Committee Members of VASGBI

Committee Chair

Vanessa Fludder - Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals

Dr Vanessa Fludder is a Consultant Anaesthetist at University Hospitals Sussex (Brighton), her clinical work is mainly in vascular anaesthesia and pre-operative assessment/optimisation.  She is an honorary clinical senior lecturer at Brighton and Sussex Medical Schools where she is course lead for the Masters programme in Perioperative Medicine.  She has an interest in medical education and leads an accredited educational supervisors’ course jointly hosted by BSMS and UHS.  She has developed expertise in point of care peri-operative echo and co-leads the Brighton Bedside Echo Anaesthesia Training (BEAT course). She is chair of the VASGBI education and training sub-committee.  Her research interests lie in point-of-care coagulation testing.  

Honorary Secretary

Beth Perritt - Countess of Chester Hospital

Beth graduated from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 2006 and completed her training in Newcastle and the Mersey region. She now works at the South Mersey Arterial Centre at the Countess of Chester Hospital with a regular commitment to vascular theatre lists. She is the department lead for resuscitation, sedation and is also an Executive Director of the Mersey School of Anaesthesia, being the lead for the final FRCA written prep course, ‘The Booker’.  She joined the VASGBI committee in 2019 and has thoroughly enjoyed being part of it. 

Outside of work she is a busy mother, keen triathlete, and enthusiastic dog owner!

 

Treasurer

Maria Safar - Royal Liverpool University Hospital

I graduated from Newcastle upon Tyne Medical School in 1999 and completed my anaesthetic training in the Mersey region in 2010, which included a year as a fellow in cardiac anaesthesia. Subsequently I spent a few years practising cardiac and picked up some transoesphageal echocardiography skills. In 2012, I returned to Liverpool, my home town and joined the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, subsequently becoming anaesthetic lead for vascular and for a short, though suitably scary, time, ACHD lead. I have a particular interest in trying to introduce and promote the merits of transoesphageal and transthoracic echocardiography into vascular and general anaesthesia. A&E and ICU provide good models of emergency bedside, non-diagnostic skill acquisition which can benefit our patients in urgent situations. I was elected to the VASGBI committee in 2018. 

I enjoy, without any great skill, most water sports and have a number of ambitions, to stay upwind on a kite, paddle the Gorge du Verdon and land a 360 without dislocating my cervical vertebrae. My middle-aged decision to buy a full suspension MTB may well end in tears… 

Chair of the Research and Audit Sub-Committee

Rajiv Malhotra - Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Dr Rajiv Malhotra is a Consultant in Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine at Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. His anaesthetic practice focuses on vascular anaesthesia, with an interest in regional anaesthesia for peripheral vascular surgery. His pain medicine practice focuses on interventional spinal procedures and the management of patients on significant opioids.

Chair of the Education and Research Sub-Committee

Carolynn Wai - Lancashire Teaching Hospitals

I graduated from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in 2006 and underwent anaesthetic training within the North-West Deanery. I took up my substantive Consultant post with Lancashire Teaching Hospital in 2016 where I have regular commitments in Vascular, ENT, Paediatrics and Preop including CPEX. I am the Governance lead within the department and have additional responsibilities in undergraduate education within the University of Manchester Medical School. I also oversee the SAS group within the department.

I joined the VASGBI committee in 2023 and am a member of the Education and Training sub-committee.

Out of work and when the mum taxi service isn’t running, I enjoy playing the piano, solving sudokus and walking my dog. As with most Malaysians, I am a foodie and love trying out different cuisines in my spare time.

Committee Member

Dan Taylor - St Thomas' & Evelina London Children's Hospital

I work at Guys and St Thomas' & Evelina London Children's Hospital

I've been a Consultant at Guys and St Thomas' for 10 years. My major work involves Congenital Heart surgery in children but I accidentally developed a side line in complex open aneurysm repairs.

I led our Vascular Anaesthetic Department for a time and fostered links and collaborative research with our then new Peri-op physicians.

As Chair of the Research and Audit Committee I hope to continue to support the excellent work done by VASGBI in providing grants to support our colleagues around the UK and to foster opportunities for us to collaborate across trusts via the new Linkperson network.

Away from work I have 3 teenage children, so I go running a lot.

Committee Member

Paul Warman - Leeds Teaching Hospitals

I graduated from Oxford University Medical School in 1999. I completed my anaesthetic training in the South West Peninsula Deanery before be appointed as a substantive Consultant Anaesthetist at Leeds Teaching Hospitals in 2011, working principally at the Leeds General Infirmary. I work mainly in Vascular Anaesthesia, Orthopaedics and Trauma, Hand Surgery and in pre-operative assessment. I also have particular interests in Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing, Risk Assessment for AAA repair and Regional Anaesthesia. I am the clinical lead for Vascular Anaesthesia at Leeds and was elected to the VASGBI committee in 2018 and subsequently took on the role of Chair of the Education and training sub committee. In 2020 I succeeded to the role of Honorary Secretary of the Society. 

