Council

Council of Management members

James Byrne

BOMSS President, Trustee, Council member
Consultant Surgeon
University Hospital Southampton

Biography

Professor James Byrne is a consultant Surgeon at University Hospital Southampton since 2003 and Honorary Principal Research Fellow at the university of Southampton. After qualifying at Manchester he trained in the North West of England and Brisbane, Australia.

Jim served as BOMSS treasurer and member of the National bariatric surgery Registry committee from 2017-2020 and was elected BOMSS Secretary in 2021, then becoming President in 2023.

Jim is a bariatric and oesophagogastric cancer surgeon, and is committed to developing the evidence base for surgical treatment of patients with severe and complex obesity. He is a member of the trial management group for BYBAND Sleeve, a £4.2M multicentre randomised clinical trial comparing the outcomes of gastric banding, sleeve and bypass across 12 UK centres in over 1300 UK patients, that is due to report in 2022. He has also helped lead a £2.4M randomised trial of the Endobarrier. He is Surgery lead for Wessex NIHR clinical research network.

Jim is honoured to serve as BOMSS President and Trustee and is passionate about supporting the vision, mission and values of BOMSS as the newly independent professional body serving the needs of patients suffering with severe and complex obesity across the UK.

Ahmed Ahmed

BOMSS Secretary, Trustee, Council member, NBSR Committee, Endoscopy Committee
Consultant in upper gastrointestinal surgery and Lead Bariatric Surgeon
Imperial College London / Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

Biography

Mr Ahmed Ahmed is a consultant in upper gastrointestinal surgery and lead bariatric surgeon at Imperial Weight Centre. He has performed over 10,000 laparoscopic bariatric procedures, including over 7,000 gastric bypasses. He has trained in general and upper GI surgery in the UK and also at Stanford University and the University of Rochester in the US. He trains other surgeons in the field of bariatric surgery and is on the faculty of numerous courses on bariatric surgery. He is also actively involved in bariatric surgery research and has numerous publications in peer reviewed journals. He is a member of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS), International Federation of Surgery for Obesity (IFSO), Society of American Gastroenterological and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES), Association of Upper GI Surgeons (AUGIS) and the British Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Society (BOMSS). In 2007, he was awarded the International Federation of Surgery for Obesity (IFSO) scholarship. Mr Ahmed is often consulted by other professionals and medicolegal experts for his opinions on complex bariatric surgery cases. His Imperial Weight Centre bariatric surgery unit in London has been designated as an international centre of excellence for bariatric surgery and he now sits on the prestigious International Bariatric Surgery Review Committee (IBSRC).

Mr Ahmed was elected to council of the British Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Society (BOMSS) in 2017 and took over as Treasurer in 2021. Ahmed was then elected as BOMSS Secretary in 2023. He was also elected to the council of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 2020.

Kamal Mahawar

Council member, Trustee
Consultant General/ Bariatric Surgeon & NatSSIP Lead
South Tyneside and Sunderland NHSFT

Biography

Kamal Mahawar is a Consultant General/ Bariatric Surgeon & NatSSIP Lead at South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust, and Visiting Professor at the University of Sunderland. Mr. Mahawar is BOMSS Treasurer and past Chair of the National Bariatric Surgery Registry (NBSR) committee. He also sits on the scientific committee of IFSO. He was one of the editors of the second and the third NBSR reports.

Kamal has authored over 175 peer-reviewed publications, multiple book chapters in prestigious titles, and two books widely appreciated in media ("The Ethical Doctor" published by Harper Collins and "Fight with Fat") He is the Co-Editor of “Journal of Bariatric Surgery” published by Wolters Kluwer and Associate Editor of “Obesity Surgery”, “Annals of Royal College of Surgeons England”, and “Clinical Obesity”. In addition, Kamal is on the editorial board of SOARD and other journals. The journal “Obesity Surgery” published his biography in 2018.

