, and is a frequent international invited speaker. Her current clinical and research interests include breast surgical training and value-based/ patient-centric care and the surgical techniques that promote such care delivery.

Professor J Michael Dixon OBE Portrait

Professor J Michael Dixon OBE Edinburgh Breast Unit, NHS Lothian and University of Edinburgh

Professor Dixon is a Consultant Breast Surgeon at the Western General Hospital, Edinburgh. He is also Clinical Director of the Breast Cancer Now Research Group in Edinburgh and holds an Honorary Professorship in Breast Surgery at the University of Edinburgh. Professor Dixon has published over 330 papers, contributed 130 book chapters, and written or edited 25 books. Professor Dixon has given over 200 invited lectures all around the world. He was the Royal College of Surgeons of Australasia Visiting Fellow in 2000 and 2011, and was visiting Professor to Yale and Harvard in 2012. Professor Dixon was the co-chair of the Miami Breast Cancer Conference between 2008 and 2015. In 2013, he was voted the 36th greatest person in Edinburgh of all time and received an OBE from the Queen at Buckingham Palace for his work improving our understanding and improving the management of breast disease. In December 2017, he received a Health Hero Award voted for by the readers of the Daily Mail and presented by the Prime Minister, Theresa May.

Dr David Dodwell Portrait

Dr David Dodwell University of Oxford

David Dodwell is a senior clinical oncologist working in Oxford Population Health in The University of Oxford and Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust. He has a 20+-year special interest in the management of breast cancer. He is co-oncology lead for the new national breast cancer audits, is involved in many epidemiological studies in breast cancer and works within The Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group (EBCTCG).

Ms Deepa Doshi Portrait

Ms Deepa Doshi Ruth Strauss Foundation

Before joining the Ruth Strauss Foundation, Deepa worked for Macmillan Cancer Support in cancer service development and quality improvement for 13 years. Deepa has led service developments and improvements with a range of NHS organisations, local authorities, and private and voluntary partners. Deepa brings with her extensive understanding of cancer and palliative care services, how they work, how they are funded and most importantly how complex they can be for patients and their families to navigate. Deepa joined the Ruth Strauss Foundation due to having seen the need for specialist support for children and young people when facing parental bereavement. Furthermore, Deepa through her work has seen the far-reaching and long-term impact on children and young people when they experience parental bereavement from conditions such as cancer. Deepa is also a Trustee for Citizens Advice Hertsmere and enjoys working with her peer Board members and staff at this local charity. Despite having no interest in cricket Deepa is delighted to have joined the Ruth Strauss Foundation.

Miss Sue Down Portrait

Miss Sue Down James Paget University Hospital

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.

Ms Sarah Downey Portrait

Ms Sarah Downey James Paget Healthcare NHS Trust

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.

Professor Phil Drew Portrait

Professor Phil Drew Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust

Professor Philip J Drew in 1990 from St Mary’s Hospital Medical School, University of London. Following periods of training in London, Yorkshire and Cardiff he was appointed Senior Lecturer in General Surgery and Honorary Consultant General Surgeon in the Academic Surgical Unit, University of Hull in 2000. Subsequently he obtained the position of Professor within the Hull/York Medical School. In 2008 he was appointed as a Consultant Breast Surgeon at the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust. He holds fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, Edinburgh, and Glasgow and has a Master of Surgery degree from the University of London in Artificial Intelligence for Complex Data Analysis and a Doctor of Medicine with Honours from the University of Hull in Breast MRI. Professor Drew has been performing gender affirming “top” surgery on the NHS since his initial appointment in Hull in 2000 and has continued his practice in Cornwall with up to 80 clients a year prior to COVID and the subsequent NHS crisis. He has helped draft the national guidelines and works with various charities and organisations to provide education and support for the community. He is a member of the world professional association for transgender health (WPATH). Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust was recognised as one of the few NHS centres for gender affirming surgery in the previous NHSE contract bid.

Professor Diane Eccles Portrait

Professor Diane Eccles University of Southampton

Diana Eccles is Professor of Cancer Genetics at the University of Southampton and Honorary Consultant Clinical Geneticist in the Wessex Regional Genetics Service (University Hospital Southampton). Her research background is in molecular genetics and genetic epidemiology, her clinical training in general medicine, oncology and clinical genetics. As a new consultant in 1995, she established one of the first cancer genetics clinical services in the UK with a strong research focus. She is Chief Investigator of a large UK prospective cohort study of early onset breast cancer. Her clinical academic leadership roles include Director of the Southampton Clinical Trials Unit (2009-2014), Head of the School of Cancer Sciences (2015-2018) and currently Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton since 2018.

Mrs Katy Ellis Portrait

Mrs Katy Ellis Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust

Katy began her nursing career almost 30 years ago. Katy specialised in surgical nursing and began her career in the operating theatres. In 2002 Katy became a Surgical Care Practitioner and remained heavily involved in the intraoperative care of breast patients. Her passion for caring for breast patients led her to work as a Clinical Nurse Specialist in breast care, an Advanced Clinical Practitioner in breast care and now a Nurse Consultant in breast care at Manchester University Foundation Trust. Katy has worked in both a small symptomatic breast unit as well as large screening and symptomatic unit. She is a part of the ABS nursing committee and is the current North West regional nursing representative. Katy is passionate about nursing and quality patient care, and strives to influence change and innovation.

Miss Beatrix Elsberger Portrait

Miss Beatrix Elsberger Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, NHs Grampian

Since 2018 Beatrix has been working as a Consultant Breast Surgeon at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. She has been part of the Scottish Breast Clinical Trials Group and the Scottish North Cancer Alliance Network for many years. Her background is in translational breast cancer research but lately, as part of her National Scotland Research (NRS) Fellowship, she has been focusing on clinical trials. She contributes to several Trial Management Groups of national trials and collaborates with local Scottish scientists to run feasibility studies linking “bench to bedside”. This has led to the NIHR Clinical Research in Surgical Trials (CREST) Award 2022 for the Aberdeen Breast Unit. Beatrix is also a member of the ABS Academic and Research committee.