Outside of work I enjoy playing tennis and football and walking and cycling in the Yorkshire Dales. After running a marathon I now have my sights set on cycling Lands End to John O’Groats. I also hope I have a good few years left of being able to ski better than my children! 

Committee Member

Caroline Curry

Dr Caroline Curry has been a Consultant Anaesthetist in the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast since 2017. Her interests include preop assessment for aortic surgery and improving outcomes following major lower limb amputations.

She is an Educational Supervisor for novice trainees and an RCoA College Tutor.

Committee Member

Louisa Shovel - Royal Free Hospital

Louisa is a vascular anaesthetist at the Royal Free Hospital. The challenges of looking after a multimorbid and frail patient cohort lends well to her other major clinical interest - prehabilitation. In 2018, Louisa established the MILE (My Integrated Lifestyle and Exercise), a multimodal prehab programme designed to condition and prepare patients for major surgery. Following successful implementation and positive patient outcomes at MILE's first site, the Royal Marsden Hospital, Louisa has since set up MILE at the Royal Free Hospital for vascular and other high-acuity surgical cohorts. MILE has also been successfully established at University College London Hospital. The cross-trust MILE group work in collaboration to improve patient care and deliver effective prehab across heterogenous patient groups with a range of resources available. The well-known exercise guru Mr Motivator has teamed up with Louisa and the wider MILE programme to create a fun and personalized online home exercise programme for all MILE patients. Previously, Louisa published a review on prehab for vascular surgery and is interested in the evolving evidence base to support and improve the design and delivery of prehab.

Committee Member

Grant Harris - Countess of Chester Hospital

Grant graduated from the University of Liverpool in 2011 and has been working as a consultant in Chester since 2023. His interests include vascular anaesthesia and acute pain (of which there is considerable overlap!). He is a previous trainee representative of the VASGBI and helped start the first trainee symposium.

Outside of work he is an incredibly average runner, hiker and all-weather BBQer.

Committee Member

Rhys Rhidian - Southmead Hospital

I am a Consultant Anaesthetist at Southmead Hospital, Bristol. I graduated from Barts and the London Medical School in 2010, and completed my anaesthetic training in the South-West. My clinical interests include anaesthesia for vascular surgery, trauma, and regional anaesthesia.

My other roles include sitting on the vascular MDT, lead for trauma, lead for safety incident management, and I run a regional anaesthesia training day focusing on the ‘Plan A’ blocks. I am also an educational supervisor to mainly novice anaesthetists.

I otherwise spend my time with my young family - including recent labrador addition, and have joined the padel bandwagon.

Resident Representative

Michael McCann - Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast

I am an Anaesthetic Registrar within the Northern Ireland Deanery and graduated from the University of Dundee in 2017 before returning home. I am due to begin my SIA in Vascular Anaesthesia this year in the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast.

In addition to interests in Vascular anaesthesia I have interests in perioperative medicine and medical education having co-led the Deanery’s Final FRCA Teaching Programme last year. I have managed to stumble upon a new interest in Ophthalmic Anaesthesia and am currently completing an SIA in this.

Outside of work you might find me on the golf course in my perpetual attempt to have a somewhat more commendable handicap – perhaps someday!

Resident Representative

Leonie Murphy - University Hospitals Sussex

I am currently an anaesthetic resident at University Hospitals Sussex. I graduated from Bristol medical school in 2012 and have undertaken my anaesthetic training in Severn and Sussex Deaneries. I have just completed an SIA in vascular anaesthesia and have interests in regional anaesthesia and peri-operative medicine. I enjoy teaching on local final FRCA courses and ATLS.

Outside of work, my husband and I are kept busy by our two children! We love to ski and spend time in the mountains with them.

Society Administration Manager

Jane Heppenstall

I am the VASGBI Administration Manager and have been since the inception of the Society in 1997. 

I started working for the VASGBI whilst I was a Senior Administrator for the Academic Anaesthesia Department at the University of Sheffield. What started out as a hobby has lasted for over 24 years and is still going strong. 

Thanks to the VASGBI I now run my own event management business and am doing my dream job of delivering conferences in the medical sector. I love every minute of working for the Society and I have met some wonderful people along the way, it feels very much like a family to me.

In my spare time I enjoy a good thriller, going to musical theatre and I love organising trips for my family and friends (once an organiser, always an organiser).  More recently I have started taking lessons in how to play the Saxophone, but I am still very much a novice.

To contact the VASGBI please use the following details:

Email
jane.heppenstall@vasgbi.com

Phone
0114 299 5922