Kamal sits on the council of the ASGBI (and is its Associate Director for conferences). He is the Northern England representative on the council of the British Benign Upper Gastrointestinal Surgical Society (BBUGSS) and is the chief co-ordinator of The Upper Gastrointestinal Surgeons (TUGS).

Altaf Awan

BOMSS Council ALSGBI Representative
Consultant Bariatric, Benign pancreaticobiliary and Robotic surgeon
East Midlands

Biography

Mr Altaf Awan is a specialist consultant robotic, laparoscopic, bariatric (weight loss) & benign pancreaticobiliary surgeon. He was awarded his higher research degree (MD) from the University of Nottingham for his work on role of hormones in oesophageal carcinogenesis. Following completion of his higher surgical training in East Midlands, he completed his fellowship training in advanced laparoscopic and bariatric (weight loss) surgery. He is one of the senior and experienced bariatric surgeons at East Midlands Bariatric and Metabolic Institute (EMBMI), a regional centre that provides comprehensive bariatric service to patients from East Midlands.

Mr Awan specialises in bariatric (weight loss) surgery, surgical management of gallstones, bile duct stones, acute pancreatitis, acid reflux and all types of abdominal wall hernias. He has a keen interest in laparoscopic surgery for emergency cases and has helped develop innovative minimally invasive surgical techniques in the management of emergency conditions such as complex acute pancreatitis. He regularly undertakes keyhole surgery for surgical conditions that present as an emergency and affect gastrointestinal tract or abdominal wall. Mr Awan operative work on laparoscopic surgery for pancreatitis, bile duct stone, hernia and robotic surgery has been awarded top (First) prizes at UK prestigious National Surgical Scientific Meetings.

Mr Awan is Director of Education (Laparoscopic & Robotic surgery) for Association of Laparoscopic Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland (ALSGBI UK). Mr Awan is also a keen surgical trainer, a Course director and faculty for ALSGBI Key skills in advanced laparoscopic surgery, LapPass, Royal college of surgeons England (RCSEng) Core skills in Laparoscopic surgery courses.

Mr Awan is actively involved in clinical research with several publications in peer reviewed journals including work on weight loss surgery. He has a keen interest in surgical innovation to improve operative safety and is currently investigating role of Indocyanine Green (ICG) dye during minimally invasive surgery. He was invited for an interview at the Third International Bariatric Club (IBC) Oxford University World Congress 2022 and provided useful insight into role of fluorescence dye in bariatric (weight loss) surgery. He regularly delivers talks as an invited speaker at the national surgical meetings and his most recent talk was on role and advantages of robotic surgery in gastric bypass for weight loss at ALSGBI UK Annual scientific meeting held in Newcastle.

Mr Awan is currently leading development of robotic surgery in bariatric (weight loss), abdominal wall hernia and hiatus hernia surgery at University Hospitals of Derby and Burton and holds portfolio of Joint Multispecialty clinical lead for robotic surgery. Mr Awan is a member of the British Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Society (BOMSS), Association of Laparoscopic Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland (ALSGBI), European Association of Endoscopic Surgery (EAES), British hernia Society (BHS) and European Hernia Society (EHS).

Nick Carter

ASM Lead, BOMSS Council member
Consultant Laparoscopic Upper GI Robotic & Bariatric Surgeon
Portsmouth

Biography

Nick has worked in the NHS for 22 years and as a Consultant in Oesophagogastric and Bariatric Surgery at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust for 9 of these where he is the Clinical Lead for Bariatic Surgery. As part of his training he undertook a specialist fellowship in Bariatric Surgery in University College London.

He is a member of he Trial Management Group For the BYBAND Sleeve Trial. He has co-authored the chapter on Extreme Obesity Surgery in the book Obesity, Bariatric & Metabolic Surgery.

Nick started Robotic UGI & Bariatric Surgery at Portsmouth Hospital in February 2019 and now travels around the UK proctoring surgeons in Robotic Surgery. He enjoys teaching and is involved in delivering multiple courses each year.

