BSSH Mentors

Having been brought up on the Essex / Hertfordshire border, I attended King’s College School of Medicine & Dentistry in London, graduating in 1993. I undertook house and SHO posts around London for just over 5 years, toying with a career in cardiac surgery before going back to orthopaedics and finding my place in hand surgery whilst on the Oswestry-Stoke rotation as a registrar. I obtained my FRCS (Tr & Orth) in 2003 and went on to do a fellowships in Derby and Wrightington. I am very grateful to all my trainers, who were inspirational and really lit a fire for education in me, which continues to this day. I am currently studying for an MMEd at the University of Dundee. Initially tried to do an education masters in 2003 but fell out with the tutors as I didn’t feel that they understood education in a surgical context. I am slightly more mellow now! I teach on a number of courses, mainly AO and at the Pulvertaft now as well as trainees in my region. I supervise a training rotational registrar to whom I try to teach hand surgery but occasionally find myself accidentally digressing into philosophy and life!

My current practice is entirely hand and wrist surgery on the elective side and mostly hand and wrist on the trauma side with the odd hip fracture thrown in due to my general on call commitment.

I have a regional role in the development of advanced clinical practice, an area that is in expansion and remains very interesting but feels volcanic in its growth. This has involved a lot of strategic work, leadership, multiprofessional negotiation, understanding and culture change.

Recreationally I try to exercise occasionally, shoot targets occasionally, ski whenever possible, mess about with hair-brained schemes in my garage and try to support my fabulous wife, grown-up kids and aged parents. Most recent regret: selling my motorbike a couple of years ago.

Hello, My name is Rebecca Dunlop. I have been a full time Consultant Hand Surgeon in Cornwall for 7 years, I’m Plastic Surgery trained and also run a private practice in Cosmetic Surgery. I have 2 children and enjoy the Cornish outdoors and gardening. I had a mentor at the start of my Consultant career and feel that occasional mentorship throughout our working lives will allow us to achieve more of our potential and help to navigate tricky decisions and challenges.

I qualified from Nottingham in 1984 and then spent my trainee years in Nottingham, London Edinburgh (where I was a Registrar on the Basic Surgical Training rotation) and Newcastle (working as Registrar and then Senior Registrar on the Orthopaedic rotation) undergoing the old style of “training-by-apprenticeship” – which essentially meant being thrown in at the deep end. I gained a great deal of experience in Trauma, Orthopaedics, General Surgery, Plastics and Neurosurgery before even starting my formal Orthopaedic training. I then went on to do the Nottingham and Derby Hand Fellowship.

I was appointed a consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at Rotherham in 1997 where I developed a Hand Surgery service over the next few years. It has become a well-established unit which I believe is highly regarded by our trainees. Over the years I’ve trained many people, some of whom became hand surgeons and others returned as colleagues.

The early years were challenging and lonely, not least because of the huge clinical load but also because of the complex, bewildering (and sometimes Kafkaesque) nature of the politics involved. However – like many of my contemporaries – I struggled through.

It would have been so much easier if I’d had a mentor and it is for this reason that I put myself forward. As an experienced trainer and examiner for the FRCS (T&O) in the UK and abroad – as well as the Hand diploma – I have plenty to offer a mentee. Having recently retired from the NHS I also have the time to dedicate myself to this endeavour.

My name is Meg Birks, I’m an orthopedically trained Consultant Hand Surgeon in Sheffield. I have been involved in a variety of coaching, sponsor and mentoring roles over the past 10-15 years and I’m looking forward to being part of the BSSH mentoring scheme. I became a doctor because I am interested in people and that interest extends beyond my patients; I find being able to support colleagues and trainees find their professional raison d’être incredibly rewarding. I have personal experience of being the only woman in a consultant body of over 30 orthopods in addition to experience mentoring individuals from ethnic minorities and the LGBTQ+ community. I have been involved with the BSSH in a few committee roles and as a member of council. I am a Member of the RCSEd Faculty of Surgical Trainers and have been Clinical Lead for our department, Sheffield Hand Centre. Despite all this fancy pants stuff people generally describe me as down to earth and a good listener. The quote “It is nice to be important but it is more important to be nice” is something I aim to live by, I was introduced to it by the late great Mr Steve Copeland (Internationally renowned shoulder surgeon) who was an absolute gentleman and all round success at life!

