Kash Akhtar

Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, Barts Health NHS Trust and Cleveland Clinic London

I studied medicine at Imperial College, graduating with a Distinction in Surgery. I was awarded Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 2005 and the Fellowship (FRCS) in 2011.

I have undertaken a Masters in Medical Education (for which I was awarded a Distinction) and a Doctor of Medicine (MD) research degree. I have given over 100 international presentations, and have received multiple prizes and awards.

I completed my subspecialty fellowship in all aspects of knee surgery (sports injuries, trauma and joint replacement) at the renowned Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Oxford.

I was also awarded the prestigious Winston Churchill Fellowship and spent 6 months in international centres of orthopaedic excellence across the USA.

I am appointed as a Consultant Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgeon specialising in knees at Barts Health NHS Trust, one of the busiest hospitals in the country, which receives complex tertiary referrals from a broad area.

I am also appointed as a Reader in Orthopaedic Surgery & Surgical Education at Barts and the London School of Medicine & Dentistry. I am an Honorary Senior Fellow at the University of Melbourne, Australia.

I am the Training Programme Director for the prestigious Royal London Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgery rotation and a member of the Executive Committees of the British Association for Surgery of the Knee and the Specialist Advisory Committee to the Joint Committee on Surgical Training.

Sanjeev Anand

Consultant Orthopaedic Knee Surgeon, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

Mr Sanjeev Anand works in the specialist knee unit at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. He has a tertiary-level practice in Soft tissue knee and knee reconstructive surgery including paediatric knees.

He is a founder member and Academic chair for the International Society for Knowledge for Surgeons on Arthroscopy and Arthroplasty (ISKSAA) and is the Executive Editor for Journal of Arthroscopy and Joint Surgery. Mr. Anand has led in developing national guidelines for ACL reconstructions. He has also contributed to the development of national guidelines for arthroscopic knee surgery and patellofemoral problems.

He is currently the Education secretary for the British Indian Orthopaedic Society and an executive member of the BOSTAA and British Patellofemoral Society.

Vipul Mandalia

Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon , Exeter Knee Reconstruction Unit, Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital

Vipul Mandalia obtained his orthopaedic training with the Wessex Deanery. His fellowship training in knee surgery included leading centres in the UK and the USA (University of Alabama, University of Pittsburgh). Vipul has been a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the Exeter Knee Reconstruction Unit, Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital since 2009.

His practice includes all aspects of knee surgery, including tertiary referrals for young knee arthritis, multi-ligament injury, meniscus repair, cartilage and meniscus transplant and complex patellofemoral surgery.

He also provides treatment for complex knee trauma and sports knee injury in elite national and international sports persons. He performs partial and total knee replacement and uses advanced technology including robotic assisted knee replacement. He has developed and published surgical techniques on a number of surgical procedures.

Vipul is involved in education at various levels. He has been on the education committee of British Indian orthopaedic society for three years. He is the course convenor for the annual Exeter Knee Masterclass and other European knee courses. He has presented as an invited speaker at various national and international conferences.

As a research lead for the Exeter Knee Reconstruction Unit, he coordinates research projects in the department and has been a principle / chief investigator of various research projects. He is involved in multicentre international trials including that of cartilage transplantation. His research area not only includes the clinical outcomes of various surgical treatments but also the cellular and molecular effect of various treatment modalities on the knee joint and biomechanics of fixation devices. With his strong research background, he has authored a large number (over 50) of peer review publications, review articles and a book chapter. He is the current president of the British Patellofemoral Society

Nick Nicolaou

Consultant Paediatric Orthopaedic Surgeon, Sheffield Children’s Hospital

Mr Nicolaou is a Consultant Paediatric Orthopaedic Surgeon at Sheffield Children’s Hospital.

He trained on the South-East Thames Orthopaedic Circuit and completed Fellowship training at Sheffield Children’s, Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospital as well as completing a travelling fellowship at Inselspital, Berne prior to becoming a Consultant in 2011.

His clinical interest is the Paediatric Knee and he treats the whole spectrum of pathology from cruciate, chondral and meniscal injuries to deformity correction, congenital ligament deficiency and complex patellofemoral problems. He also has a clinical practice in the treatment of Osteogenesis Imperfecta and is research lead for his Department.

He is the chair of the BASK/BSCOS steering committee on soft tissue knee pathology in children which aims to improve national standards of care and co-convener of the International Kid’s Knee Conference. He is also the Honorary Secretary of the British Orthopaedic Sports Trauma & Arthroscopy Association (BOSTAA).

Ciara Stevenson

Consultant specialist knee and trauma surgeon, Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast

Ms Ciara Stevenson is a consultant specialist knee and trauma surgeon at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast.

She qualified from Queens University Belfast in 2006 and completed specialist training in trauma and orthopaedic surgery in Northern Ireland in 2016. She then completed a fellowship in Sports Knee and Arthroplasty Surgery with Dr Peter Myers and Dr Tim Mc Menamin at the Brisbane Orthopaedic Sports Medical Centre (Australia) followed by a second fellowship with Tim Spalding and Pete Thompson at University Hospital Coventry.

During training/fellowship Ciara has published in peer-reviewed international journals on topics such as allograft use in ACL reconstruction, CTPA in lower limb arthroplasty, minimal incision arthroplasty and meniscal allograft transplantation. She has presented at both national and international meetings to include BASK, Australian Orthopaedic Association (AOA) and Asia Pacific Knee, Arthroscopy and Sports Society meetings (APKASS) on her research involving meniscal allograft transplantation. She has co-written a book chapter on Medial Collateral Ligament injuries published in 2017.

Ciara has both a trauma and elective clinical practice to include knee dislocations/multi-ligament knee injury, elective ACL/PCL/MPFL reconstructions, patella re-alignment, meniscal repair/transplantation, osteotomy and arthroplasty. She is committed to training junior surgeons in Belfast, and is a clinical supervisor for the Northern Ireland rotation. Ciara is an active member of ISAKOS, ESSKA and BASK.

Rhidian Thomas

Orthopaedic Surgeon

Mr Thomas is an NHS consultant and Hon Senior Lecturer at Imperial College NHS Trust specialising in knee shin ankle and foot problems. He did a Specialist Sports Medicine Fellowship at Duke University North Carolina USA. He helped establish the training programme for Sports and Exercise Medicine in the London Deanery and was the training programme director for many years.

Has been the match-day orthopaedic Surgeon for English RFU for over 20 years. He was one of the senior Medical team leaders for the London Olympics 2012. He is currently President of the British Orthopaedic and Sports Trauma and Arthroscopy Association.

Peter Thompson

Consultant specialist knee and trauma surgeon, University Hospitals of Coventry and Warwickshire

Peter Thompson is a consultant specialist knee and trauma surgeon at the University Hospitals of Coventry and Warwickshire.

He qualified from Birmingham University Medical School in 1992 and completed specialist training in orthopaedic and trauma surgery in London in 2004 before undertaking a fellowship in Knee, Sports and Arthroplasty Surgery in Victoria, Australia. His interests cover a full range of knee problems from sports injuries to the treatment of the arthritic knee.

He is committed to training junior surgeons at UHCW, teaching various aspects of knee surgery at both national and international meetings as well as lecturing at Warwick University.