Meet the Speakers


  • Mr Aaron Quyn is a Consultant Colorectal Surgeon at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Leeds. His clinical expertise lies in complex pelvic oncology, with a particular focus on locally advanced and recurrent rectal cancer, pelvic sarcomas, and gynaecological malignancies.

    Trained in pelvic exenteration at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, Mr. Quyn is now based at St James’s Hospital in Leeds. He is an active member of the UK Pelvic Exenteration Network, working to standardise and advance the multidisciplinary care of patients with advanced pelvic disease.

    Academically, he leads national surgical trials and serves as Deputy Clinical Director of the RCS England Surgical Trials Centre. His current research includes survivorship, functional outcomes, and surgical innovation in the exenteration pathway.

  • In this 800 bedded tertiary cancer in mumbai, I am the lead Colorectal surgeon. This includes open, laparoscopic and Robotic surgeries. I have special interest in sphincter saving surgeries (ISR). I have also developed a pelvic oncology team approach for locally advanced cancers (Exenteration)  I also manage peritoneal tumor service in our hospital for both Pseudomyxoma peritonei and metastatic Colorectal cancer. ( HIPEC and Pipac)I am a Founder member and executive council member of peritoneal surface oncology groups and Robotic council In India. Editorial advisory board of Colorectal Diseases

  • Dr. Carol Swallow is RS McLaughlin Professor and Chair of the Department of Surgery at the University of Toronto. She is a surgical oncologist at Princess Margaret Hospital and Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto. Her areas of clinical expertise include retroperitoneal sarcoma, gastrointestinal stromal tumour, gastric cancer, and rectal cancer. Her laboratory research focuses on mechanisms of tumour invasion and metastasis. She is past President of Connective Tissue Oncology Society, Canadian Society of Surgical Oncology and Governor, American College of Surgeons. She is Section Editor for the Annals of Surgical Oncology.

  • Dr Craig Harris is a colorectal surgeon and gastrointestinal endoscopist. He completed a Bachelor of Science at the University of Queensland and a medical degree at the University of Sydney, both with first class honours. He completed general surgery training through the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, followed by colorectal surgery fellowships in Sydney and New Zealand. Dr Harris has a particular interest in laparoscopic and robotic colorectal cancer surgery, pelvic exenteration, IBD, and benign anorectal disorders. He has published and presented nationally and internationally on outcomes following pelvic exenteration surgery and is a Senior Lecturer with the University of Queensland.

  • Andrew Charles Peterson, MD, MPH, FACS
    Professor of Urological Surgery
    Reconstructive Urology and Genito-Urinary Cancer Survivorship
    Duke University Medical Center, Durham North Carolina

    Dr. Peterson received his medical degree from Dartmouth Medical School in 1995. He completed his surgery internship at Madigan Army Medical Center in 1996. He completed his urology residency at Madigan in 2002 and subsequently completed a fellowship in Reconstructive Urology at Duke University in 2003.

    He then returned to Madigan Army Medical Center where Dr. Peterson served as the Chief of Reconstructive Urology and the director of the urology residency. He also served as the chairman of the institutional animal care and use committee (IACUC), and on the institutional review board (IRB), the American Urologic Association guidelines committee as well as the Board of Directors for the Society of Genitourinary Reconstructive Surgeons (GURS), the Western Section of the AUA and the Society of Government Service Urologists (SGSU).

    Dr. Peterson joined the faculty at Duke in 2010 where he currently serves as the Vice Chair of Education and has been the Urology Residency Program Director since 2013.  In addition to these duties he also directs the “Reconstructive Urology and Genitourinary Cancer Survivorship Fellowship”. His research and clinical interests include improving the care of cancer survivors and the prevention of genitourinary side effects from various medical, surgical and radiation therapies for cancer.  He has published over 180 publications and abstracts in the peer reviewed literature in addition to 8 book chapters and a textbook on urodynamics. He currently serves on the review panel of multiple peer reviewed journals. He was inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society in 2019 because of his dedication to teaching and improving health for cancer survivors. He completed his Masters in Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2019 graduating with honors and was inducted into the public health honor society Delta Omega.

