Council Members

The following are current members of the RCSEd Council:

• Mr Christopher Caddy is a Consultant Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgeon and Honorary Senior Lecturer, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. He was elected to Council in 2019. An Edinburgh graduate with international training in South Africa, Australia, and USA. His interests include Education and Training, Leadership and Quality Improvement. He is a Fellows Representative on the Advisory Board, Faculty of Surgical Trainers and a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Educators. He is involved with NOTSS training, FLOW and individual coaching.

• Mr Stuart Clark is a full time NHS Consultant in Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery in Central Manchester. He was elected to Council in 2016. He is actively involved in examinations, education, the Regional Advisory Network and International Medical Graduates.

• Professor Farhat Din is a senior lecturer with the University of Edinburgh. Her research focuses on colorectal cancer prevention by investigating the molecular mechanisms of the anti-tumour effects of chemopreventive agents on energy and metabolism signalling. She integrates her translational research programme with her clinical practice as a consultant colorectal surgeon at the Western General Hospital. Her contribution to translational research clinical surgery and training was recognised by the Hunter Doig Medal in 2015. She is on the RCSEd and Tenovus research committees. At a national level, Farhat has contributed to the NICE committee on FIT and contributes to cancer prevention networks including the ECMC- UK Therapeutic Cancer Prevention Network. Farhat was appointment Scotland's first Colorectal Cancer Surgical Research Chair from April 2023, a joint appointment between RCSEd and Bowel Cancer UK.

• Ms Claire Edwards is a Consultant Hand and Trauma surgeon at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital since 2010. She is Chair of the Trauma and Orthopaedics Surgical Specialty Board and sits on the Research and Awards Committee of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. Claire is Director of Core Surgical Education for HEEoE, a member of the Trauma and Orthopaedics ST3 National Selection Design Group, and is active in research.

• Mr Ian Hawthorn is a Consultant General and Vascular Surgeon at the University Hospital of North Durham. He has been heavily involved in examinations for the College for many years and was RSA for the Northern Region for five years. He is the Convener of Examinations for the College (2017 to 2020) and sits on numerous College committees and represents the College on national examination committees.

• Katie Hurst is the Trainee Committee Representative on RCSEd Council until November 2024 and a General Surgery Registrar (ST4) in the Thames Valley deanery, with an interest in Oncoplastic Breast Surgery. During completion of her academic foundation programme and academic clinical fellowship in Oxford, she sat on the RCSEd Trainees committee for 3 years. Katie is extremely passionate about improving trainee morale, as well as teamwork in the workplace. She orchestrated the RCSEd roadshow 'Lets Cycle It', and is currently chair of the RCSEd Sustainability Champions. Outside work, Katie enjoys cycling, running and spending time with friends.

• Professor Nirmal Kumar is Consultant ENT surgeon at WWL Teaching NHS Foundation Trust where he is also Associate Medical Director (RO responsibility). He served as President of ENT UK (2019-2022) and is currently Chair, ENT UK Foundation the philanthropic and fund-raising arm of ENT UK which seeks to invest in the specialty and to facilitate global innovation in surgery. Regionally, he led the ENT North West research network (GM CRN) for several years and conducts many NIHR trials. Nirmal is Honorary Clinical Professor at Edge Hill University Medical School where he leads several PG and UG training programmes. He is former vice chair of the Specialty Advisory Committee for otolaryngology, FRCS (ORL-HNS) examiner of the Royal College of Surgeons, Fellow of the Faculty of Surgical Trainers Edinburgh, Honorary Fellow of the Indian Academy and Sri Lankan College of ORL-HNS, and Fellow of Academy of Medical Educators. He has authored more than 200 publications in the medical literature and is MD, MCh, PhD examiner for several Universities in the UK and abroad, delivered invited and key note lectures around the world

• Professor Krishnakumar Madhavan is a Professor of Surgery at the National University of Singapore. Senior Consultant Surgeon and Head of Department, National University Hospital , Singapore. Group Director - Surgery, National University Health System After advanced surgical training in the East of Scotland Higher Surgical Training Scheme, he was appointed as Consultant Surgeon at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, specializing in Hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery and liver, kidney, and pancreas transplantation. While he held this position, he got deeply involved in RCSEd activities – mainly as Examiner for the FRCS examinations both in UK and overseas. He was also a regular tutor at the Basic Surgical Skills Course organised by RCSEd and was later sent as the College Convener for the same course in Oman. After joining the National University of Singapore, he represented RCSEd as a College Examiner until he reverted to a Singapore examiner. After having been appointed the College Auditor, he has stopped examining and taken part as auditor in the FRCS examinations of General Surgery, Neuro Surgery and Orthopaedics Surgery.