I moved to Scotland in 2013 to take up my consultant post at St John’s Hospital in Livingston. I trained as an orthopod in Mersey Deanery, and did my TIG Fellowship in Birmingham. I now work in the only orthoplastic hand service in Scotland, which comes under the umbrella of the Plastics Department. 

My practice is fairly general across hand and wrist problems but I am passionate about training our junior colleagues to the best of my ability. It’s not always been an easy road but I think I have developed an understanding of managing and coping in difficult situations. 

I use my time outside of work for more adventurous activities, and you’ll usually find me on, in or under the water around Scotland. I’m looking forward to meeting and supporting someone in the near future.

I have been a consultant hand & wrist surgeon in Cornwall for 10 years. I benefited greatly from having a mentor in the latter part of my Orthopaedic training and early years of consultancy, and am keen to support others in the same way. I have previously mentored two consultant colleagues through their first years.

Our career paths are challenging, and it is vital that we can all ask for help/support/guidance at any stage, as there are always bumps in the road, some expected, others less so.

Outside of work I enjoy mountain biking & some of the many watersports Cornwall has to offer, usually being left behind by my kids for being too slow!

I am a Consultant Orthopaedic Hand Surgeon and I have been working in NHS practice for the last 8 years.  I completed my certificate of Specialty training on the West of Scotland training programme in 2012 and started my consultant career in Sunderland Royal Hospital.  I then moved James Cook Hospital in August 2019 to work with a bigger multi-disciplinary hand team. 

I completed a year-long fellowship at the Pulvertaft Hand Centre in Derby working with orthopaedic and plastic surgical Specialty hand surgeons.  I have conducted research in nerve repair and achieved an MD degree and have passed the hand diploma organised by Manchester University in 2013.

I have always been a keen teacher and feel it is one of the most direct ways to make an impact on more junior members of the team.  I have helped organise medical student and postgraduate Specialty trainee teaching sessions and courses since starting my career as a consultant. My own love of learning makes me passionate about teaching, supporting and mentoring the next generation or surgeons. I’m keen to make a difference—people tend to remember their teachers and mentors for an entire lifetime,

I am approachable, kind and a good listener.  I work better in a team and have good leadership and organisational skills.  I am on a number of local committees in my community and have also recently set up and run a Beaver scout group in my local area.

I am driven by a desire to help and support those around me and I feel privileged to be potentially able to mentor and contribute to the development of those just starting out in their careers.

I started my full time T&O consultant post specialising in hand & wrist surgery in 2002, after completing my formative training in India and T&O registrar rotation in Yorkshire. For the last few years I have been involved in supporting and mentoring consultant colleagues within my own Trust and hope the experiences and the challenges I have faced in my career so far will help me in guiding and mentoring my fellow hand surgery colleagues.

Outside of my commitment to teaching and training Yorkshire trainees, I am involved as an AO faculty and FRCS examiner in Trauma & Orthopaedics, as well as sit on the BSSH Hand Diploma Committee helping to shape hand surgery training. I support Journal of Hand Surgery (Eu) activities serving as the Assistant Editor and an Editorial Board member. I have been fortunate to sit on many national committees over the years, including the BOA council.

I enjoy travelling, playing tennis and golf as well as spending time with my wife and our two grown up children.

Having been a Consultant for 15 years with a practice that is exclusively hand elective and trauma work.  I have probably come across most of the problems that a new Consultant could face.  During that time we have had colleagues joining our team in Cardiff and so I am aware of the current issues that can be problematic or of concern to new Consultants.

I have been involved in teaching and training throughout my career.  I am currently Chief Examiner for the Diploma in Hand Surgery and have been on the committee for eight years.  Three of those years was as Chair.  Since I started as a Consultant I have been a reviewer for the European Journal of Hand Surgery and have been on the editorial board for the last seven years.  I have also run a number of training courses during my time as a Consultant and continue to do so.