    During his 23 years of service in the active Army and Army Reserves, Dr. Peterson achieved the rank of Colonel retiring in 2015. He is a graduate of the Advanced Course for medical officers, the Command and General Staff College and has been inducted into the Order of Military Medical Merit (O2M3). He has been awarded the Expert Field Medical Badge, the Meritorious Service Medal with 3 oak leaf clusters, the Bronze Star and the Legion of Merit.

  • Eric J. Dozois, M.D. is Professor of Surgery at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota in the Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery.  He is Chair of the Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery and President-Elect of the Mayo Clinic Staff. Dr. Dozois specializes in the surgical management of inflammatory bowel disease, colorectal cancer, and complex pelvic tumors.  Key research interests include complex pelvic tumors, recurrent rectal cancer, stem cell therapy for fistulizing perianal disease and surgical education.  He has authored over 200 peer-reviewed publications and 15 textbook chapters.  

  • George J. Chang, MD, MS, MHCM

    The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

    George J. Chang, MD, MS, MHCM is Associate Vice President for Regional Surgery Strategy and Professor of Colon and Rectal Surgery at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He also holds the Sue and Radcliffe Killam Chair. He has extensive expertise in the multidisciplinary treatment of advanced and recurrent colon and rectal cancer, including advanced minimally invasive robotic and exenterative surgery. He is co-chair of the American Joint Committee on Cancer Lower GI Panel. He has authored nearly 300 peer reviewed manuscripts, edited a rectal cancer textbook, and serves on the editorial boards of several major journals.

  • Mr Hideaki Yano is a Consultant Colorectal and General Surgeon and Complex Cancer MDT Lead at University Hospital Southampton in the UK and a member of the UKPEN. After completing surgical training in Tokyo, Hideaki conducted a 2-year colorectal and pseudomyxoma fellowship in Basingstoke. Upon returning to Tokyo, he established one of two peritoneal malignancy units in Japan. Recently he helped establish the first exenterative network in Japan (J-PEN).

  • Jim Tiernan is a colorectal surgeon specialising in pelvic exenteration in Leeds, UK. He trained in the UK and USA and completed a PhD in bionanotechnology during training. He is a member of the ACPGBI Advanced Cancer Committee, colorectal workstream lead for the YCR Bowel Cancer Improvement Programme and runs the Goligher colorectal fellowship program in Leeds.

  • Kay Uehara, MD. PhD completed her medical degree. and obtained her PhD at Nagoya University. Her residency training was at National Cancer Center Hospital. Tokyo. Currently, she is an Associate Professor, Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Nippon Medical School.

    Memberships include Japanese Society of Gastrointestinal Surgery. Japan Society of Coloproctology. and Japan Society for Endoscopic Surgery. She is a member of the Guidelines Committee of the Japanese Society of the Colon and Rectum.

    Her research and clinical interests are surgery for locally advanced and recurrent rectal cancer and extended pelvic surgery.

  • A native of Greece, Dr. Pappou graduated from the Medical School of the Technical University of Munich with honors in 2006 and completed a Ph.D. on human stem cells at the research laboratory of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany. Dr. Pappou subsequently completed his General Surgery residency training at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in 2014, with a Research Fellowship in Surgical Oncology at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins. He has completed the ACGME accredited Clinical Fellowship in Colon and Rectal Surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in 2015. Dr. Pappou is currently an Assistant Professor within the Division of Colorectal Surgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Assistant Professor of Surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College.

  • Professor Michael Solomon is Academic Head of the Department of Colorectal Surgery at RPA Hospital & Program Director Advanced Gastrointestinal Surgery Program including exenteration, peritoneal malignancy and retroperitoneal sarcoma surgery. He is Professor of Surgical Research at the University of Sydney and is a Past President and Life Member of the CSSANZ as well as awarded Honorary Membership of the ACPGBI and also the ESCP. His Doctorate in Pelvic Exenteration Surgery (Sydney), Doctorate in Clinical Trials in Minimally Invasive Colorectal Surgery (Ireland) and Masters Science (Toronto) and over 500 publications reflects his career long interest in research and currently his leadership and mentoring in research in clinical surgery as Head of SOuRCe and Chairman of the Institute of Academic Surgery at RPA.