• Miss Amanda McCabe FRCS(paeds) is a consultant paediatric surgeon for 13 years, based at Ninewells Hospital Dundee and Royal Hospital for Children and Young Adults, Edinburgh. Her practice specialises in lower GI (Hirschsprungs disease and anorectal anomalies). During her career she has taken a keen interest in surgical training, with particular focus on basic skills and fine motor development. She examines for MRCS (UK and overseas) and FRCS(paeds) and chairs its question writing group. She is a member of the SAC for paediatric surgery and is current chair of Surgical Speciality Board (paed surg) at RCSEd. A keen gardener and dog walker with 2 teenage sons and a very understanding husband.

• Alistair Mountain trained at the University of Birmingham Medical School from 1987-1994. He commenced his surgical training at the Royal Hospital Haslar in 1998 and his higher training took place in the Northern training program in the NE of England. He gained the FRCS Ed (T&O) in 2009 and on award of CCT, he was appointed as a consultant @ the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine at QE UHB in 2010. He has an active passionate interest in non-technical skills and CRM within trauma teams. He is the National Clinical Director of the European Trauma Course (2015- current) and is the current International Chair of the ETCO Course Management Committee. He is also a military Regional Surgical Adviser for the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.

• Majid Mukadam MBE joined RSCEd SASLC in May 2016 and is also member of Cardiothoracic Surgical Specialty Board. He is the SAS lead at the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust since 2011. He has a keen interest in teaching and training, did PGCE in Health Education from the University of Birmingham and is a GMC accredited Clinical Supervisor and an Appraiser for the Trust. His qualifications include MCh(CVTS) from Bombay, India and FRCS(C-Th) from United Kingdom. He works as an Associate Specialist in Cardiothoracic Transplantation and leads the cardiothoracic Retrieval service at the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Birmingham. He was recently awarded MBE by Her Majesty the Queen for his services to transplant patients. His vision is to increase representation of SAS doctors to examination boards.

• Mr Ahmed Nassef Consultant Vascular Surgeon/Honorary Senior Lecturer, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Foundation NHS Trust.

• Miss Anna Paisley is a Consultant General and Upper GI Surgeon at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. She has a particular interest in surgical recruitment, training and assessment. She was Regional Surgical Adviser for South East Scotland for 4 years, is current Year One Director of the Edinburgh Surgical Sciences Qualification and was elected onto Council in 2015.

• Mr Zahid Raza is a Consultant Vascular Surgeon at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. His particular interests include vascular access and open aortic surgery. He is the past Deputy Convenor of RCSEd Exams as well as the Regional Surgical Advisor for Edinburgh. He has an interest in postgraduate exams and teaching. He runs the Edinburgh MRCS prep course nationally and internationally and has been an examiner for the college since 2004.

• Mr Haroon Rehman is an elected member of council of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and a Specialty Registrar (ST8) in Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgery based at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary where he sits on the department’s clinical governance and training committees. Haroon has a special interest in patient safety, teaching, and training, and is a trainee lead for NHS Grampian.

• Professor Philip Turner has been a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon based at Stepping Hill Hospital, Stockport, UK since 1990. He is the Senior Surgeon in the department and specialises in all aspects of knee surgery. He was elected to Council in 2019. He has previously been the North West Orthopaedic Training Programme Director, Head of the HENW School of Surgery, Chair of the Confederation of Post-Graduate Schools of Surgery and Chair of the BOA Training Standards and Curriculum Committee. He has been involved in surgical education throughout his career and was awarded the Fellowship of the Faculty of Surgical Trainers of the RCS Edinburgh in 2016.

• Professor Angus Watson is the Clinical Chair of Surgery at the University of Aberdeen. He is an honorary consultant surgeon at NHS Highland. He is an elected member of council of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and a Clinical Advisor to the Centre for Sustainable Delivery. He trained in Manchester, Scotland and New Zealand before being appointed as a Consultant Colorectal Surgeon at Manchester Royal Infirmary in 2005. He has a doctorate from the University of St Andrews. Professor Watson moved to Inverness in 2009. His main clinical interests are emergency and colorectal surgery. His research interests are diverse. He is a co-applicant and Principal Investigator of a wide range of national and international clinical trials. He chairs the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh’s (RCSEd) Research Committee and its Global Surgery Foundation. His innovations include the Scottish Surgical Boot Camp and he is the instigator and clinical lead of the NHS Scotland Colon Capsule programme (ScotCap). He has created digital applications for Crohn’s and Colitis UK and Macmillan. He has an interest in developing homes for assisted living and has a number of grants to promote surgical skills acquisition using bio-synthetic tissue and augmented reality. He runs the RCSEd’s surgical skills competition. He has over 230 peer reviewed publications, book chapters and conference papers and he has delivered healthcare across the globe, most recently in Ukraine along with UK-Med.