I feel I balance my work time and home time quite well.  My two children take up a lot of my home time but unfortunately it will not be for much longer they are getting to the age where they will be going off to university.  I do manage to fit in my hobbies of karate, home exercise and my favourite hobby of online gaming.

I am hoping that the mentoring program will be a helpful way for new Consultants to talk through issues and concerns that crop up during their early years.

I am a Consultant Plastic, Reconstructive, Hand and Peripheral Nerve Surgeon. I studied at medical school in Delhi University and went on to complete his Masters in Surgery and Plastic Surgery. After my initial training in the prestigious plastic surgery units in Chelmsford and Swansea, I was appointed to the Mersey Plastic Surgery Registrar Training scheme where I underwent six years of plastic surgery training and was involved in clinical research with over 100 research paper presentations and 50 publications.

I currently divide my time between working at Wythenshawe Hospital, Salford Royal Infirmary, and Trafford General Hospital within the NHS. I am a founding member of the Manchester Hand Centre, which has the goal of centralising and driving excellence in NHS hand surgery across Manchester

I am passionate about teaching and training and actively teach higher surgical trainees as a matter of course, and have presented more than 150 papers both nationally and internationally. I have published more than 50 peer reviewed articles and contributed to book chapters, and am involved in the assessment of higher surgical trainees nationally. I have been part of the first two Masters in hand surgery and was awarded the certificate of excellence in education by the North West School of Surgery in 2015.

My areas of particular interest are complex and microsurgical limb reconstruction, brachial plexus and peripheral nerve surgery, and I undertake this alongside managing all common hand conditions including trauma and emergencies.

I am a consultant hand and orthopaedic surgeon working in a busy DGH in Rotherham. We cover all aspects of hand and wrist surgery with a general trauma commitment.

I grew up near the Lakes and have travelled widely, from Medical School in Bristol, the Hammersmith SHO rotation in London and registrar training in the East of England. My fellowships took me to Melbourne, France, Austria and London where I enjoyed being a fellow and locum consultant in 2013.

I worked in Rotherham for a year before returning to a substantive post in Chelsea & Westminster for 4 years, commuting from the Peak District. I really appreciated being part of a multi-disciplinary ortho-plastic unit which led to some great opportunities.

I have an interest in Climber’s hand injuries and have been involved with the British Mountain Medicine Society and the Diploma of Mountain Medicine, helping to run several courses in Hathersage: the vibrant village that I am fortunate to call home. I returned up north full time in 2020.

Teaching the next generation of hand surgeons keeps things interesting. I am currently the AO Hand & Wrist course chair and involved in a number of other teaching commitments.

My widespread training and experience of moving jobs as a consultant has given me a fairly broad perspective on a career as a hand surgeon. I am very grateful to all those who have supported me on the journey thus far and if my experiences might be useful to others I would be happy to help.

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Hello. I have been a consultant orthopaedic hand and wrist surgeon in the North East of England for 13 years. I am also clinical director and have various other non-clinics roles. I’m passionate about training and am Chair of the regional Specialist Training Committee as well as serving on the Specialist Advisory Committee.

My wife and I have two beautiful daughters and I love family time. We like the outdoors such as paddle boarding. We have many pets including sheep. My hobbies include designing and building things and classic cars.

Starting out as a consultant can be daunting and I hope to be able to make it less so for you.

I have been a consultant at Chesterfield Royal Hospital for 12 years, having completed medical school and surgical training in and around Sheffield. In 1997 the arrival of my son meant I became one of the first male ‘flexible’ trainees in Orthopaedics. Shortly after while revising for our FRCS Part 2 exams I met my wife, and together we have three daughters.

Maintaining two full time surgical consultant careers while raising four children has been challenging, and I believe that I have learned much that will help me offer support and mentorship to colleagues in the early stages of their consultant career.

I set up a regional evening social/educational group for hand surgeons shortly after becoming a consultant. This ran successfully for 6 years and provided informal support that I and others benefitted from. My elective practice includes some shoulder surgery but mainly hand and wrist, plus wider trauma care from general on call.

