In April 2023, 22 Health Care Professionals from across the UK became our third cohort for the Clinical Champions Programme for Prostate Cancer.
Our Clinical Champions are leading improvement projects that aim to transform care for people living with or affected by prostate cancer over the next 18 months.
Claudia Fede Spicchiale
Senior Clinical Fellow in Urology
Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow
Claudia’s project will look at improving communication between primary and secondary care. This will involve her improving the quality of referrals to more effectively identify patients who need further investigations and avoid unnecessary stress for patients at the initial stage of suspicion, whilst improving communication to support those with confirmed prostate cancer.
Claudia completed her training in Urology at University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy, before moving to Glasgow to attend a one-year fellowship in Robotics and Pelvic Oncology at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, which she is currently completing. She has always been interested in prostate cancer, for its variability and multiform presentations that range from very low risk forms to extremely aggressive disease, and during her training Claudia spent six months at Addenbrookes' Hospital, Cambridge, undertaking a research internship focused on how to improve clinically significant prostate cancer diagnosis.
Later, she spent six months at UZ Gent, Belgium, as a Visiting Resident, for a research and clinical internship focused on the role of PSMA PET in preoperative assessment for prostate cancer and on the impact of pelvic lymphadenectomy on early biochemical recurrence after RARP.
Claudia has had the privilege and opportunity to work in different health-care systems (Italy, Belgium, and the United Kingdom) and this has provided her with a wide perspective and the ability of creating the optimum experience, to improve the service she currently works in. Claudia is a great team player in the view of obtaining the best patient-centred care.
Matteo Massanova
Consultant Urologist and Robotic Pelvic Surgeon
Mid & South Essex NHS Foundation Trust
Matteo’s project will entail setting up a pre-habilitation surgical school for patients undergoing robot assisted radical prostatectomy within his Trust. This has a final aim of offering education and training to deal with the post-surgical recovery, urinary continence recovery and erectile function rehabilitation.
Matteo trained as a Urologist in Italy at Federico II - University of Naples. He has undertaken two fellowships in minimally invasive oncological surgery. The first one in 2018 in Bassano del Grappa (Italy) focussed on laparoscopy and robotics to treat urological malignancies. The second one in Glasgow, at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, mainly focussed on robotic surgery for prostate and bladder cancer.
At the age of 30, Matteo has been appointed as Consultant Urologist Robotic Pelvic Surgeon (substantive) at Mid & South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, being the youngest urology consultant to be appointed in the UK. Since his appointment, his Trust has almost doubled the annual number of prostate cancer surgeries and increased capacity in clinics whilst shortening the diagnostic pathways for prostate cancer patients.
Matteo is a keen athlete - enjoying gymnastics, CrossFit, and outdoor running. He is also an enthusiastic cook and loves spending quality time with his partner and two young kids.
Sivatharshini Ramalingam
GP with a special interest in cardio-oncology
Royal Brompton Hospital/Oxted Health Centre
Dr Ramalingam will be looking at how prostate cancer care can be delivered through electronic health records. She will be producing information to support patients from a cardio-oncology perspective during their treatment for prostate cancer, to make lifestyle choices to attenuate risks.
Dr Ramalingam is a GP Partner at Oxted Health Centre in Surrey and an ICOS board-certified cardio-oncologist at The Royal Brompton Hospital, London. She graduated from University College London and has a postgraduate diploma in Heart Failure Management from the world-renown Zurich Heart House and a postgraduate diploma in Cardiology from the University of Plymouth.
As the world’s first-ever GP with a special interest in Cardio-Oncology, she is the national GP lead for the British Cardio-Oncology society and is a scientific board member for the Global Cardio-Oncology Summit to be held in Madrid later this year. Furthermore, she is a Faculty Member and Clinical Advisor to the Royal College of General Practitioners and a member of the Royal College of Physicians of London. She is also a council member of the GP chapter of the Royal Society of Medicine.
