BAPES Executive
The executive committee members are elected to terms of office by the BAPES membership to oversee the running of the organisation.
PRESIDENT: ABRAHAM CHERIAN
Abraham Cherian is a Consultant Paediatric Urologist at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust for the last 12 years. He is an Honorary Consultant at University College London Hospital and Whipps Cross University Hospital NHS Trust. He is a visiting surgeon to Evelina Children’s Hospital, Addenbrookes Hospital, Norwich University Hospital and the Royal Hospital for Children in Belfast. He has also been an overseas visiting surgeon to the Marmara University in Istanbul, Children’s Hospital in Lviv, Ukraine and helped set up the paediatric urology department at Antwerp University Hospital in Antwerp, Belgium.
He was the Honorary Secretary for BAPES from 2015-2019 and has trained and mentored many recent consultants in minimally invasive paediatric urology. He has served as faculty on a number of minimally invasive courses in the country and overseas including the Strasbourg Course in France. He is the course director for the BAPES-Storz Advanced Lap Urology Course and has conducted live operative urology workshops at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. He has an active role in education and training and was the surgical tutor on behalf of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and is also an Examiner for the FRCS Paediatric Surgery Examination. He is currently the National Training Programme Director of Paediatric Urology Fellowships in the UK and also the Programme Director of the European Paediatric Urology Fellowship at GOSH.
He was instrumental in setting up the Cloacal Malformation Multidisciplinary Service at GOSH and is currently the joint lead.
Apart from being affiliated to several societies such as BAPU, ESPU, BAPES, BAPS, & CCLG he is the current Vice President of the International Society of Hypospadias and DSD.
President-Elect: Niyi Ade-Ajayi (NAA) MPhil, FRCS (I) FRCS (Paed), FWACS
Niyi Ade-Ajayi studied medicine at the University of Lagos. His general surgery training was in Ireland and the United Kingdom. He specialised in paediatric surgery at Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, Southampton and the Red Cross Children’s Hospital, Cape Town
NAA has been a Consultant Surgeon at Kings College Hospital, London since 2005. He is a long term member of the British Association of Paediatric Endoscopic Surgeons (BAPES). As a previous member of the executive committee, he led the BAPES Constitutional Review. He is a regular Faculty Member on MIS courses including the BAPES general and 3 mm workshops.
Niyi is an active post-graduate trainer and has taken a particular interest in the MIS mentoring of colleagues based in LMICs. He Chairs the International Affairs Committee of the British Association of Paediatric Surgeons (BAPS) and is Paediatric Surgery Lead for the West African College of Surgeons (UK). In February 2023, he was awarded a “Fellowship by Election” of the West African College of Surgeons in recognition of contributions to the development of surgery in West Africa.
Professional associations include The King’s Centre for Global Health and the Association of Paediatric Surgeons of Nigeria (APSON). He sits on the Executive Committee of the Pan-African Paediatric Surgery Association (PAPSA) and is an International Editor of The African Journal of Paediatric Surgery.
As President-Elect of BAPES, he looks forward to working with the team to build on the excellent work done by Abraham Cherian and the current executive over the last few years.
PAST President: Simon CLARKE
Simon Clarke has been a Consultant Paediatric Surgeon for 14 years and has been Clinical Lead at Chelsea and Westminster for the past 6 years. He trained in London at Great Ormond street Hospital and Chelsea & Wesminster and was also Associate Professor in the academic surgical unit at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He specialises in both Laparoscopic and open surgical procedures for neonates and children as well simple daycase surgery and more complex procedures for foregut disorders.
Simon has an interest in training paediatric surgeons and is an Honorary Senior lecturer at Imperial College London where he teaches simulation on the Surgical Education Masters Degree course. He has developed and runs courses both in the simulation of operations as well as minimal access surgical techniques. He is board member on the national training committee for the UK and Ireland as well as Chairman of the Education Committee for the British Association of Paediatric Surgeons.He is an active member of the International Paediatric Endoscopic Surgical Group and the European Society of Paediatric Endoscopic Surgeons assisting with international courses and co-ordinating research collaborations.
He has been awarded 9 clinical Excellence awards during his 14 years as consultant and is the immediate past President of the British Association of Paediatric Endoscopic Surgeons
HONORARY SECRETARY: PANKAJ MISHRA
Pankaj is a Consultant Paediatric Urologist at the Evelina London Children Hospital, Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital, Kings College Hospital and Harris Birthright Centre, London.
He is a Honorary Senior Lecturer at Kings’ College, London and a visiting lecturer and clinical tutor at the University of Edinburgh.
Pankaj is a keen minimal access surgeon and enjoys teaching and training the next generation of surgeons.
He has conceptualised, established and is the director of few famous national Paediatric surgery and Paediatric urology courses and is a faculty for various national and international paediatric urology simulation training programmes.
TREASURER: Paul Charlesworth
Paul is a Consultant Paediatric Surgeon at the Royal London Hospital.
Full bio to follow.
WEBMASTER & EXECUTIVE MEMBER: ALEXANDER MACDONALD
Alex is a Consultant Paediatric Surgeon (with a colorectal sub-specialty interest) at the Chelsea & Westminster Hospital and an Honorary Consultant Paediatric Surgeon at Imperial College Healthcare. A graduate of Oxford University and Imperial College, he trained in paediatric surgery at King’s College Hospital, Evelina London Children’s Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospital. He was the Royal College of Surgeons of England Post-CCT Fellow in Paediatric Colorectal Surgery gaining experience at Chelsea & Westminster Hospital, St Mark’s Hospital (adult colorectal surgery) and Nationwide Children’s Hospital, USA. Beyond all things digital he has an interest in the surgical management of inflammatory bowel disease in children and young people and manages the regional colorectal transition service.
EXECUTIVE MEMBER: ADIL ASLAM
Adil is a Consultant Paediatric Surgeon at Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge.
Full bio to follow.