I helped set up and still teach on a national clinical course for the exit exam and serve on the question setting committee for that exam. My wife completed a PhD so I didn’t have to do research! My mental health benefits from cycling and running in the Peak District; more regular golf and winter mountaineering will hopefully still be possible when I retire!

My experiences as a consultant surgeon, consultants’ partner and hands-on father will I hope make be a successful mentor. The expectations, politics and disappointments that can occur as a consultant do occasionally feel overwhelming, but peer support can ease this pressure and I welcome the opportunity to act as a BSSH mentor.

I was born in Birmingham and grew up on a farm in Wiltshire, I attended the local schools before my secondary education at Marlborough college. I graduated from St Thomas’s Hospital in 1983. I did my postgraduate training at St Bartholomew’s in London and on the Cambridge Orthopaedic rotation.

I completed an MD Thesis on MRI of the wrist and was awarded a Hunterian Professorship by the Royal College of Surgeons in 2001. I was President of British Orthopaedic Trainees Association.  I am a Barber Surgeon.

I was the first hand surgeon appointed in Basingstoke. At first I had a fairly general practice, but I now have two excellent hand surgery trained colleagues. I have been clinical director and had a variety of other management roles. I do some private practice.

I have done quite a lot of teaching over the years and am on the AO faculty for long-bone and hand & wrist trauma. My research interests include small joint replacement in the hand, imaging of the wrist, outcome measures in hand surgery and the impact psychological factors upon surgery. I review for the JHS (E) and the bone and joint journal

I have been active in the BSSH since joining as an Associate. I was the Stack fellow in 2009, and the ASSH travelling fellow the following year. I chaired the sixth series of the BSSH Instructional Courses and served as honorary secretary before being elected to the Presidential line.  I have recently been appointed as the Chair of education for FESSH. I am the speciality adviser to GIRFT for hand surgery, and I am currently the orthopaedic lead for the Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICS.

I married Lucinda (now a GP) in St Thomas’s Hospital chapel in 1992 and now have four grown up children (one recently married doctor). We live in a small village on the Hampshire/Berkshire border. I also enjoy sport: I rode horses as a child, I played rugby at medical school and ski raced for London University, I play golf and returned to ski racing in my forties. My most recent passion has been cycling. I have had some recent health issues and had a bone marrow transplant for recurrent lymphoma in 2018. I am currently disease free and have been back in work full time for a couple of years.

I have been a Consultant hand , plastic and reconstructive surgeon at the Welsh Centre for Burns and Plastic Surgery, Morriston Hospital , Swansea since 2004. I was a Specialist registrar here and completed an interface hand fellowship training post in Sheffield. In almost 20 years of consultant practice I have held departmental positions of audit lead and clinical director, and undertook regional representation on BAPRAS Council. I continue as an Assigned Educational Supervisor for our Specialist registrars and enjoy training.

I consider that I am a “jobbing plastic surgeon”. Whilst I have been involved in management roles, it has been a joy to get back to the “shop floor”. I choose not to do any private practice and my NHS practice is a 50:50 mix of hand and general plastic surgery (mainly complex skin cancer work).  

My hand practice includes a healthy mix of trauma and elective patients , including congenital hand surgery.

It is a privilege to offer my time as a mentor, and I am happy to listen and advise where I can , or sign post as necessary . I hope that in the time that we spend in the mentor/ mentee role I can support , help and encourage you as you start your consultant career – to help you overcome some frustrations, deal with issues, and achieve the work/life balance that you are seeking.

Degree in Dundee, nomadic training in Dundee, Dorset and Devon, Glasgow, West of Scotland and Dumfries. SpR training in Yorkshire before Interface fellowship in Manchester followed by further fellowship in Derby.
Appointed in Bradford and have slowly improved a stagnant aged hand surgery department as clinical lead. Had very little mentorship despite 4 senior colleagues when appointed and was rapidly became clinical lead to bring about modernisation to achieve a functional working hand unit. We now have 5 full time hand surgeons (since their retirement) and are a tertiary hand unit with a 1.2 million patient catchment.