Dr Ramalingam is an ardent champion of the holistic care of patients with chronic diseases such as cancer and heart failure. In addition, she has been involved in the digital health landscape by having collaborated with technology companies such as Microsoft, Hitachi and iOWNA to tackle health inequalities in cardiovascular and cancer care.
Dr Ramalingam will be looking at how prostate cancer care can be delivered through electronic health records. She will be producing information to support patients from a cardio-oncology perspective during their treatment for prostate cancer, to make lifestyle choices to attenuate risks.
Sarah Brown
Men's Health Practitioner
Peppy Health
Sarah’s project is going to look at introducing a free, at home, PSA blood test for patients. This would enable testing of those who exhibit prostate symptoms or have a strong family history. She wants to break down social barriers which restrict men from going to their GP and create an environment where men can have supported conversations with their GPs. She hopes to accelerate early diagnosis and support the delivery of precise treatments.
Sarah is an enthusiastic nurse with 20 years of healthcare experience, working in oncology for the last 8 years and prostate cancer specifically for the last 5 years.
Her oncology experience has developed her ability to provide physical and emotional support to patients and their families in challenging situations.Her interest in prostate cancer stems from her belief that early detection and correct treatment can significantly improve the quality of life for those affected. She is well-versed in the latest treatments and technologies for prostate cancer patients.
In her current role as a men’s health practitioner, Sarah writes articles to educate patients on signs of prostate cancer, steps involved in diagnosis and available treatment options. Her most recent article was ‘Prostate cancer and Gay/Bi Sexual Men’ and she’s currently working on an article looking at ‘Living with and Beyond Prostate Cancer Programme’. This is focusing on side effect management, nutrition, exercise and how to manage when recommended ‘active surveillance’ or ‘watchful waiting’. She also facilitates online events covering prostate cancer symptoms, diagnosis and treatment allowing patients to learn, ask questions and converse with other patients. On a daily basis Sarah speaks to men from a variety of different ‘walks of life’, cultures, religions and locations.
Laura Beesley
PCN Cancer Care Nurse
East Suffolk and North East Essex
As part of her time on the Clinical Champions Programme, Laura is going to set up a podcast series which is going to look at ‘The Needs of Men’. She has already identified target communities who will hopefully support her journey in spreading these amazing resources across Colchester, the Primary Care Network and the community in her local area.
Laura specialised as a Cancer Care Nurse in October 2022, and currently works at a Primary Care Network in north-east Essex, where she provides continued support to people affected by cancer. She is currently studying Fundamentals in Cancer Care to improve her practice.
Laura studied Adult Nursing BSc at University of Leeds and worked as a Practice Nurse for 7 years. She’s driven to streamline cancer care and deliver personalised care, with particular interest in health equity.
Laura is ambitious and innovative. Despite trying to work on all her ideas at once, she is currently working in collaboration with Health and Wellbeing Coaches to develop a pathway for people who have recently been discharged from suspected cancer referral, encouraging healthier lifestyles.
Laura lives in Essex with her family, and cat. She enjoys a morning disco with her young children before she heads out to work. She’s a lover of the outdoors, in all weathers.
Debashis Sarkar
Consultant Urologist
University Hospital Sussex
Debashis’ project as a Clinical Champion is to work closely with primary health care professionals to ensure a safe journey for the prostate cancer patients with their PSA follow up. His project is to update PSA follow up protocol with evidence and to campaign for a common national protocol for all the prostate cancer patients in the UK.
Debashis is a consultant Urologist with a strong interest in prostate cancer research. He particularly looks at advanced prostate cancer diagnostic techniques to accelerate diagnosis and treatment waiting times. He completed prostate cancer research prior to undertaking his national training in urology and achieved an MSc degree. Debashis has completed his specialist urological training in the Wessex Deanery and now working as a consultant in University Hospital Sussex.
Debashis has been involved in many prostate cancer research trials. His main research interests focus concerns prostate cancer diagnostics, imaging (multi-parametric MRI), patient outcome, cognitive targeted biopsy and he has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals within these fields.
