Board of Trustees

Tim Mitchell studied medicine at Brasenose College, Oxford before training in Otolaryngology in Oxford, London, Cambridge and Sydney. He was awarded the inaugural Graham Fraser Memorial Fellowship to work with Professor William Gibson in the field of cochlear implantation. He was appointed as Consultant Otolaryngologist in Southampton in 2000 and has a subspecialty interest in cochlear and other auditory implants with the University of Southampton Auditory Implant Service. He has been a RCS Regional Specialty Professional Advisor, member of Council of ENT UK, Vice Chair of the Clinical Reference Group for Specialised Ear Services and a member of the Specialist Advisory Committee for Otolaryngology. He has been a MRCS examiner since 2004 and was Chair of the Court of Examiners from 2014 to 2017. He was elected to Council in 2017. He is Chair of the Learning Committee and the Future Surgeons Forum. He was appointed Vice President in 2020 and President in 2023.

Fiona Myint is a Consultant Vascular Surgeon based at the Royal Free Hospital in London. Having qualified at Guy’s Hospital, she trained in General and Vascular Surgery in London. She has a keen interest in surgical education having been a Surgical Tutor, Trust Divisional Director of Education, Trust Undergraduate Teaching Lead, Core Surgery Training Programme Director, General Surgery Training Programme Director and General Surgery SAC member. Fiona has been involved in undergraduate and postgraduate curriculum development and has been an examiner for MB BS and the MRCS for many years. She has sat on the National Selection Boards for both Core Surgery and General Surgery and holds a Masters in Clinical Education and SFHEA. She is keen to encourage undergraduates into surgical training and is the patron of the UCL Surgical Society. More recently she has developed the Harvard Surgical Leadership Program for Harvard Medical School. She was most honoured when the late Professor Jerry Kirk asked her to update his book ‘Basic Surgical Techniques’ and was pleased that he lived to see the book win the BMJ Book Prize for Surgery in 2019. Above all she is a full-time practicing vascular surgeon serving the populations of the Royal Free and the Whittington Hospitals.

Consultant Plastic Surgeon Professor Vivien Lees was elected to College Council in 2014 and was re-elected by membership in 2020. She has been elected by Council as a Trustee in 2020 and as Vice President from 2023. She is Professor of Plastic Surgery at Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester, where she has clinical interests in hand surgery including wrist and the rheumatoid hand. Her principal scientific interests are in functional anatomy of the distal radioulnar joint/forearm biomechanics (Hunterian Oration 2010) and peripheral nerve injury. She is past joint Editor of the European Journal of Hand Surgery. Professor Lees was an undergraduate in Oxford and undertook clinical studies in Cambridge qualifying in 1985. She underwent plastic surgery training in Cambridge, Billericay and Leeds/Bradford Louisville, Kentucky. Professor Lees has served previously as SAC Chair Plastic Surgery, FRCS(Plast) examiner and member of BAPRAS, BSSH and BAAPS Councils. She has been President British Society for Surgery of the Hand (BSSH) for 2015. She has particular interests in the development of educational programmes and led the development of the Postgraduate Diploma in Hand Surgery and MSc Hand Surgery and developed the Plastic Surgery Curriculum in its current modular format. On Council she has had particular involvement with Emerging Leaders, SAFE OR, Cosmetic Certification/credentialling programmes and HandsFirst QI initiative. Professor Lees is highly committed to patient safety, engaging the ‘overlooked’ members of our College and is working to ensure a sustainable future both for the College and for surgery. Recreations include pottery, fell walking, lake swimming, and history.

