Nightingale Breast Cancer Centre, Manchester, UK

Chair

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

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

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

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

Cambridge University Hospitals

Member

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.

Trials Nurses Representative

Sarah qualified as a nurse in 2007, and has completed a masters in advanced nursing studies.  She has over 12 years’ experience as a senior research delivery nurse, setting up research units which resulted in winning the CLRN ‘Research Nurse of the Year’ award, with the last 8 years being in breast cancer at the Nightingale Centre in Manchester. Sarah is on the ABS Academic and Research Committee as well as the Nursing Committee, giving insight into trial delivery.

ABS President

ABS President

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

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

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

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

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

Junior SSL

Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust

Member

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

James Paget Healthcare NHS Trust

ABS Vice President

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

University of Bristol & Royal United Hospitals

Mammary Fold Academic & Research Committee Representative

Kit is an NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer in Breast Surgery at the University of Bristol. She is chair of the Mammary Fold Academic & Research Collaborative and Royal College of Surgeons Associate Surgical Specialty Lead (aSSL) for Breast Surgery. She combines research activities with her final years of surgical training in the Severn region. Kit's research interests are to improve outcomes for breast surgery patients, through designing, developing and conducting high quality collaborative clinical research answering questions of importance to both patients and professionals. Recent studies include Diamond, RESTORE C-19 and performing the data analysis for the James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership for Breast Surgery.

Oxford University

Member

Toral Gathani is a Senior Clinical Research Fellow in the Cancer Epidemiology Unit of the Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford and Consultant Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Trials Nurses Representative

A senior research nurse in breast cancer for the last 20 years, Sue currently works as a Post-Doc Research Fellow in Leeds; having completed a PhD as an NIHR Fellow. Her research interests include post-surgical pain management, PROMS, patient self-management, web-based intervention development and all breast cancer research that is co-developed with patients based on patient identified need. She is also Deputy Chair of the NCRI breast working party on symptom management and is involved in trial development and delivery at all stages.

Leighton Hospital, Crewe

Member

Junior SSL

Surgical trainee in the West of Scotland, currently in post as an Associate Surgical Speciality Lead in Breast Surgery with the ABS. I am fairly new to the research platform but enjoying the learning process and due to commence an Out of Programme Research Post in August 2023 completing an MD in the relationship between breast cancer post-operative complications, and breast cancer recurrence/survival.

University of Oxford

Member

Gurdeep is an Academic Clinical Lecturer in Surgery at the University of Oxford. He has also been awarded a Cancer Research UK Clinician Scientist Fellowship.

Queen's University Belfast

RCS Surgical Specialty Lead

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.

University of Sheffield Medical School

Member

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.

Member

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

North Bristol NHS Trust and Bristol Medical School

RCS Surgical Specialty Lead

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.

Member

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

Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust

iBRA NET Representative

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.

Patient Representative

Hilary Stobart had breast cancer in 2009. She was treated with surgery, radiotherapy and hormone therapy in Cambridge. She was also a participant in the IMPORT LOW randomised clinical trial. She has since been involved putting the patient point of view within a number of breast cancer trial management teams. She is also a member of Independent Cancer Patients’ Voice,  UseMyData, the BIG against Breast Cancer international patient partnership initiative, and an advisory group member for the Breast Cancer Now Tissue Bank.

Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust

Member

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.

University of Sheffield

ABS Trustee

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.