Professor Andrew Evans Portrait

Professor Andrew Evans Royal Derby Hospital and University of Dundee

Professor Gareth Evans Portrait

Professor Gareth Evans Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust

A Consultant at Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Professor Evans has established a national and international reputation in clinical and research aspects of cancer genetics, particularly in neurofibromatosis, schwannomatosis and breast cancer. Professor Evans is a chair of medical genetics and cancer epidemiology at the University of Manchester. He has published 1060 peer reviewed research publications, 355 as first or senior author as well as over 150 reviews, letters and chapters. In the last eight years he has raised over £75 million in grants for multicentre and local studies. He is Chief Investigator on two NIHR program grants on breast cancer risk prediction and also has an NIHR RfPB grant as CI (2011). He has led a successful bid for a Nationally funded NF2 service (£7.5 million pa) that started in 2010 and is involved in the national complex NF1 service. He is the cancer prevention early detection theme leader on the NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre. Professor Evans is also lead clinician on the NICE Familial Breast Cancer Guideline Group. Professor Evans is recognised as the international leader in the genetics and epidemiology of Neurofibromatosis type 2 and his ground-breaking research on mosaicism and mortality has had a major impact on treatment of this serious inherited condition. The National Highly Specialised Service for NF2 he leads pioneered use of the drug bevacizumab which along with multidisciplinary care has already improved survival and quality of life for this life-limiting condition. In 2013 he led the team that identified SMARCE1 as the cause of the related condition hereditary clear cell meningioma. Work in Gorlin syndrome led to the discovery of SUFU as a cause of Gorlin syndrome that has redefined the risks of the associated childhood brain cancer, medulloblastoma (SUFU~30%; PTCH1~2%). He is an emeritus two term NIHR Senior Investigator and has published widely (H-index-118 Web of Science; 161-Google) and is Cancer Prevention theme lead on the all-Manchester BRC and is frequently invited as a keynote speaker to scientific conferences at home/abroad. He is now co-lead on the Manchester CR-UK ICED Alliance Early detection initiative. He was a moving force of the Prevent Breast Cancer Appeal which helped establish the first dedicated breast cancer prevention centre in Europe (https://preventbreastcancer.org.uk/about-us/the-nightingale-centre/) and has been a trustee of five charities including Breast Cancer Now (previously chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board) and the Neuro Foundation.

Miss Katherine Fairhurst Portrait

Miss Katherine Fairhurst University of Bristol & Royal United Hospitals

Miss Hiba Fatayer Portrait

Miss Hiba Fatayer Liverpool University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Mr Douglas Ferguson Portrait

Mr Douglas Ferguson Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Professor Ross Fisher Portrait

Professor Ross Fisher Sheffield Children's Hospital, Sheffield

Ross trained at Sheffield as a medical student and then as Surgical Registrar. His training in Paediatric Surgery took him to London, Bristol, Cardiff and Auckland New Zealand before being appointed Consultant at The Children's Hospital Leicester in 2001. He moved back to Sheffield in 2011 where he currently practices as Consultant Paediatric Surgeon at Sheffield Children's Hospital specialising in Paediatric Surgical Oncology. He was awarded Henry S Morton Honorary Professorship of Paediatric Surgery of Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in 2019 in recognition of his work in Medical Education. His innovative approach to presentations is showcased at the website http://ffolliet.com and this has led to his international renown as a thought leader in Medical Presentations.

Mrs Marianne Fox Portrait

Mrs Marianne Fox

Mr Kelvin F Gomez Portrait

Mr Kelvin F Gomez

Mr Gomez has a penchant for cakes - and it is this love for baked goods that has evolved into a 20 year career in Breast Surgery. When he was a General Surgical trainee, Mr Gomez undertook a period of research in the Breast Unit at Cardiff, and became actively involved in the ALMANAC trial. It was also during this time, that Mr Gomez noticed that breast patients were almost always kind - and they loved bringing cakes, cookies and other sweet treats when they attended clinic. After obtaining his M.D, he went on to carve out a career as an Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon. He is proud of being in a specialty where MDT-working is the norm, where the holistic needs of the patient are forefront in everyone’s minds and where “Being Kind” aren’t just words associated with the latest GMC guidance. In his words, “Lovely patients and cake - what better specialty is there?”

Professor Tim Graham Portrait

Professor Tim Graham The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh

Dr Sue Hartup Portrait

Dr Sue Hartup Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust

Dr Sue Hartup, a qualified nurse of over 30 years, is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, trial manager and senior research nurse in breast cancer within the breast unit and Research & Innovation departments at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. She is the deputy chair of the NCRI breast working party for symptom management, active member of the NCRI breast group and is a member of the ABS Academic & Research committee and the Nursing committee including regional rep for Yorkshire & Humber. Sue has published on many subjects, and is a member of various trial management groups and trial steering committees. She was an NIHR Doctoral Fellowship holder and specialises in developing research studies covering post-surgical pain, web-based interventions, survivorship and self-management. She is the research nurse lead for West Yorkshire & Harrogate Cancer Alliance and is a CancerSMART champion, teaching and educating about cancer in the community. She is a co-applicant on HTA, RfPB, YCR, PGfPB, ABS and charity grants and teaches medical students at the University of Leeds.

Mr James Harvey Portrait

Mr James Harvey University Hospital of South Manchester

Miss Yasmin Hassen Portrait

Miss Yasmin Hassen Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

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.

Professor Chris Holcombe Portrait

Professor Chris Holcombe Consultant Surgeon Swansea

Chris is past President of the Association of Breast Surgery and works as a consultant surgeon in Swansea. He has research interests in the evaluation of new techniques and devices, window of opportunity studies and the psychological impact of breast cancer. Out of work he enjoys time with grandchildren, in the mountains or on the coast in West Wales and is involved in his local church and the Christian Medical Fellowship.

Mrs Sue Holcombe Portrait

Mrs Sue Holcombe ABS Nurse Trustee

Trained at the Royal Free London in 1970’s Worked in various specialties covering coronary care and SCBU and clinical research and went on to train as a breast ANP. Worked as an ANP in breast since 2001 after doing Masters in practitioner development. Special interest in Family History Risk assessment and management and breast cancer diagnosis and follow-up. ABS Nurse trustee for last 5 years.