During this process I learned the hard way through trial and error, I can quite honestly say I’ve made every error in the book. However, with my colleagues we have developed a fantastic cohesive orthoplastic unit with MDT working improving care for the patients.

I’ve found it’s not too difficult be a practicing consultant hand surgeon, it’s the accompanying minefield of medical politics, bureaucracy and hospital process that make life stressful.
I would like to not only offer clinical advice but also support on how to avoid many of the pitfalls in practice and how to develop your service/ practice.

I have been working as a Consultant Orthopaedic Hand Surgeon at Rotherham for nearly 6 years. Having trained in Liverpool and moving to a unit outside my region I was lucky to have the excellent support of my senior colleagues.  Even though this was not a mentorship per se, it did allow me to progress in my career knowing I could turn to them for support. I believe strongly that support in early years as a Consultant is vital to gaining the confidence required to prosper.

Apart from the more recent experience of being a “new” consultant, I also have the experience of starting and completing the Hand Diploma as a Consultant.  I hope that I am able to help in any small way in the development of one of my colleagues.

When I’m not working in the NHS and independent sector, I enjoy spending time with the family, travelling, cycling, running and playing badminton. 

Hi!

I am a consultant orthopaedic hand and wrist surgeon, in the ortho-plastics Hand Unit at St John’s Hospital, Livingston Edinburgh. I am looking forward to mentoring a new hand surgery consultant as, although I have been a consultant for twelve years, I remember how I felt starting as a new consultant. I did my SpR training in London undertook fellowships in Melbourne and Brisbane. I completed the British Society for Surgery of the Hand (BSSH) Diploma of Hand Surgery in 2007. As well as my NHS clinical practice, I am an Honorary Senior Lecturer at Edinburgh University and I have a research interest which I have built up gradually over the last few years and currently I co-supervise 2 PhD students. I can therefore offer experience in grant applications and supervising post-grad, undergrad and trainee projects. I am an educational supervisor for Core Trainees and I am a member of trainee committees. I have set up two national courses. The first in London as a senior SpR and the other in a cadaveric wrist course 2019 in Edinburgh. As a mentor I would be delighted to listen, reflect, and share my experience, with the aim of helping however I can.

For some more background about me, as I not work all the time! I am married with a young son, I live in Edinburgh and enjoy getting out into the outdoors, and especially hillwalking.  My other interests include gardening, the theatre (when open!) and being an enthusiastic member of a somewhat unruly bookclub!

To cut a long story short I’m a Consultant Orthopaedic Hand/Upper Limb Trauma Surgeon working in full time private practice in Dublin and Belfast for the last 10 years.

I hold a Professional Diploma in Clinical Leadership from the RCSI Institute of Leadership.

I’m a Myers Briggs ENFP and an Enneagram Type 8 (with a 7 wing). Enough said.

Regarding mentors: I was once told that the best mentor is a "knights move" away from yourself - two steps forward and one to the side. I’m still looking for this person!

Favourite quotation (and it's on my wall framed): Never in the history of calming down has anyone ever calmed down by being told to calm down.

Aspiration: to own a lemon tree and a pig.

My name is Edwin Prashanth Jesudason, known as Prash to my friends and colleagues. I am working as a consultant hand & orthopaedic surgeon at Ysybty Gwynedd (Gwynedd Hospital) Bangor, North Wales, having been appointed in 2012.

I was raised and educated in Liverpool, and graduated from Manchester School of Medicine in 1999. I completed core training in a Nottingham and Manchester, with a year in Brisbane also. I worked as a research fellow in Wrightington and then became a higher trainee in the North-western Deanery, back in Manchester. I have been a member of the BSSH since 2009. My surgical interests include hand trauma, small joint reconstruction in the hand and wrist, and treating the musician’s hand. I am also clinical lead in of my department and honorary senior lecturer at Bangor University, where I have research and teaching roles. My research interests are in sustainable health care delivery, and the neuropsychology of how the brain controls hand function.