  • Pamela Buchwald, MD, PhD, is an associate professor of surgery at Lund University and senior consultant colorectal surgeon at Skåne University Hospital. She specializes in colorectal cancer, exenterative surgery, and minimal invasive surgery. Dr Buchwald trained in Sweden, the UK, and New Zealand. She is the president of the Swedish Society of Colorectal Surgery and chair of the European Society of Coloproctology Research Committee. Ass prof Buchwald leads a prolific research group and plays a central role in national surgical training.

  • Per J Nilsson is a consultant colorectal surgeon at l(arolinska University Hospital and Senior Lecturer at Karolinska lnstitutet, Stockholm, Sweden. He has served as President of both the Swedish Society for Colon and Rectal Surgeons and the European Society of Coloproctology (ESCPJ. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers and was one of the Pl's for the international RAPIDO trial.

  • Consultant Colorectal Surgeon at King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre (KFSH&RC) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. I have done my fellowship at RPA from 2019 to 2021, in addition to a Master degree in Health leadership and management from UNSW.  I established the hospital’s Pelvic Exenteration service in 2022, the first of its kind in Saudi Arabia, the Gulf region, and the broader Middle East. I am also the first PelvEx Collaborative member from the Middle East. My work focuses on complex pelvic malignancies, and advancing pelvic exenteration surgery in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region

  • Dr Sarah Lonie is a consultant plastic surgeon at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. She completed plastic surgery training in Melbourne followed by fellowship in Sydney and microsurgery fellowship in Newcastle Upon Tyne UK.

  • Tarik Sammour is a colorectal surgeon at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, and an Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Adelaide. He returned to Adelaide in 2017 after completing a CSSANZ fellowship in colorectal surgery and spending a year working at the MD Anderson Cancer Center where he received additional training in advanced colorectal surgical oncology. ​Tarik has authored over 250 peer reviewed publications and 9 book chapters. He continues to pursue an active research program, focusing on clinical trials to improve patient outcomes after colorectal surgery.

  • Will Perry MBChB MPH FRACS FACS FASCRS is an Associate Professor of Surgery and Colon & Rectal Surgeon at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota. He is Vice Chair (Practice) for the Department of Surgery and the Director of the International Fellowship in Colon & Rectal Surgery. He has specialist interests in functional and oncological pelvic surgery, having completed fellowship training with Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust and Mayo Clinic. Dr Perry completed a Master of Public Health at Harvard University as a Fulbright Scholar and worked as an external consultant to the World Health Organization in Geneva

  • Prof Mirnezami is a clinical academic with a specialist interest in advanced and recurrent pelvic malignancies and adjuncts to surgery for such patients. He is the lead for the Southampton Complex Cancer and Pelvic Exenteration Team and Associate Medical Director for Cancer at his institution.

  • __Prof. Gyu-Seog Choi is one of the early pioneers of MIS for  colorectal cancer as he started since 1994. Currently he has performed more than 10000 laparoscopic and robotic colorectal cancer. And he is an active/founding member of several academic associations and societies. he has contributed more than 200 papers in surgical and oncologic field of science. Many outstanding achievements have led him to win the prizes including Karl-Storz award from EAES. At present he is a professor of division of colorectal surgery at Kyungpook national university hospital. His main interests are MIS and robotic surgery for colorectal cancer and cancer immunogenetics.

  • Tamara is a colorectal surgeon with an interest in locally advanced and recurrent pelvic malignancies. After completing surgical training in New Zealand, she undertook sub-specialty training at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, St Vincent’s in Melbourne and St James’ Hospital in Leeds, before taking an SMO position in Christchurch, NZ. As a senior lecturer with the University of Otago Christchurch, she has completed a PhD in colorectal cancer in inflammatory bowel disease and is particularly interested in early-onset colorectal cancer and the molecular underpinnings of colorectal disease.

  • Dr. Bednarski is an Associate Professor in the Department of Colorectal Surgery at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. His clinical practice focuses on the surgical management of colon and rectal cancer including robotic surgery and pelvic exenterations.  He serves as the Program Director for the Complex General Surgical Oncology and Oncologic Colon and Rectal Surgery Fellowships. His current clinical research interests include outcomes for locally advanced and recurrent rectal cancer. Additionally, he is engaged in designing and implementing novel educational strategies to enhance our surgical training programs.