Mrs Emma Holly Portrait

Mrs Emma Holly Restore Therapy Ltd

Emma Holly is a leading manual scar therapy specialist. With a clinical practice offering scar treatments in Harley Street. She is also the director of Restore Therapy, a company offering training in scar therapy for health and wellbeing professionals therapists around the world. Manual scar therapy treatments are not limited to improving scar cosmesis, they can help reduce pain, tightness, AWS, capsular contracture, fibrosis and other common complications of breast surgery. Emma has been driving education in this field and has trained therapists based at many major cancer charities, leading NHS and private hospitals in UK, Europe and Australia. Emma has presented at international conferences and symposiums including the international ‘Scars Meeting’ in Berlin and the Australasian Lymphology Symposium Auckland, New Zealand.

Professor Kieran Horgan Portrait

Professor Kieran Horgan Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust

Breast surgeon. Co-initiator of National Oncoplastic Breast Surgery Training Fellowship Scheme. Core Faculty for national sentinel node training and validation. Committed trials. Author/co-author of 150 peer reviewed papers. Ex President and Hon Sec of ABS. Previous Chair NCIN Breast Cancer Sub-specialty Group. Extern for MS Oncoplastic Breast Surgery UEA. Surgery Lead - Chair Clinical Steering Group NABCOP 2014-date.

Ms Jennifer Hu Portrait

Ms Jennifer Hu Barts Health NHS Trust

Mr Thomas Hubbard Portrait

Mr Thomas Hubbard Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Trust

Tom is the current Chair of the Mammary Fold. He is an NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer and ST8 Breast Surgery Registrar in Exeter. His current research interests lie in translational research, where he collaborates with Professor Stone's group at the University of Exeter using Raman Spectroscopy in breast surgery. He has been the MF South West Peninsula Regional Representative, secretary to the Mammary Fold 2021-2023 and currently sits on the Mammary Fold Academic Committee.

Miss Tracey Irvine Portrait

Miss Tracey Irvine Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust

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.

Dr Lyn Jones Portrait

Dr Lyn Jones North Bristol NHS Trust

Lyn was appointed as a Consultant Radiologist at North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT) in 2002. With the merger of Bristol’s symptomatic and screening services into the Bristol Breast Care Centre at North Bristol in 2013, she decided to focus on breast radiology. She additionally became Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Bristol in 2019. Since August 2014 she has been developing a research programme to investigate the potential for FAST MRI, a type of shortened Magnetic Resonance Imaging scan of the breast, to be used as a screening tool to detect the most aggressive types of breast cancer as early as possible. In 2019, she became the first clinical radiologist in the West of England region, for 10 years, to successfully secure an NIHR grant of funding as lead applicant. She has since had further grant funding success, most recently with a £1.3 million grant awarded by the NIHR’s Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation (EME) funding stream. FAST MRI: DYAMOND is a multi-centre diagnostic yield study conducted within the NHS breast screening programme and is the first UK study to offer FAST MRI to women with average breast density who are at population-risk of developing breast cancer.

Mr Rahul Kanitkar Portrait

Mr Rahul Kanitkar Ninewells Hospital and Medical School

Mr Kanitkar is a specialty trainee in General surgery (East of Scotland Training program) with an interest in Breast surgery and is currently ST7 Registrar with the Breast team at Ninewells. Following graduating from medical school in 2009, he completed his basic surgical training in India, leading to the qualification; Diplomate of the National Board (DNB) in General Surgery in 2014. He then completed a Fellowship in Breast surgery with the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences in 2016. During this period, he worked at a regional oncological centre in Western India that mostly catered to patients with locally advanced breast cancer. He was then offered a training fellowship in General and Breast surgery, sponsored by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, based at the James Paget University Hospital in Norfolk. His placement at the Paget, got him interested in Oncoplastic techniques and he joined the higher specialty training program in 2019. Since his ST6 year, he has worked closely with the breast team at NHS Tayside and has contributed to departmental research and quality improvement projects. He worked as an Associate PI on the INFLUENCE trial and completed the requirements for the NIHR Associate PI program.

Mrs Isabella Karat Portrait

Mrs Isabella Karat Frimley Park Hospital

Mrs Isabella Karat is a highly-regarded breast and general surgeon based in Surrey. Mrs Karat is extensively trained in a range of advanced surgical techniques, including immediate breast reconstruction including the use of a dermal matrix (Surgimend®, Strattice®, TIGR Mesh®), fat transfer/lipofilling to restore post-surgical volume loss, cosmetic breast surgery, breast asymmetry, augmentation, reduction, and complex revision surgery. She also has an interest in family history assessment and risk-reducing surgery. Her general surgical practice covers mole, lipoma and skin tag removal, and treatment of skin cancers. Mrs Karat enjoys consistently excellent reviews from patients for her caring manner and ability to put patients at ease. In recognition of this, in 2018 and 2019 she received a Certificate of Excellence from IWantGreatCare, a national patient reviews service.

Mr Haitham Khalil Portrait

Mr Haitham Khalil University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust

Mr Khalil is a consultant oncoplasty and reconstructive surgeon at University Hospitals Birmingham (Good Hope, Solihull & Queen Elizabeth), Birmingham, UK since 2008 and specialises in Breast, Thoracic, Trunk/ Abdomen and Perineum reconstruction. He studied medicine at Cairo University Medical School and started his career at Cairo University hospitals. Moving to the UK he worked at the internationally recognised unit for breast, plastic and reconstruction at Kings College and St Thomas‘ Hospital, London, UK. Alongside his clinical commitments, he also serves as an honorary senior clinical Lecturer at the College of Medical and Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham and as a clinical lead for the international surgical training programme at the Royal College of Surgeons of England. In addition, he acts an expert advisor for NICE for wound management and is a member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. He is a regular speaker at national and international meetings and an author for 66 publications in high profile Journals.

Dr Anna Kirby Portrait

Dr Anna Kirby The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and The Institute of Cancer Research

Dr Anna Kirby is a Consultant Clinical Oncologist in the UK specialising in the treatment of patients with breast cancer. She leads research into novel breast radiotherapy techniques at The Royal Marsden and Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), London. She was appointed as a Reader at the ICR in 2022. She is Technical Radiotherapy Lead for the UK Breast Proton Trial (PARABLE), Chief Investigator of the UK HeartSpare studies, Chief Clinical Co-ordinator of the IMPORT breast radiotherapy trials, and Breast Lead Investigator on the CORE trial evaluating the role of stereotactic radiotherapy in treating oligometastatic disease. Dr Kirby is current President of the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO) which facilitates radiation oncology research dissemination, education, training, interdisciplinary collaboration, professional support and advocacy across Europe and beyond.