My outside interests are varied. I am a keen musician; as a classically trained pianist this is my main passion, but I also play the organ, guitar and sitar. I also enjoy exploring the great outdoors with the beautiful mountains and coastline of North Wales on my doorstep. I am a family man, and my world revolves around with my wife and two young daughters!

I had to develop as a consultant through trial and error, osmosis from colleagues, courses, conferences etc. Having a friendly, non-judgemental colleague to bounce ideas off and to help develop in the first few years of practice would have been invaluable. It is more important than ever now, as rate of burnout amongst consultants is so high. The stresses, trials and tribulations of surgical practice are usually underestimated, and training does not equipment junior consultants with all the answers, especially with non-clinical matters. To summarise, I am keen to be a mentor, as it is something I didn’t have in when I started as a consultant.

My career path has been based on good fortune and the generosity of those I have met on the way,  colleagues  who have offered good advice, friendship and entertainment.  

I hope to pass some of this on to those who are treading the same road and share some of my good fortune.

MEDICAL CAREER

After graduating from Manchester Medical School in 1981, underwent basic surgical training in Rochdale and Salford and then Orthopaedic Training in the North West, including Upper Limb Fellowships at Wrightington and in the USA. 

Appointed Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon with a special interest in the upper limb in 1993, initially working single handed has developed a well-respected multi-disciplinary team offering a wide range of upper limb surgery.  During that time has produced research papers on scaphoid fractures, proximal humeral fractures and radial head fractures.  On behalf of the British Society for Surgery of the Hand succeeded in achieving a £2m grant from the NIHR for a multi-centred prospective randomised trial of conservative versus operative management of acute scaphoid fractures.  This trial has now completed recruitment of over 400 patients and is currently being written up. Since 2012 have lead the British Society for Surgery of the Hand overseas aid programme developing a portfolio of third world projects with personal involvement in Sierra Leone, Bangladesh, Tanzania and Sudan.

LEADERSHIP CAREER

My leadership career has included various leadership roles, including Clinical Lead for Orthopaedics, Associate Medical Director, Anaesthetics and Surgery, Head of Elective Care Division and from September 2013 to August 2019 Medical Director.  As Medical Director I helped lead the Trust through difficult times of financial deficit, operational performance and a red governance rating.  Since 2014/15 we delivered financial balance, had our governance conditions lifted, achieved a CQC Good rating, maintained and improved quality indicators and had improved patient and staff survey results.  During this time, I have had extensive involvement in service reconfiguration projects – GM Healthier Together Programme and North West Sector (Wigan, Bolton, Salford) Provider Project seeking to create safe, sustainable secondary care services.

After stepping down as Medical Director I worked 2 days a week as GIRFT NW Clinical Ambassador overseeing quality and efficiency improvement work across 6 trusts in Lancashire and Greater Manchester

In early 2022 appointed Professor of Surgical Simulation, University of Bolton

At regional level from 2008- 2012 I was Orthopaedic Clinical Lead for the NHS North West Advancing Quality Programme, a programme that has delivered reliable evidence-based care in a collaborative way across the North West.

Consultant Hand and Upper Limb Surgeon

Associate Head of School – NHS England  

Wirral Upper Limb Service,

Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, 

Arrowe Park Hospital, Merseyside, UK

Mr Bhalaik is a Consultant Hand and Upper Limb Surgeon on Merseyside. He runs a busy hand and upper limb service in his hospital, treating all aspects of traumatic and complex upper limb injuries.   He has a wide range of research interests, which include regional anaesthesia, fracture fixation and the assessment of acutely injured hand and upper limb injuries.

Mr Bhalaik is a keen teacher and educator. He was awarded “Trainer of the Year” in 2012 for his contribution to orthopaedic training.  He is a member of the faculty for AO Courses, tutor for the Royal College of Surgeons.  He was the Associate Head of School of Surgery, NHS England and Training Programme Director for Orthopaedics for Health Education England North West. He is an examiner for the Intercollegiate Board and is a member of the BSSH Education Committee and was a member of the BSSH Instructional Course Committee.  He is currently on BESS Council as Treasurer.