Peter Friend is Professor of Transplantation at the University of Oxford, Fellow of Green Templeton College, consultant in Transplant and Hepatobiliary surgery at Oxford University Hospitals, and Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. He trained at the University of Cambridge and St Thomas’ Hospital, London and carried out junior hospital posts in London and East Anglia. After specialist training, he worked as Visiting Assistant Professor of Surgery, Indiana University, USA, returning to the UK as Lecturer in Surgery, University of Cambridge, where he was also Fellow and Director of Studies in Medicine at Magdalene College. He moved to Oxford in 1999, where in addition to clinical activities, he heads a translational research group focusing on organ preservation/reconditioning and novel immunosuppressive strategies. He is author of more than 300 papers on clinical and scientific aspects of transplantation and general surgery. As Director of the Oxford Transplant Centre, he has introduced new clinical programmes including pancreatic and intestinal transplantation. Previously he has served as President of the British Transplantation Society, Thames Valley Training Programme Director (General Surgery) and Council member (Europe) of the Transplantation Society. In 2008 he co-founded OrganOx Ltd, a spin-out company from the University of Oxford, established to translate University research in the area of normothermic organ perfusion into clinical practice. He was appointed Vice President in 2023.

Dr Eckhardt is a highly experienced Consultant Orthodontist and Aesthetic Practitioner. Her particular orthodontic interest is in the management of facial deformity working with maxillofacial surgeons and is the lead orthodontist for cleft lip and palate in Wales. She has an interest in facial aesthetics and also has a master's degree in aesthetic medicine with distinction from Queen Mary University of London. She is a clinical senior lecturer on the aesthetic medicine master's degree at Queen Mary University of London. Dr Eckhardt lectures nationally and internationally in the fields of orthodontics and aesthetic medicine. She also has a particular interest in postgraduate training and assessment and was appointed as an MOrth examiner in 2008, following this she was elected as the Chair of the panel of MOrth examiners and is currently the Chair of the Board of MOrth examiners for RCS England and RCPS Glasgow. In this role she has established overseas MOrth examinations in Kuala Lumpur, Chennai and Cairo. In addition, she is the director of assessments for the Aesthetic Medicine MSc at Queen Mary University of London. She was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Dental Surgery in June 2023.

William Allum was elected to Council in 2017. He is Consultant Upper GI surgeon at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, London. Following undergraduate and postgraduate training in Birmingham, he spent time at MD Anderson Cancer Centre in Houston, Texas. His main area of clinical interests is in oesophageal and gastric cancer, with a focus on perioperative multimodality therapy and has written and lectured extensively on upper GI cancer. He is the past President of the Association of Upper GI Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland (AUGIS). He is currently Chair of NHS England Specialist Cancer Surgery Clinical Reference Group. He is a member of the Board of the European Society of Surgical Oncology and Council member of the International Gastric Cancer Association as joint coordinator of the European chapter. He has had a career long interest in training and has been Chair of the General Surgery SAC, Director of the Intercollegiate Surgical Curriculum Programme (ISCP) and latterly Chair of the Joint Committee on Surgical Training. He is the Council lead for the Improving Surgical Training pilot project. He has recently been appointed visiting Professor at the new Kent and Medway Medical School. He has also worked with the GMC Education division and the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, jointly chairing the working group on the implementation of the GMC Generic Professional Capabilities and currently chairing the Flexibility and Transferability in postgraduate medical training working group.

Professor Farah Bhatti OBE is a Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon at Morriston Hospital, Swansea and the Equality and Diversity Director and Careers Lead for Graduate Entry Medicine at Swansea University Medical School. She read Medicine at Somerville College, Oxford and completed her clinical training at Jesus College, Cambridge. She trained at a number of prestigious units including The Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals, and has an MD in Transplantation from Cambridge. Farah is passionate about teaching, training and equality. She is an Examiner for the FRCS(CTh) and Chair of the Women in Surgery Forum at the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

Lasantha Wijesinghe (known to friends and colleagues as Wije) was born in Sri Lanka and graduated from Cambridge University in 1989 where he was awarded the Lewin Prize in Surgery. His House jobs were in Cambridge and Bury St Edmunds. He went on to work at the Accident Hospital in Birmingham followed by a year as Demonstrator under Prof. Harold Ellis. An SHO rotation in Addenbrooke’s Hospital led to his FRCS in 1994, followed by a Calman Registrar rotation in Yorkshire. Here he cemented his interest in vascular surgery having worked in York, Scarborough, Hull and the two major centres in Leeds. He subsequently won the Gold Medal of the ASGBI in the FRCS (Gen) examination and was awarded his MD Thesis from Leeds University. In 2002 he was appointed to his post as Consultant Vascular Surgeon in Royal Bournemouth Hospital. Wije has served on the Council of the Vascular Society, as Regional Professional Advisor for the RCS and examines for the FRCS and FEBVS examinations. Wije is married with three adult children, none of whom have the remotest interest in surgery. He has a strong interest in the training and education of junior doctors, physician’s associates, nurses, and is a Visiting Fellow at Bournemouth University. In his spare time he is a volunteer and sponsor of several Christian and secular organisations, an enthusiastic cricketer and a fair-weather walker.