  • Professor Chucheep Sahakitrungruang was graduated Doctor of Medicine in 1995 a nd Colorectal Surgery in 2002 from Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. He was a Clinic Fellow in Colorectal Surgery at Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, USA in 2007-2008. He has been promoted to Full Professorship since 2012. He has performed both minimal invasive surgery and aggressive pelvic surgery which his published papers related to. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=sahakitrungruang+c)

  • Senior Consultant Surgeon

    Oslo University Hospital The Radium Hospital, Oslo, Norway

    Specialist in General and Gastrointestinal Surgery

    Main interest, beyond TME surgery, MIS and open

    Robotic surgeon since 2018

    >300 colorectal robotic procedures, mostly beyond TME surgery

    Proctor for Intuitive since 2022, first host for robotic beyond TME surgery courses in Europe (since 2024)

    Research

    Main supervisor one PhD student, co-supervised two PhD students

    44 published original papers in international peer reviewed journals

    h-index: 22

  • Frank is colorectal surgeon working in Christchurch. He is Professor of Surgery University of Otago, Christchurch, and is Editor in Chief of the New Zealand Medical Journal and the Pacific Health Digest He is President of the Colorectal Surgical Society of Australia and New Zealand (CSSSANZ). He has been undertaking radical pelvic surgery for over 30 years

  • Prof. Dr. Hans de Wilt completed his surgical and PhD training at the Erasmus University Medical Center (Rotterdam, the Netherlands). In 2000 he was a clinical research fellow at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, Australia. From 2001 on he worked as a staff surgeon in Rotterdam and started in 2009 as Professor of Surgical Oncology at the Radboud University Medical Center (Nijmegen, the Netherlands). He is president of the Dutch Colorectal Cancer Group and is principal investigator of several (inter)national studies, including the STARTREC study.

  • Mr. Hooman Soleymani majd is a consultant in gynaecological oncology at the Churchill Cancer Centre, Oxford, since 2017. A specialist in advanced ovarian cancer surgery and Placenta Accreta Spectrum, he is an accredited trainer and member of BGCS, BSCCP, ESGO, and IS-PAS. He co-founded the OxPAT group and contributes to Oxford’s sarcoma and exenterative surgery team. Committed to education and research, he mentors students, publishes widely, and frequently lectures at international meetings. He is Associate Editor-in-Chief of Translational Cancer Research and a visiting professor at Guangxi Medical University, China.

  • Professor Jian Zhang is the Director of Colorectal Surgery at Shanghai Changzheng Hospital, Naval Medical University, specializing in the field of pelvic exenteration surgery, tissue engineering and designing of surgical devices. With over 600 pelvic exenteration procedures performed, he has led the development of China’s clinical consensus for pelvic exenteration surgery. Professor Zhang also serves as Director of Pelvic Exenteration Working Group at the Colorectal Surgeons Branch of Chinese Medical Doctor Association.                                

  • Colorectal Surgeon at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, and current Oncologic Colon and Rectal Surgery

    Fellow at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

  • 1989: Graduated from the university of Osaka University. 1990-1996 Trained for general surgery and vascular surgery. 1996-1998: Yale University Department of Surgery. 2001-2012: Department of Gastroenterology Osaka University. Since 2001 joined in the exenteration team to treat far­ advanced and recurrent rectal cancers. 2012-2017: Osaka National Hospital. 2012: Started minimally invasive approach (laparoscopic approach) for pelvic exenteration. 2017-present: Hyogo Medical University. 2019: Stated trans-perineal approach using taTME technique.

  • Dr Ng Jia Lin is a Senior Consultant at the Department of Colorectal Surgery in Sengkang General Hospital in Singapore.  Her training was primarily in Singapore General Hospital, followed by a one-year international fellowship in 2018 in the field of open and minimally-invasive advanced pelvic oncological surgery in Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. She currently leads the pelvic exenteration service of Sengkang General Hospital, and is also the Fellowship director and global health surgery lead of her hospital.

  • Mr Sutton graduated from the University of Nottingham in 2006, and completed postgraduate training in Nottingham, Manchester, Liverpool, and Sydney. During his training, he was awarded a Clinical Research Training Fellowship by Cancer Research UK and undertook a PhD to explore methods of improving treatment response to chemotherapy and radiotherapy in colorectal cancer. For this work he was awarded both the John of Arderne medal from the Royal Society of Medicine, and the Arris and Gale medal from the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    Mr Sutton returned to The Christie in 2021 as a consultant surgeon. He specialises in the management of locally advanced and recurrent rectal cancer and peritoneal surface malignancy (including cytoreductive surgery and HIPEC) for appendix and colorectal tumours.

