David Jayne is Clinical Director for the Surgical MedTech Co-operative. He is Professor of Surgery at the University of Leeds and Honorary Consultant Surgeon at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. He is a NIHR Research Professor and brings expertise in the identification of unmet needs related to colorectal disease, the development of surgical technologies through interdisciplinary working, and clinical translation through early and late phase clinical trials.
His clinical interests include minimally invasive and robotic colorectal surgery. His research interests include the development, application, and evaluation of new technologies for surgical application. In 2012 he was awarded an NIHR Research Professorship to promote the translation of novel technologies into clinical practice for patient benefit. He is CI on several NIHR portfolio clinical trials:
- NIHR HTA FIAT (anal fistula plug v surgeon’s preference)
- NIHR EME ROLARR (robotic v laparoscopic surgery for rectal cancer)
- NIHR EME GliSten (next generation fluorescent lymph node mapping in colon cancer)
- NHIR HTA Fenix (magnetic anal sphincter for faecal incontinence)
Giles Toogood is Professor of Hepatobiliary Surgery at Leeds University and has been a Consultant at St James’s University Hospital, Leeds since 1998. He trained at Oxford University and completed his hepatobiliary and transplant training in Oxford, Cambridge and Australia. He also completed his Doctor of Medicine at Oxford University. He performs liver cancer and liver transplantation surgery and works in one of the largest Units in Europe.
He has published over 160 peer reviewed publications and has supervised several post graduate fellows towards PhDs and MDs.
Giles is currently Principal external examiner for Oxford University Medical School and examines for the Intercollegiate Specialty Board in General Surgery and also for the Union Européenne des Médecins Spécialistes in HPB Surgery.
He was on the NICE guidelines group for gallbladder disease. He is President Elect of the Association of Upper Gastrointestinal Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland and was the Founder President of the Great Britain and Ireland Hepatopancreatobiliary Association, (2009). He is also a member of the European and African HPB Association Training Committee.
Giles played cricket for Worcestershire CCC between 1978 and 1982. He played first class cricket and rugby for Oxford University in the 1980s and played Minor Counties Cricket for both Shropshire and Cambridgeshire. He is currently a member of the MCC main Committee and captained MCC on two major tours.
Professor Scott trained in Leicester, Peterborough, Bristol, Exeter, Gloucester and Melbourne and was appointed as a consultant vascular surgeon in November 1993.
He has a large NHS practice based at the LGI and takes part in the major trauma centre. He was appointed as an honorary professor of vascular surgery at the University of Leeds in 2004 and manages a large academic research group, focused on abdominal aortic aneurysms, based within the Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine.
He has extensive experience of the management of arterial and venous disease.
He works closely with colleagues in interventional radiology, and offers minimally invasive approaches to arterial and venous disease.
He is an advisory member of the BHF, Past Chairman of the European Board of Vascular Surgery and the current FRCS Vascular Examination Board and the lead for Academic Foundation and INSPIRE at the University of Leeds.
He is also President Elect of the Union Européenne des Medécins Spécialistes (UEMS) Section and Board of Vascular Surgery and a Past-President of the Vascular Society of GB and Ireland (2012-13).
Aaron Quyn is Associate Clinical Professor of Surgery at the University of Leeds. He obtained his MB ChB from the University of Edinburgh in 2001 and PhD in cell biology from the University of Dundee. He was clinical Lecturer to Professor Bob Steele at the University of Dundee until 2016 developing an interest in Bowel Cancer Screening. He undertook fellowships in Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Sydney and St James’s Hospital Leeds. He has a clinical interest in locally advanced primary rectal cancer and recurrent pelvic disease and is developing a research portfolio in aligned to this interest. He was appointed Associate Clinical Professor in 2017
Prof Paul Millner leads the Bionanotechnology group at the University of Leeds. The group’s interests can be divided broadly into two main themes; biosensors and nanotechnology. Biosensors are being developed against a wide range of analytes, from small molecules and ions up to whole cells. Nanotechnology encompasses research into nanoparticles for medicine and nanofibres for environmental applications. Prof Millner is keen to collaborate and has led several large EU projects which have resulted in spin-off companies. Prof Millner initially trained as a Biochemist and obtained his PhD in Plant Sciences from the University of Leeds. After around 12 years working on plant cell signalling, his research shifted direction and he is now a leader in biosensors and bionanotechnology. Prof Millner is also Director of the School of Biomedical Sciences and delivers lectures on a range of topics.
Dr Peter Culmer is Associate Professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Leeds, and Engineering Lead for the University’s Surgical Technologies Research Group. He is also Principal Investigator with IMPRESS, a project looking at developing technologies for incontinence management and prevention. Dr Culmer’s research looks at the development and application of new enabling technologies in medical applications, with a focus on robotics, sensing and control systems. Current projects include a robotic system for colonoscopy, the development of soft tactile sensors and characterisation and prevention of trauma in laparoscopic graspers. His PhD – from the University of Leeds – developed the computer controller for iPAM, an award-winning robotic system to improve arm function and quality of life for people with stroke. He continued this work as a post-doctoral researcher, adapting the technology to develop an instrumented walking-aid (iWA) to improve gait.
Stephen Evans is Professor of Molecular and Nanoscale Physics in the School of Physics and Astronomy. He obtained his B.Sc. in Physics from the University of London (QMC) in 1984 and his PhD in Molecular Physics from the University of Lancaster in 1988. After a post-doctoral fellowship at Imperial College, University of London, he became a visiting scientist in the Molecular and Optical Electronic Research Laboratory, Eastman Kodak, Rochester, New York. He joined the academic staff of the University of Leeds in 1991, became a Reader in 2001, and was appointed as Professor in Molecular Physics and Nanoscale Physics in 2002. He was Chairman of the School of Physics & Astronomy between 2004-2007 and currently heads the Molecular and Nanoscale Physics group.
Pietro Valdastri is Professor of Robotics and Autonomous Systems at the University of Leeds, working across the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering and the School of Mechanical Engineering. He also directs the Science and Technologies Of Robotics in Medicine (STORM) Lab, a research lab focusing on medical capsule robots for gastrointestinal endoscopy and abdominal surgery which he founded at Vanderbilt University. His research is focused on ‘medical capsule robots’, devices that leverage extreme miniaturization to enter the human body through natural orifices or small incisions, and can be designed to perform endoscopy and surgery while minimizing the invasiveness of the procedure. Professor Valdastri joined the University of Leeds in 2016 and is Director of the Institute of Robotics, Autonomous Systems and Sensing.
Beth is an Associate Professor in the Academic Unit of Health Economics at the University of Leeds. She leads the Test Evaluation Group, a multi-disciplinary team that focuses on the economic evaluation of medical tests. She is the Methodology Lead for the NIHR Leeds In Vitro Diagnostics Co-operative and the NIHR Surgical MedTech Co-operative. She has a particular interest in the early diagnosis of cancer in primary care.
She sits on the Editorial Board for the BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine Journal and is a statistical methodologist peer reviewer for the Cochrane Diagnostic Test Accuracy editorial team. She also frequently reviews NIHR Heath Technology Assessments focusing on test evaluation.
Julia is Associate Dean for Applied Health Research, Director of the Leeds Institute of Clinical Trials Research and Professor of Clinical Trials Research. Julia is particularly interested in the design and conduct of trials within cancer, the development and analysis of patient reported outcomes and the evaluation of surgical techniques.