Pankaj Davé is a Chartered Certified Accountant and has worked internationally as a senior executive leading large multi-disciplinary teams whilst working for globally recognised companies including BP and Amoco in CFO, strategy, commercial, transformation, planning & performance management and oilfield operations roles. He also ran his own strategy consultancy business.

Most recently Pankaj worked in Mumbai for five years for Reliance Industries Ltd, a conglomerate and India's largest company. As a direct report to the Managing Director, Pankaj led the design and implementation of the Reliance Group Management System and successfully led a major business transformation programme to integrate processes, systems, data, organisation and governance.

Pankaj is a member of the Board of Trustees at the Royal College of Surgeons of England and is the Chair of the Audit & Risk Committee. He is also a non- executive director for the University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust and has previously worked as a trustee for Kidney Research UK.

Joanna has over 25 years of experience in finance and investments. She began her career in Equity Capital Markets at HSBC Investment Bank and then NM Rothschild, before moving into private equity in 2002 when she joined Advent International, a leading international buyout group. More recently, Joanna has been working with investors - primarily families and foundations - advising them on their overall investment portfolios, and applying her particular expertise to develop and grow their private equity portfolio. She is an active proponent of responsible investing, applying ESG considerations to each investment opportunity. Joanna is currently a Managing Director at Ormonde Partners, a specialist private markets investment firm. Outside of the private sector, Joanna was a founding team member and Head of Fundraising at the Early Intervention Foundation, a charity that champions the use of effective early interventions to improve the lives of children and young people at risk of experiencing poor outcomes. Joanna is a Lay Trustee and Chairs the Finance and Investment Committee at the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

Rob is the leader of Arup’s strategic digital technology ambitions globally. He joined the firm in 2017 bringing over 20 years of experience of technology and digital leadership, digital content development, cloud capabilities and strategic cyber security practice. A seasoned practitioner of leading people through digital transformation, as CIO he heads up a global team based in 90 offices around the globe with 20,000 users. Much of Rob’s work focuses on enabling the firm’s digital transformation, including leading the development of our cloud strategy. He has also led the establishment of the firm’s cyber advisory services. Prior to joining Arup Rob worked across the creative and public sectors. As Chief Technology Officer of the Royal Opera House he created World Ballet Day, an annual live stream event connecting some of the world’s biggest dance companies with millions of viewers around the globe. As the Director of Parliamentary Digital Services he enabled greater access to information about the UK’s democracy by driving open data initiatives. His work connected the public to political debate by developing the largest social media following of any parliament globally. He introduced pivotal cyber security measures that successfully defended the House of Commons and House of Lords during the 2017 cyber attack. Rob is a lay trustee for the Royal College of Surgeons, a Fellow of the Institute of Information Technology and a Cultural Fellow of King’s College London. He is formerly a board member of the National Association for Gallery Education (Engage) and a director of the non-profit arts-technology company Tessitura.

Simon Davis joined the law firm Clifford Chance in 1982 and became Partner in 1994, retiring from the firm in 2020. He was Head of Commercial Litigation in Clifford Chance's London office and a member of the firm's Partnership Council. He is a former President of the London Solicitors Litigation Association and President of the Law Society of England and Wales, and currently a member of the Council of the Law Society. Simon is a member of the Court of Appeal Mediation Panel and an accredited CEDR mediator, and is a trustee of the Access to Justice Foundation and a Champion of LawCare. Simon was appointed as a Lay Trustee on 1 October 2021