Mrs Alison Lannigan Portrait

Mrs Alison Lannigan Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow

Mr Daniel Leff Portrait

Mr Daniel Leff Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

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).

Dr Gerald Lip Portrait

Dr Gerald Lip North East of Scotland Breast Screening Programme

Dr Gerald Lip is the Clinical Director for breast screening in the North East of Scotland and the Principal Investigator of the GEMINI prospective evaluation of mammography artificial intelligence supported by the NHS National Strategy for AI in Health and Social Care. He has recently completed a 4-year retrospective research project in the same topic with the Industrial Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Diagnostics in Scotland. Dr Lip has recently been awarded a two-year Innovation Fellowship by the Chief Scientists Office of Scotland to lead innovation adoption in the NHS. Dr Lip is the vice chair of the British Society of Breast Radiology and sits on the UK Royal College of Radiology Informatics committee, on the Advisory Board of the Centre for Doctoral Training for Biomedical AI in Edinburgh University and is a scientific advisor to the National Covid Chest Imaging Database. Dr Lip is active in research, education and training publishing on work with radiology trainees in AI, opinions on the member of the public and professional colleagues on AI and also sits on the British Institute of Radiology AI special interest group leading on education. A graduate of Trinity College Medicine, along with his medical degree he also qualified with an Msc. in Health Informatics and completed his radiology training in Aberdeen. He is an honorary senior clinical lecturer in the University of Aberdeen. Dr Lip has published and spoken on topics nationally and internationally such as patient engagement, innovation in breast imaging techniques, quality assurance and safety and monitoring in AI.

Professor Ranjit Manchanda Portrait

Professor Ranjit Manchanda Queen Mary University of London

Ranjit Manchanda is a Professor at Wolfson Institute of Population Health (WIPH), Queen Mary University of London. He leads the Women’s Precision Prevention Team, at the Centre for Cancer Screening, Prevention & Early Diagnosis in WIPH. He is a Consultant Gynaecological Oncologist at Barts Health NHS Trust, London, and leads their Women’s Precision Prevention Service. He holds an Honorary Professorship at the Department of Health Services Research, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Ranjit’s main research interests are focused on Targeted Precision Prevention. This includes population-based genetic testing, mainstreaming genetic testing and precision medicine approaches for risk prediction, stratification, targeted screening and targeted cancer prevention, along with health economic issues related to these areas of research. He is the Principal Investigator on the PROTECTOR, PROTECT-C, DETECT-2, PRESCORES, JHCR, UKCOGS, SIGNPOST, PROMISE Pilot RRESDO and GCaPPS trials/studies. He has published and lectured widely on areas of research interest. He is a member of a number of advisory and oversight committees. He is the Topic Advisor (Clinical Lead) for the NICE guideline on Ovarian cancer: identifying and managing familial and genetic risk. He Chairs the UK National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Gynaecological Cancer Early Diagnosis Working Group. He is the Specialty Research Lead for Gynaecological Cancer, NIHR North Thames Clinical Research Network (CRN). He is an NHS Innovation Accelerator Alumnus and has served as the President of European Network of Young Gynaecological Oncologists.

Mr Lee Martin Portrait

Mr Lee Martin Aintree University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Mr Yazan Masannat Portrait

Mr Yazan Masannat Mid and South Essex NHS Trust

Yazan Masannat, MBBS, MRCS(Ed), MRCSI(Dublin), DBRM(UAB), FEBS(Breast Surgery), FRCSEd(Gen Surgery), MD(Leeds) Yazan is a Consultant Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon based at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary in the Northeast of Scotland and has been recently appointed as an Associate Post Graduate Deans for Quality by NHS Education for Scotland (NES). He is an Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer at the University of Aberdeen and an E-Tutor at the MS Oncoplastic Breast Surgery Program run by the University of East Anglia. He sits on the Education and Training committees of both the Association of Breast Surgery (ABS) and at the European Society of Surgical Oncology (ESSO) and has been recently elected as a member of the Board of Trustees of the ABS. He is the Communications Lead and part of the Executive Group at the iBRA-Net and an Examiner at the European Board of Surgical Oncology and European Board of Breast Surgery (UEMS). Yazan has more than 30 publications and has been awarded numerous research grants including the prestigious NRS Fellowship award by the Chief Scientist Office in Scotland to continue research on Novel MRI techniques in Breast Cancer with the Team at the University of Aberdeen. Education is Yazan’s main passion, and he enjoys networking with people from across the world. He has created www.iBreastBook.com which is a free online resource with contributions from many of the leading Breast and Plastic surgeons across the world. During the Coronavirus Lockdown he started the iBreastBook Webinar series with the support of colleagues from across the world. These webinars have been a huge international success, with more than 25 webinars up to March 2022 with most webinars attracting more than 1000-2000 registrants and hundreds of people attending live online, from more than 100 countries.

Professor Stuart McIntosh Portrait

Professor Stuart McIntosh Queen's University Belfast

Stuart McIntosh is Professor of Surgical Oncology at Queen’s University in Belfast, and an honorary consultant breast surgeon at Belfast City Hospital. He is an experienced breast cancer clinical trialist, with a particular interest in neoadjuvant, peri-surgical and treatment de-escalation studies. He is the Chief Investigator for the UK HTA-funded SMALL trial, a national phase III multicentre study comparing standard surgery with vacuum-assisted excision for the treatment of small screen-detected breast cancers. His translational research interests lie in the area of the DNA damage immune response in breast cancer. He is a former chair of the national Cancer Research Institute’s Breast research Group, and is one of the Royal College of Surgeons Breast Surgical Specialty Leads, responsible for supporting the development and delivery of breast cancer surgical trials nationally.