He also performs- GA template biopsy, LA trans perineal precision point biopsy and cognitive targeted biopsy for prostate cancer diagnostics. He is keen to improve the UK prostate cancer pathway from diagnosis to treatment.
Ellen Tasker
Senior Therapeutic Radiographer
NHS Tayside
As a senior rotational Therapeutic Radiographer, Ellen’s clinical role is dedicated to all aspects of treating curative and palliative radiotherapy in NHS Tayside. She is passionate about delivering high quality care to prostate patients throughout their radiotherapy journey, with over 9 years’ experience, being involved from pre-habilitation through to the final treatment.
Training as a postgraduate in Radiotherapy, after a career in Drug Development within the Pharmaceutical Industry, she has a broad experience of the research environment and has thoroughly enjoyed a career change to healthcare. Her chosen profession allows use of technical expertise in a clinical environment, but above all, provides valuable interactions to support the patients in our care and positively impact their treatment.
In particular, she is involved with a ‘pre-habilitation’ programme run jointly with specialist oncology nurses and Maggie’s Centre (Dundee), supporting patients prior to starting radiotherapy. This integrates the first mobile 3D virtual radiotherapy treatment room environment in the UK (VERT) into the sessions, offering a visual explanation of the rationale for the bladder and bowel protocols. The 3D graphics allow patients to effectively ‘see’ the radiation beam being manipulated around the prostate and the proximity of the rectum and bladder.
She lives in Edinburgh, enjoying the hills and city.
On a personal level, supporting her father during his prostate cancer treatment, provided real insight into the concerns experienced by our patients, in particular the issue of clear information provision, in a format easily assimilated by the patient, and the need for positive reassurance and swift, practicable addressing of side effects.
These areas of interest underpin Ellen’s project, to utilise Patient Reported Outcome Data, within the scope of Prostate Radiotherapy. There is great potential to use the Patient’s Voice as a useful tool to assess and respond to an individual’s acute situation, and in the longer term, to use statistically relevant numbers in dosimetry metrics and inform the radiotherapy planning process.
Maria Innes
Prostate Clinical Nurse Specialist
Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust
Maria’s project aims to improve patients understanding of implications following a radical prostatectomy, offer support and guidance before surgery and support their mental wellbeing before and after treatment. She hopes that patients who have opted to participate in a pre-habilitation program will have better functional outcomes (in terms of continence and erectile function).
Maria is a Prostate Clinical Nurse Specialist and has worked at the Royal Surrey Hospital in Guildford since late 2019. Maria started her nursing career in Germany where she qualified in April 2014 as 3rd best in class. After qualifying, she worked on multidisciplinary wards and moved to the UK in 2016. Since then, Maria was working in different trusts, where she's focussed on expanding her knowledge in urology and urological cancers.
She works together with another colleague focusing on providing guidance, advice and support for patients who are having radical prostatectomy treatment for prostate cancer. As part of a team of 13 Clinical Nurse Specialists, Maria works to improve patients experience and care with urological cancers.
During her ever-growing career, Maria was able to participate in multiple improvement projects lead by colleagues. These projects included implementing day case radical prostatectomy, improving patient literature and expanding treatments for men with Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia. She has been part of a previous Clinical Champions project, led by Dr Wissam Abou-Chedid- on the self-removal of urinary catheter following radical prostatectomy.
Maria is very driven and passionate about delivering the very best care and support for her patients. Her goal is to ensure that every man being diagnosed with prostate cancer and having a radical prostatectomy is well informed and best prepared for the treatment itself, recovery and is also feeling supported in his mental well-being.
Rion Healy
ST4 Urologist
Somerset NHS Foundation Trust
Rion is excited to be a part of the Prostate Cancer UK Clinical Champions Programme and plans to utilise her regions prostate cancer dashboard to create a tool to empower patients in their decision-making during their consultation. Specifically, she plans to look at the decision for biopsies in patients with equivocal MRI scans so that patients will have a better understanding of their risk of being diagnosed with a significant prostate cancer vs risk of the biopsy itself.