  • Dr Lee graduated from the University of NSW Medical School in 1995 and became a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 2005. He completed his fellowship with the Colorectal Surgical Society of Australia and New Zealand and travelled to the UK to further his surgical training in pelvic exenteration and laparoscopic colorectal surgery. He holds a Master of Surgery in colorectal surgery (2012) and has training and experience in robotic surgery. Dr Lee specialises in laparoscopic surgery, pelvic exenteration for recurrent rectal cancer and complex pelvic malignancies, endoscopy, colonoscopy, and LIFT procedure for anal fistula.

  • Professor Alexander Heriot is a Consultant Colorectal Surgeon and is the Director of Cancer Surgery at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. He has a clinical focus on advanced and recurrent pelvic and peritoneal cancer. He runs a translational research program focusing on lower gastrointestinal oncology and has raised over $14 million in grants and is currently/has supervised 34 surgeons undertaking higher degrees.

  • Dr. Songphol Malakorn is an Assistant Professor at the Chulalongkorn Colorectal Research Unit, Bangkok, Thailand. He completed his colorectal surgery fellowship at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital and an advanced fellowship in colorectal surgical oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center, USA. His practice focuses on minimally invasive colorectal surgery, including laparoscopic and robotic approaches. His research interests include pelvic reconstruction and the management of advanced rectal cancer, with an emphasis on improving surgical techniques and patient outcomes.

  • homas G. Smith III, M.D. F.A.C.S., is a Professor in the

    Department of Urology at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, U.S.A. He is boardcertified

    by the American Board of Urology and specializes in complex urinary tract and pelvic

    reconstruction. His clinical interests include Pelvic Floor Reconstructive Surgery, Urinary Diversion,

    Urethral Reconstruction, and Urinary Incontinence. Dr. Smith's research interests include clinical

    outcomes in complex urinary tract reconstruction and urinary diversion, outcomes of surgical

    correction of male urinary incontinence, and the etiology, pathogenesis, and management of urinary

    system radiation injury.

  • Dr. Yang Sun currently serves as Director of Innovation Business at ZR MedTech China. He holds a PhD in Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering from Sweden and Norway. With extensive experience in marketing management of consumables within multinational corporations, he possesses specialised expertise in product lifecycle management and market development. Dr.Sun has published over 20 academic papers and holds several invention patents. He also serves as Secretary-General of PelvEx-China.

  •  Ms Elaine Burns is a Consultant Colorectal Surgeon at St Mark’s Hospital and Honorary Senior Lecturer at Imperial College London.

    Elaine Burns trained in Coloproctology/ Surgical Oncology in the North West London region, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney and St. Mark’s Hospital. She studied at the University of Edinburgh and spent three years in postgraduate research at Imperial College London, where she was awarded a PHD.

    Elaine’s principal research interests include colorectal surgical outcome research, perioperative optimisation and harm reduction in exenteration patients, and robotics.

    If you are able to present, we would be grateful to receive a copy of your presentation by 10th October 2025 so we have time to upload presentations to our system and troubleshoot any issues that may arise.

  • Professor Gu Jin, M.D., FACS ,FASCRS(Hon), eminent surgeon, is Director of colorectal Surgery Dept. at Beijing Cancer Hospital, Peking University Cancer Hospital, and Chairman of Chinese Society of Oncology. His research focuses on colorectal cancer. He has published over 60 papers and is a member of several leading international and regional medical societies.

  • I am a surgeon specialized in colorectal surgery and peritoneal surface malignancies. My clinical expertise includes minimally invasive colorectal surgery, robotic surgery, cytoreductive surgery, and HIPEC. I am dedicated to improving surgical outcomes through innovation, education, and collaborative research. My primary clinical interests include colorectal cancer surgery, peritoneal carcinomatosis, HIPEC, PIPAC, pelvic exenteration, recurrent cancer surgery, proctology, and abdominal wall reconstructions. My clinical research is primarily focused on these areas, while my preclinical research interests center on peritoneal surface malignancies.