Mr Nigel Mercer Portrait

Mr Nigel Mercer Bristol Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Nigel is the lead assessor for the Intercollegiate Certification Scheme in Cosmetic Surgery and also chairs the MHRA’s Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery Expert Advisory Group (PRASEAG). He is also the Non-Executive Director representing Surgeons on the Board of the Private Health Information Network (PHIN.org). He is in Cosmetic Surgical and Non-Surgical practice and he also provides skin cancer surgical services. He continues to support the South West of England Cleft Lip and Palate Service. He was appointed in 1991 as a Consultant Plastic Surgeon with a major interest in Cleft, Craniofacial and Paediatric Plastic Surgery, leaving the NHS in 2018. Throughout his career, he has championed patient safety and openness in the presentation of surgical results. Nigel is a Past President of the Federation of Surgical Specialty Associations (FSSA.org.uk), a position at the top level of the surgical establishment in the British Isles. The FSSA comprises the Presidents of the 10 legally defined surgical specialties, together with the President of the Association of Anaesthetists, and the FSSA President is their interface with the 4 Surgical Colleges in the British Isles, the NHS and other bodies, including PHIN, and is also an invited member of the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Nigel was the first International Board Member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and he has also been President of both national Plastic Surgery Associations and of the European Association of Societies of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. Nigel also chairs the Steering Group of the Centre for Appearance Research at the University of West of England, the foremost research group into visible different in the world. He holds a Master in Laws from Cardiff University and is a Founding Fellow of the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management.

Mr Rob Milligan Portrait

Mr Rob Milligan Queen Elizabeth Hospital

Mr Tim Mitchell Portrait

Mr Tim Mitchell Royal College of Surgeons of England

Tim Mitchell is a Consultant ENT Surgeon at University Hospital Southampton. He has a subspecialty practice in otology and undertakes cochlear implant and other auditory implant surgery as part of the University of Southampton Auditory Implant Service. He has a major interest in training and assessment. He was a member of the Specialist Advisory Committees in Otolaryngology and Audiovestibular Medicine from 2012-2017. He has been a MRCS examiner since 2004 and was Chair of the Court of Examiners at the Royal College of Surgeons of England from 2014-2017, with experience of examining in the UK, Egypt, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. Mr Mitchell has been a member of the Council of the British Society of Otology. In 2017, he was elected to the Council of RCS England, served as Vice President from 2020 to 2023 and was elected as President of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 2023. He has been a strong advocate for equality through the recruitment of female surgeons as MRCS examiners and through the support of Women in Surgery and Women in ENT Surgery. As Vice President, he led on the implementation of RCS England’s response to the Kennedy report. He is one of only 5 men to be awarded Honorary Membership of the Medical Women’s Federation.

Miss Jenna Morgan Portrait

Miss Jenna Morgan University of Sheffield Medical School

Jenna is an NIHR Advanced Fellow in Breast Surgery at the University of Sheffield and an Honorary Consultant Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon at Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. 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 the outgoing Chair of the Mammary Fold Academic Collaborative and Academic Representative for the Mammary Fold Committee. She is also Secretary of the iBRAnet Localisation group; and 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.

Mr John Murphy Portrait

Mr John Murphy University Hospital of South Manchester

Mrs Uzoamaka Nkwonta Portrait

Mrs Uzoamaka Nkwonta University Hospitals Sussex

Uzoamaka Nkwonta is an accomplished mammographer at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust. With more than a decade of experience, Uzo has been at the forefront of the campaign against breast cancer. Passionate and committed to making a positive impact in patients' lives, Uzo's experiences have fuelled her dedication to improving the lives of women in Africa and ethnic minorities here in the UK. Her fervour for supporting her community is a strong driving force in the discharge of her responsibilities at the NHS, and her advocacy and collaboration with various projects aimed at improving breast cancer awareness, early detection and support for survivors in the UK and across Africa. Motivated by a vision to break down barriers to early diagnosis, Uzoamaka founded the KindHeart Charity & Empowerment Foundation International. Through quarterly webinars and social media outreach, she educates and empowers communities in Africa and her global audience on the need for early breast examination to reduce late-stage breast cancer diagnoses amongst Africans and at-risk ethnic minorities. Uzo lives in Hove, Sussex with her husband and six children.

Ms Maria Noblet Portrait

Ms Maria Noblet NHS England

Up until recently Maria was a Consultant Nurse at The Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth. Prior to this she was The Lead Nurse for breast services in South Manchester. She has extensive experience in breast cancer nursing since her first CNS post in 1988. She has held several positions on National committees focusing on improving the organisation of breast cancer services in The UK. She has written for publication and has been involved as a PI on various research projects. She was a key contributor to The National Mastectomy and Reconstruction Audit and more recently A Cochrane Review on specialist cancer nursing. She was Chair of The RCN Cancer Nursing Forum for many years where she was a key author of The Clinical Standards for Breast Cancer Nursing. She was also a key author on The Framework for Cancer Nursing Education. Maria has a keen interest in Cancer nursing communication. She was a co-innovator of The Sage and Thyme communication training ,has been involved in the communication training for undergraduate medical and nursing students and has recently been involved in a project scoping psychological skills of the specialist nursing workers in The South of England.

Professor Carlo Palmieri Portrait

Professor Carlo Palmieri Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Mr Ricardo Pardo-Garcia Portrait

Mr Ricardo Pardo-Garcia Royal Bolton Hospital NHS Trust

Professor Sarah E Pinder Portrait

Professor Sarah E Pinder King’s College Hospital

Sarah E Pinder is Chair of Breast Pathology at Kings College London. As Lead Breast Pathologist at Guy’s & St Thomas’ Hospitals she reports breast pathology only (50% time NHS) and has a large international referral practice. She Chairs the National Coordinating Committee for Breast Pathology (NCCBP) for the Royal College of Pathologists & UK NHS Breast Screening Programme (BSP) and is a member of several other UK screening committees. She is President of the Association of Breast Pathology. She is a member of a number of clinical trial and translational research committees, including the low risk DCIS trial (LORIS), OPTIMA, MAMMO50, SMALL, NOSTRA and EndoNET, amongst others. She is a founder member of Sloane Project Steering Group and her translational research interests are focused particularly on in situ breast carcinoma, as well as other collaborative work. She has published over 350 articles in the peer-reviewed literature, and over 100 invited articles and chapters in medical textbooks.