Nick is honoured to have been voted onto the BOMSS council and wants to help deliver the BOMSS vision of improving access to safe and effective treatment for people living with with severe and complex obesity across the UK

Ken Clare

Patient and Public Involvement Lead, BOMSS Council member
Obesity UK

Biography

Ken Clare from Liverpool has lived with obesity all his life. With a professional background in general and mental health nursing. For over 20 years, he has become a strong advocate for people with obesity and is passionate about ensuring the voice of lived experience is considered at every stage of research, commissioning, policy and service delivery. Ken founded WLSInfo (a UK based patient support and information charity) in 2002.

He currently serves as Chair of European Coalition for People Living with Obesity (ECPO). He is Director of Operations at Obesity UK. and was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of ASO (Association for the Study of Obesity) in 2023. He is currently working within the Obesity Institute at Leeds Beckett University leading in Obesity Voices, the Patient and Public Involvement Hub.

Naiara Fernandez-Munoz

BOMSS IHP representative, Council member
Advanced Nurse Practitioner
The Whittington Hospital - Whittington Health NHS Trust

Biography

Naiara has worked as a qualified nurse for 15 years, starting her career in Spain and moving to the UK/ NHS in 2012.

With 7 years’ experience in the North London Obesity Surgery Service, Naiara now works as an Advanced Nurse Practitioner (ANP) in Bariatrics and Upper GI surgery within a high-volume bariatric department in London.

She was appointment as a Bariatric Nurse Specialist in 2016 and along with the commitment to serving patients with obesity, she has upskilled herself into an independent Nurse Endoscopist and a Non-Medical Prescriber assisting the wider multidisciplinary team within her department which helped her upgrade her post into an ANP.

Along with her clinical skills, she is also active in academics and have presented in BOMSS annual meetings and have publications in peer-reviewed journals.

She is particularly drawn to this opportunity because She would like to initiate the creation of a national curriculum for Bariatric Specialist Nurses and help others to achieve career development thought Bariatric & Metabolic services and be the link between BOMSS and other IHPs.

Ahmed Ghanem

BOMSS Council National Trainee Representative

Biography

Omar Khan

BOMSS Council member, NBSR Committee Chair

Biography

Mr Omar Khan is a Consultant Surgeon with a specialist academic and clinical practice in weight-loss surgery.

He studied at the University of Cambridge, and undertook his clinical training in Nottingham and Southampton (where he completed a PhD in obesity and cardiovascular disease). He was appointed as a Consultant Surgeon in Gastrointestinal and Bariatric Surgery at St Georges Hospital, London where he has served as the upper GI and bariatric surgical lead and a senior examiner for medical undergraduates.

Mr Khan has an active interest in research and is an Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer and specialist adviser on obesity to NICE. He has published over 160 articles on all aspects of surgery and his weight-loss research has been featured in the national and international press. He acts a medicolegal specialist and provides expert opinion for solicitors, HM Coroner and the GMC.

Mr Khan was elected to council of the British Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Society in 2022 and served as co-chair of the BOMSS patient safety committee. He is currently Chair of the National Bariatric Surgery Registry Committee - the body responsible for publishing and monitoring outcomes in weight loss surgery in the UK.

Emily McBride

BOMSS IHP representative, Council member
Principal Health Psychologist and Clinical Lecturer

Biography

Dr Emily McBride is a clinical academic Health Psychologist and Behavioural Scientist passionate about obesity management and prevention. She splits her time between NHS practice as Principal Health Psychologist in Bariatric Surgery at Lewisham Hospital, and academia as a Clinical Lecturer at King’s College London. She has research streams underway in psychological aspects of bariatric surgery and obesity prevention and regularly publishes in peer-reviewed journals.

Prior to this, Emily was Senior Research Fellow at University College London (UCL) where she held an NIHR fellowship and has also worked in other NHS trusts. She has held policy roles such as Senior Behavioural Scientist for the UK Government Department of Health and Social Care, and Policy Lead for the British Psychological Society. She therefore has experience of advising on national obesity management and prevention projects at population level.

