Trustees

James Byrne

Chair of Trustees, Immediate Past President
Consultant Upper GI 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 President, 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.

Chetan Parmar

BOMSS Secretary, Trustee, Council member
Consultant Bariatric/General Surgeon and Clinical Director of the Surgery and Cancer Unit
Whittington Health 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

Omar Khan

Treasurer, Council member, Trustee, NBSR Chair
Consultant Surgeon in Gastrointestinal and Bariatric Surgery

St Georges Hospital

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.

Richard Welbourn

NBSR Committee, Trustee ,
Bariatric and upper GI Surgeon
Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton

Biography

Richard Welbourne is part of a 5-surgeon bariatric and upper GI team in Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton, after setting up the unit in the early 2000s. Musgrove became the SW Level 1 Commissioned bariatric surgery centre and the first International Center of Excellence for Bariatric Surgery of the US Surgical Review Corporation (2009). The unit was awarded an RCS Fellowship in upper GI and bariatric surgery and has trained fellows continuously as part of the National Surgical Fellowship Training Scheme (2009-).

He is lead surgeon on the NIHR-funded By-Band-Sleeve RCT, the largest RCT of different procedures, which is fully recruited (1,341patients) and expects to report in 2023. Previous roles include Past-President of the British Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Society (2013-15), member NICE GDG for Obesity (CG189) 2014, NICE Obesity QSAC (2015-16), member CRG for Specialized and Complex Obesity (2012-16). He led multi-collegiate RCS commissioning guidance for bariatric MDT clinics (2104, 2017). He founded the UK National Bariatric Surgery Registry (2009), Chair (2013-18), member IFSO Global Registry Committee (multiple reports 2014-2021). IFSO World Congress President (London, 2017). Recipient of IFSO Presidential Medal (2017) and Award of Appreciation (2018). Associate Editor Obes Surg (2019-), Section Editor Curr Obes Rep (2016-). TSC Chair SCOTS study (2011-).