Professor Shelley Potter Portrait

Professor Shelley Potter North Bristol NHS Trust and Bristol Medical School

Shelley Potter is Professor of Surgical Oncology at Bristol Medical School and Consultant Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon at North Bristol NHS Trust. Her research interests focus on improving outcomes for women undergoing breast surgery by generating high quality evidence to support clinical practice and decision-making. She is currently Chief Investigator of the PreBRA, ANTHEM and Brighter studies, Shelley is also Royal College of Surgeons of England Surgical Specialty Lead for Breast Surgery, Chair of the iBRA-NET group and Secretary to the ABS Academic and Research Committee and the British Breast Group.

Mr Maniram Ragbir Portrait

Mr Maniram Ragbir Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Maniram Ragbir is a Consultant Plastic Surgeon at the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. His NHS practice has been tailored to looking after patients requiring the highest level of reconstructive expertise. Most of his current work lies with head and neck/ sarcoma resection and reconstruction, for which he is internationally recognised. Mr Ragbir has had an influential role in Plastic Surgery education at a national and international level. His contribution to maintaining high training standards was recognised when he was chair of the Specialist Advisory Committee (SAC) for UK plastic surgery from 2018 to 2021 and has been in charge of national selection for Plastic Surgical training in the UK, after having served 8 years as Training Programme Director (TPD) for Plastic Surgery Training in the North East. He is a previous examiner for the Intercollegiate FRCS (Plast) between 2010 and 2022. He was awarded the PLASTA “UK Plastic Surgery Trainer of the Year” award in 2020 and his excellent training has been validated by four of his trainees achieving the Ian Mcgregor (‘Gold’) Medal Winners for excellence in the FRCS Plast exam over the past six years. Mr Ragbir has published over 60 peer reviewed publications in journals including in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (PRS) and Journal of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (JPRAS). He was also president elect of BAPRAS in 2022 and became the new president of BAPRAS in January 2023.

Professor John Robertson Portrait

Professor John Robertson University of Nottingham and University Hospitals of Derby and Burton

Miss Nicola Roche Portrait

Miss Nicola Roche Lister Hospital

Nicola Roche is a consultant Breast Surgeon, initially in 2002 at the Royal Free Hospital and from 2006-2023 at the Royal Marsden Hospital. She now works privately at HCA, Lister Hospital. She sits on the HCA breast tumour board and is breast MDT lead at the Lister Hospital. She was an ABS trustee and ABS meetings secretary from 2018-2023. Since 2010 she has been breast pathway chair of different iterations of local cancer networks: SWLCN, London Cancer Alliance & RM Cancer Partners. Her current areas of interest are surgical de-escalation and minimising the over treatment of breast cancer.

Mr Laszlo Romics Portrait

Mr Laszlo Romics NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

Laszlo Romics is a consultant oncoplastic breast and general surgeon at Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board and regional QA lead of NHS Scotland Breast Screening Programme.

Miss Victoria Rose Portrait

Miss Victoria Rose Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Miss Rose is a Consultant Plastic Surgeon at St Thomas' Hospital and King's College Hospital. She is currently on secondment at Chelsea & Westminster Hospital, where she is setting up phalloplasty services. She is on the General Medical Council's specialist register for Plastic Surgery and is a member of The British Association of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons. She has been an NHS Consultant since 2007 and is currently the SAC Chair for Plastic Surgery. Her main areas of interest are microsurgical reconstruction, complex breast reconstruction, masculinising chest wall surgery, phalloplasty, and lower limb trauma reconstruction. She holds an LLM in Legal Aspects of Medical Practice from Cardiff University.

Professor P G Roy Portrait

Professor P G Roy Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Professor Roy is a Consultant Oncoplastic and Reconstructive Breast Surgeon in Oxford since 2011. She only performs breast surgery and offers all aspects including breast cancer surgery, reconstruction surgery and cosmetic surgery. She graduated from University of Delhi, India and underwent higher surgical training at Oxford. She was selected for prestigious National Oncoplastic Fellowship at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust in 2009 and did a higher degree in research in breast cancer from University of Dundee. Since her appointment, she has set up a successful Oncoplastic breast service at OUH trust. A full range of reconstructive service is being offered in close association with plastic surgeons, who perform free flap reconstruction. She is a very dedicated clinician and offers compassionate consultations and individualized expert advice and opinion for breast problems. Miss Roy specializes in diagnosis and management of breast diseases, both benign and malignant. Her specialist interest includes surgical management of breast cancer whilst ensuring an optimum aesthetic outcome by offering specialist techniques such as mammaplasty and partial breast reconstruction. She offers immediate breast reconstruction with implants and flaps for patients undergoing mastectomy for breast cancer and offers sentinel lymph node biopsy for axillary staging of patients with breast cancer. She also offers correction of breast deformities and/or breast asymmetry to patients having undergone breast cancer surgery in the past. She is actively involved in breast cancer research and is the principal investigator at Oxford for national and international trials. She is motivated to enhance the research in the field and is actively involved in recruiting patients for research projects in collaboration with CRUK.

Dr Ronit Roy Portrait

Dr Ronit Roy Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research, Kolkata

Following his MBBS, Dr Roy pursued further specialization, completing his Master of Surgery (MS) in 2022, earning a gold medal for excellence. Dr Roy began his professional journey as a registrar at Seth Sukhlal Karnani Memorial Hospital (SSKM), Kolkata, India, honing his skills in various medical fields, especially breast surgery. Additionally, Dr Roy worked at Comprehensive Breast Services IPGMER and SSKM Hospital, Kolkata gaining valuable experience. Now, as a consultant surgeon at MR Bangur Hospital, India. Dr Roy continues to contribute expertise to patient care. Four years in the breast unit provided extensive clinical experience and opportunities for research, advancing medical knowledge and improving patient outcomes. Dr Roy's commitment to excellence in healthcare and contributions to medical research make him a valuable asset to the healthcare community.