Emily holds a PhD in Behavioural Science which she completed between UCL and Yale University as part of a Yale-UCL scholarship, which won her three national awards. She also holds a Doctorate-level degree and MSc in Health Psychology, and BSc (Hons), all of which she completed in Scotland.

Alex Miras

BOMSS Council Medical Physician Lead
Professor of Endocrinology
Ulster University

Biography

Alex Miras is Professor of Endocrinology at Ulster University. His clinical and research work focus solely on Obesity and type 2 diabetes. He has contributed to clinical management policy and research in the field of Obesity over the last 14 years. The specialist interests of his research Group are the mechanisms of action of interventions for obesity, focusing on pharmacotherapy, medical devices, and obesity surgery. Alex is a member of the NICE obesity management guidelines committee, trustee of the Association for the Study of Obesity and chair of the research subcommittee of the NBSR. He is associate editor for the journals Obesity and SOARD.

Aya Musbahi

BOMSS Council Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity Lead
Post CCT Bariatric Fellow
Newcastle upon Tyne

Biography

Aya is a post CCT Bariatric Surgery fellow. Having completed higher surgical training, Aya has chosen to specialise in Bariatric Surgery. She also works as a CQC specialist advisor and also serves on a REC for the NIHR as well as the surgical representative for the EDI group for the RCPSG. She is interested in research and wants to help deliver a BOMSS vision for EDI in her tenure.

Ness Osborne

BOMSS IHP representative, Council member
Senior Specialist Dietitian

Biography

With 11 years clinical experience within weight management and bariatric services, Ness now works as a senior specialist dietitian within the high-volume bariatric unit of Sunderland Royal Hospital.

She currently sits on the British Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Society (BOMSS) council as the IHP Dietetic lead and is a member of The Association for the Study of Obesity. Ness was formerly in the training and education role for the Obesity Specialist Group Committee of the British Dietetic Association, however has now stepped into the bariatric liaison role. She is currently contributing to the Bariatric Surgery chapter of the Manual of Dietetic Practice (7^th edition).

Working as a team lead in an integrated multi-disciplinary service, she understands the importance of professional representation and how different disciplines play a key role in optimising safety outcomes and progression within the service. Ness prides herself on communication skills in motivational interviewing and behaviour change, and has a passion for patient-centred care.

Chetan Parmar

BOMSS Educational Lead, Council member, Patient Safety Committee, NBSR Committee
Consultant Bariatric/UGI and General Surgeon & Clinical Lead
The Whittington Hospital NHS Trust, London

Biography

Chetan Parmar is a Consultant Bariatric/General Surgeon and Clinical Director of the Surgery and Cancer Unit at Whittington Health NHS Trust, London. He holds the position of Honorary Associate Professor at University College London. His dedication to academia and innovation led to his appointment as the COVID research lead during the pandemic, subsequently leading to be appointed the Joint Director for Research and Innovation. Additionally, Chetan leads the North Thames UGI NIHR Clinical Research Network. With a passion for education and training he serves as the Surgical Tutor for the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

Over his career, he has performed thousands of operations specializing in bariatric surgeries and endoscopies. He actively engages in collaborative, high quality, patient-centred research and serves as the principal investigator for multiple NIHR-funded trials. Chetan has over 150 peer-reviewed publications and several book chapters of reputed publishing house. He is the Associate Editor of textbook ‘Obesity, Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery: A Comprehensive Guide,’ published by Springer in 2022. He is an editor and reviewer of numerous esteemed journals including Obesity Surgery and SOARD. Recognised for his expertise, he is regularly invited to speak at national and international conferences. He is grateful to be conferred an honorary professor title for his contributions. He holds position as an elected council member of IFSO and MGB-OAGB International Club.

He is a member of the patient safety and NBSR committee of BOMSS and strives to improve patient outcomes. He has chaired the Annual Scientific Meeting of BOMSS since 2021, successfully organising conference at the University of Oxford, Brighton and Birmingham. Following June 2024 ASM at Harrogate he will commence the role of BOMSS Professional Educational Lead.