Sam Russell Portrait

Sam Russell The Diversity Trust

Development and design lead with the LGBTQ+ Team at The Diversity Trust CIC

Professor Peter Schmid Portrait

Professor Peter Schmid Barts Health NHS Trust

Professor Schmid is the clinical director of the Breast Cancer Centre and an honorary consultant medical oncologist at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital. He was appointed in 2013 as Chair in Cancer Medicine at Barts Cancer Institute (BCI), Queen Mary University London. Professor Schmid is the Lead of the Centre of Experimental Cancer Medicine at BCI, overseeing the conduct of early phase trials at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital and BCI. He leads the academic breast cancer programme at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital and BCI. Professor Schmid trained in medicine in Munich and Aberdeen. He was awarded scholarships by the 'Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes' (German Academic Scholarship Foundation), the 'Hanns-Seidel-Foundation', and the 'Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst' (German Academic Exchange Service). He graduated from the Technical University of Munich medical school in 1997, gaining a MD in Clinical Chemistry in 1998 from the University of Munich and a Clinical Research PhD in 2005 from Charité University in Berlin. Prof Schmid trained at the University Hospital Charité in Berlin in internal medicine, haematology, and oncology, before he became a Senior Clinical Lecturer and Director of the Hammersmith Early Clinical Trials Unit at Imperial College London in 2005. Professor Schmid was appointed as Foundation Chair in Cancer Medicine at the University of Sussex in 2010, before taking on his current role at BCI in 2013.

Dr Nisha Sharma Portrait

Dr Nisha Sharma Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust

Dr Sharma is a consultant breast radiologist and Director of the Breast Screening program Leeds/Wakefield. She is active in research involving new technologies, artificial intelligence and improving the patient pathway. She is a professional clinical advisor for breast screening and NHS England.

Mrs Geeta Shetty Portrait

Mrs Geeta Shetty City Hospital Birmingham

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 introduced a chest wall perforator flap procedure via live demonstration in Delhi, India in 2018. 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, MAHAE, India. She is a Vice President for ACCC Society India (conduct courses on management of Acute critical care of surgical ill patients). Her recent achievement is being the founder and lead for implementing an ingenious international Breast Care Teaching Programme. She is been an author of several publications and book chapters. Her aim it to work towards betterment of health care service by spreading knowledge.

Professor Richard Simcock Portrait

Professor Richard Simcock Macmillan Cancer Support and University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust

Richard Simcock first joined Macmillan Cancer Support as a National Clinical Advisor in 2014 and was appointed Chief Medical Officer in 2022. In his role, Richard co-leads the organisation’s Centre of Clinical Expertise, which is responsible for connecting with healthcare professionals delivering cancer care and gathering clinical insight to support the charity’s work. Alongside this, Richard is a Consultant Clinical Oncologist at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, where he provides clinical care to people with breast cancer. Having initially trained in palliative medicine, Richard switched to oncology and completed five years of post-graduate cancer specialist training in London and the South East, followed by a fellowship at the Sydney Cancer Centre in Australia. Richard is also an Honorary Professor at Brighton and Sussex Medical Schools, a regular contributor to journals and textbooks, a Co-Editor of the ‘ABC of Cancer Care’ and an Associate Editor at BMJ Oncology. Richard is particularly interested in innovation in cancer care, patient communication and shared decision-making, personalised medicine and multidisciplinary working. Richard is active on X (formerly Twitter) - @BreastDocUK - and posts about cancer and cancer care, especially with regards to breast cancer. Richard lives in Brighton, is a season ticket holder at Brighton Hove Albion and is half-way through watching the 1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.

Miss Jo Skillman Portrait

Miss Jo Skillman University Hospital Coventry & Warwickshire

Jo Skillman is a plastic surgeon who trained in Oxford, London, Sydney and completed an oncoplastic breast and an aesthetic fellowship. She has been a fully accredited specialist in plastic surgery since 2009 and is member of the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons (BAPRAS). In addition to clinical work, she is also a trainer on the oncoplastic skills course and the Master's in oncoplastic surgery. She has published more than 30 articles on all types of cosmetic and plastic surgery. She has co-written the National Lipomodelling Guidelines, which sets quality standards in the UK. She is currently an NHS consultant in plastic surgery at a University Hospital in Coventry and Warwickshire specialising in reconstruction for people with injuries and breast and skin cancer.

Mr Simon Smith Portrait

Mr Simon Smith Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust

Dr Katie Snape Portrait

Dr Katie Snape St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Dr Katie Snape is the Lead Consultant for Cancer Genetics at the South West Thames Centre for Genomics, St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Katie has a PhD in molecular genetics from the Institute of Cancer Research, where her research involved using next generation sequencing technologies to identify cancer associated genomic variation. Katie has a Postgraduate Certificate in Healthcare and Biomedical Education, is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Reader at St George’s University of London, where she leads the undergraduate medical school genomics programme, alongside delivery/teaching of additional undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in genomic medicine. Katie is the Lead of Work Package 5 of the CRUK funded CanGene-CanVar project (https://www.cangene-canvaruk.org) which develops educational resources for the medical workforce to improve care of patients with genetic predisposition to cancer. Katie has a special interest in germline predisposition to haematological malignancies through her work as a consultant geneticist in the Haematology Medicine service at Kings College Hospital. Katie is Chair of the UK Cancer Genetics Group https://www.ukcgg.org, a national organisation with the remit to improve the assessment and management of patients with increased genetic susceptibility to cancer.

Mr Edward St John Portrait

Mr Edward St John Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust

Mr Edward St John is a consultant oncoplastic breast surgeon working at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust and an Honorary Reader at the University of Portsmouth. He is passionate about healthcare and effective, safe innovation. He is the Partnership Lead of the Innovation Hub for the Royal College of Surgeons (England). He is also the Chair of the iBRA-NET Innovation Group, who's mission is to identify, evaluate and translate useful innovations into breast surgical practice. He is also an NHS clinical entrepreneur fellow & Co-founder of Concentric Health, an InnovateUK & SBRI supported platform for digital consent & enhanced shared decision making. Amongst other skills he has domain expertise in consent & shared decision making, the evaluation of medical devices and digital health.

Dr Victoria Stanley Portrait

Dr Victoria Stanley Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Mr Richard Sutton Portrait

Mr Richard Sutton Royal United Hospital, Bath

Mr Richard Sutton has a leading role in breast surgical education in the UK and is the portfolio lead for the educational courses at ABS. He has helped to inspire and train many of the younger generation of breast surgeons in the UK. He has taught and lectured extensively in the UK and internationally. He developed the service provision for oncoplastic and reconstructive breast surgery at the RUH in Bath and continues to innovate and advance surgical techniques in oncoplastic breast surgery. He has published many academic articles in surgery for peer reviewed journals and continues to be actively involved in clinical trials for breast cancer management.

Miss Anne Tansley Portrait

Miss Anne Tansley The Royal Liverpool University Hospital

Professor Alastair M Thompson Portrait

Professor Alastair M Thompson Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, USA

Professor Alastair Thompson graduated with distinction in surgery from the University of Edinburgh, trained and practiced as a clinician-scientist rising to Professor of Surgical Oncology at the University of Dundee, UK. Since moving to Texas in 2014, as Professor of Surgery, initially to MD Anderson and now at Baylor College of Medicine, he has focused on improving breast cancer surgical techniques, clinical trials and translational research. With multiple local, national and international leadership roles he is an active member the Association of Breast Surgery, holds substantial peer-reviewed funding, has successfully supervised 24 postgraduate students and authored over 400 peer-reviewed publications.

Mr Steve Thrush Portrait

Mr Steve Thrush Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust

Fiona Tsang-Wright Portrait

Fiona Tsang-Wright Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust

Fiona is a Consultant Breast and Reconstructive Surgeon at Wycombe Hospital, Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS. She is the Trust Cancer Clinical Lead and a committee member of the Association of Breast Surgery International Committee. She sits on the Thames Valley Higher Surgical Trainees ARCP, is an educational and clinical supervisor for higher and basic surgical trainees, and is a co-lead for the training of advanced nurse practitioners, physician associates and surgical care practitioners in the department. Fiona graduated from King’s College London, and completed her higher surgical training in the North West London Deanery. She has an interest in using innovations for her patients, and has recently introduced the MagTotal approach and the Concentric digital consent. She encourages her patients to be enrolled in relevant trials including SMALL, ATNEC, PRELUDE, and KORTUC.

Mrs Caroline Tweedie Portrait

Mrs Caroline Tweedie Sunderland/South Tyneside Foundation Trust

Since 2006, Caroline has served as a Breast Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) and is currently a committee member at NICE, along with being the Northern Nurse Representative for the ABS. Caroline previously worked as the Lead Lifestyle Advisor for The North of England Activity after Breast Cancer Trial, bringing her expertise to enhance post-treatment well-being. As a qualified Personal Trainer/ Exercise Referrer/ Cancer Rehabilitation Practitioner, she has a specialist interest in cancer recovery, and currently run Virtual Clinics supporting Cancer Prehab/Rehab. Caroline is currently on a two-year secondment as the Macmillan Lead Practitioner for Living with Cancer in Sunderland/South Tyneside, with the primary objective of making a positive impact on those facing the challenges of living with cancer.

Dr Cicero Urban Portrait

Dr Cicero Urban Our Lady of Grace Hospital, Curitiba, Brazil

Dr Urban earned his Medical degree at Federal University of Parana in Curitiba (Brazil) in 1995, and also earned his PhD degree at the same University in 2004. He specialized in General Surgery and Surgical Oncology at Our Lady of Grace Hospital in Curitiba (Brazil) (1996-1998), and in Mastology (2000), at the Brazilian Society of Mastology. Additionally, he was a Fellow in Breast Surgery at Milan National Cancer Institute in Italy (1999), and in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the European Institute of Oncology in Milan (Italy) (2002-2003). In 1999, he completed a Post-Graduate program in Bioethics at Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Rome (Italy), and in 2019 he completed a Post-Graduation in Leadership in Surgery at Harvard Medical School in Boston (USA). He is also former Dean at Positivo University Medical School in Curitiba (Brazil) (2016-2019). Since 2023 he is the Vice-President of the Brazilian Society of Mastology. Dr Urban is dedicated to Oncoplastic and Reconstructive Surgery of the Breast, Clinical Bioethics and Medical Education for more than 20 years. He has 6 books in Breast Surgery and Clinical Bioethics, which have been published in Portuguese, English, and Italian. He is the author and co-author of more than 160 peer-reviewed papers. He is fluent in 4 languages: Portuguese (native), Spanish, Italian and English, and enjoys an international medical speaking career.

Professor Jayant Vaidya Portrait

Professor Jayant Vaidya University College London

Ms Jajini Varghese Portrait

Ms Jajini Varghese Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust

Ms Jajini Susan Varghese is a Consultant Breast Oncoplastic Surgeon at the Royal Free London NHS Trust. She has undertaken dual training in plastic surgery on the Pan Thames rotation and in breast oncology surgery through the TIG fellowship at St Bartholomew’s Hospital. Prior to her surgical training, she completed her PhD in the genetics of breast cancer at the University of Cambridge on full scholarships. She is actively involved in research and teaching as an Associate Professor at UCL and is a member of the ABS Academic and Research committee.

Dr Mark Verrill Portrait

Dr Mark Verrill Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Miss Raghavan Vidya Portrait

Miss Raghavan Vidya The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust

Miss Lisa Whisker Portrait

Miss Lisa Whisker Nottingham Breast Institute

Lisa has been an oncoplastic breast surgeon in Nottingham since 2012. She trained in the West Midlands completing a fellowship year in Manchester. As well as prior experience as the cancer/MDT lead, she has clinical interests in management of women at high risk of developing breast cancer. Lisa has developed an interest in clinical guidelines to inform patient management and reduce inequities in care. Lisa chaired the phyllodes consensus group on behalf of the ABS.

Dr Julie Wisely Portrait

Dr Julie Wisely The Nightingale Centre and Genesis Prevention Centre, Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust

Julie obtained her MA (Hons) in Psychology from the University of Glasgow in 1995 and progressed to complete her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at The University of Manchester qualifying in 2000. In the early stages of her career in worked in adult mental health psychological services in New Zealand and Manchester. Julie's long-standing area of interest however has been the application of clinical psychology in physical health contexts. She has worked solely in physical healthcare multidisciplinary teams, such as surgery and oncology since 2004. Julie now has a split role with half her time allocated to leading a psychology team in Burns, Plastics and Trauma and with the other half, providing psychology provision to the Risk Reducing Surgery service at The Genesis Breast Cancer Prevention Centre, both Manchester Foundation NHS Trust. Julie has worked in this role since 2015 supporting woman in their pathway through risk reducing mastectomy. Julie contributed to the British Psychological Society Guidelines for the role of practitioner psychologist in the assessment and support of women consider risk reducing surgery (2018).

Miss Chloe Wright Portrait

Miss Chloe Wright Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust

Professor Lynda Wyld Portrait

Professor Lynda Wyld University of Sheffield

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.