X @drcdparmar

Helen Parretti

BOMSS IHP representative, Council member
Consultant Clinical Senior Lecturer in Primary Care
University of East Anglia

Biography

Helen is a GP and academic conducting obesity research at the University of East Anglia. Over the last 5yrs, she has also worked clinically in specialist weight management services in the East of England. She is a member of the NICE weight management guidelines and quality standards committees and a RCGP clinical advisor. Helen has been an IHP representative on BOMSS council for the last 3yrs and is delighted to have been re-elected into this position. She aims to continue to work with council members, associated committees and the membership to improve the understanding and management of patients who have bariatric surgery within primary care. Helen has a particular interest in long-term post-bariatric surgery care and currently leads an NIHR funded study in this area, and led the multidisciplinary group who developed the BOMSS GP Hub, launched last year. She also aims to further build on this work as well as support more outreach to primary care healthcare professionals.

Dimitri Pournaras

BOMSS Council member
Consultant Upper Gastrointestinal and Bariatric Surgeon
North Bristol NHS Trust

Biography

Dimitri Pournaras graduated from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece and undertook all his postgraduate training in the UK. He was awarded a Royal College of Surgeons of England Research Fellowship to conduct research on obesity, diabetes and metabolic surgery.

He completed his PhD in the Department of Investigative Medicine, Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College London investigating the mechanism of action of bariatric surgery and the role of the gut on appetite and glucose homeostasis. He then trained in oesophagogastric surgery in Cambridge and Norwich. Following a Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery Fellowship approved by the Royal College of Surgeons of England in Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton, he was appointed as a Consultant Upper Gastrointestinal and Bariatric Surgeon in North Bristol NHS Trust where he currently works as part of the multidisciplinary team treating obesity as a disease.

Dimitri is the inaugural British Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Society/Royal College of Surgeons of England bariatric Surgical Specialty Lead and is committed to high quality, collaborative, patient centred research with the objective to improve obesity care.

Chris Pring

Council member, Patient Safety Committee member, NBSR Committee
Bariatric Surgeon
St Richard's Hospital, Chichester

Biography

Andrew Robertson

BOMSS Council member
Consultant General and Bariatric Surgeon and Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer

Biography

Andrew Robertson is a Consultant General & Bariatric Surgeon at the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh and an Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh.

He has an interest in undergraduate and post-graduate teaching and teaches on the Edinburgh Surgical Online Courses. He is on the bariatric committee for The Upper Gastrointestinal Surgeons Society (TUGSS). He is a reviewer for various surgical journals and is on the editorial board of Obesity Surgery.

He has an ongoing research interest, having undertaken a research fellowship at the Northern Oesophago-Gastric Unit, Newcastle resulting in a PhD. This led to him being awarded the Syme Medal by the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh. He has been awarded the BOMSS Council Prize for subsequent research. His surgical training was undertaken in the South-East Scotland. This was followed by a Senior Royal College of Surgeons Accredited Bariatric Clinical Fellowship at Musgrove Park, Hospital, Taunton.

Dee Wainwright

BOMSS Patient Safety Committee Co-Chair, BOMSS Council member
Advanced Laparoscopic Surgical Care Practitioner

Biography

Dee has worked as a qualified nurse for the past 41years both in the Armed Forces and NHS.

She qualified as a Surgical Care Practitioner whilst working at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust in 2005 specialising in UGI & Bariatric Surgery.

Dee has a BSc hon in Clinical practice with a post graduate Msc module in Obesity management and is also an Associate Member of the Royal College of Surgeons.

Dee currently provides specialist surgical assistance in UGI and Bariatric surgery as well as providing gastric band adjustment clinics and pre and post operative phone support for Bariatric patients.

Dee is proud to have been voted onto the BOMSS Patient Safety Committee and the opportunity to help drive improvements in patient safety and improve patient outcomes.