Rion is a Urology Trainee in the south-west of England, currently in her ST4 year working in Somerset at Musgrove Park Hospital. Rion studied medicine at the University of Birmingham and spent most of her early years of training in the north-west.
She is a quality improvement enthusiast having completed and presented several projects throughout her training so far. Rion is also a keen teacher and has spent numerous years as a faculty member for Trainees Improving Patient Safety through Quality Improvement where she delivers training on quality improvement methodology and supports doctors completing improvement projects.
Alice Hartley
Consultant Urologist
South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust
Alice is a Consultant Urologist with a special interest in renal and metastatic prostate cancer. Her interest in the latter developed whilst undertaking a PhD in prostate cancer molecular biology. Whilst trying to develop a new biomarker to predict who would respond best to hormonal castration, she spent a lot of time with patients with advanced disease. She realised that this group of patients often fell between urology and oncology but even once they had been referred to the latter, they often had ongoing urological needs.
With the advent of the new androgen receptor targeted agents, she saw an opportunity to develop a service for men with advanced prostate cancer based in urology, but forging close links with oncology, palliative care and the wider cancer services team. Alice plans to develop this service over the coming years and is keen to utilise the advice and peer support that the Prostate Cancer UK Clinical Champions Programme will offer.
In her spare time Alice likes to run and spend time with her young family, particularly on the Northumberland coast.
Daniel Bloomer
Team Lead Therapy Radiographer
Worcestershire Acute NHS Trust
Daniel’s project will look at improving knowledge for patients prior to undertaking radiotherapy treatment through developing materials in bladder and bowel preparation. He would like to build-upon work he has already completed; in constructing wider patient support networks following treatment- as seen by his work in setting up WOW FC (Worcestershire Oncology Walking Football Club).
Daniel has spent the last 11 years working as a Therapy Radiographer. His current position as a Team Lead Radiographer requires him to lead a radiotherapy treatment unit. Daniel typically manages a team of four treatment radiographers and together, they treat around 30 patients a day using radiotherapy. These patients have a variety of cancer diagnosis, and his department treats both radical and palliative patients. During his time as a treatment radiographer, he had developed a particular interest in prostate cancer.
Daniel’s university dissertation was on the accessibility of male support groups, and he had an article published in the Society of Radiographers Magazine which measured patient information and support for men with prostate cancer. He has also set up a walking football team WOW FC for local patients. This initiative was designed to help men socialise and support each other throughout their cancer treatment.
Helen Walker
Clinical Nurse Specialist - Prostate Cancer
Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital
Helen is proud to be a Clinical Champion and is determined to improve men’s experiences. Her project involves engaging with primary care to improve the quality of referrals and the information patients receive.
Helen is a Uro-Oncology Clinical Nurse Specialist and has been part of the team since 2009, specialising in prostate cancer since 2018. She started her nurse training in 2001 at the University of East Anglia, qualifying in 2004 with a BSc (Hons). She saw her father diagnosed with prostate cancer at the age of 58 and his subsequent traumas and difficulties following a radical prostatectomy led her into Urology, with a special interest in prostate cancer.
She is passionate about improving men’s experiences along the pathway and has assisted Professor Cooper’s research for the PUR test, helping to identify men with high and low risk cancers.
In 2016 she spent 18 months working in Sydney before returning and being appointed Clinical Nurse Specialist for prostate cancer. Her main role is to make the patients’ journey from referral to diagnosis smoother, triaging patients straight to test and biopsy where appropriate. She also looks after patients who, once diagnosed, opt for surgery. Having worked with these patients over the years she has found they have little knowledge about expectations before, whilst an in-patient, discharge and life at home following surgery. In 2019, along with another colleague, she set up a ‘Surgery School’ for patients having or considering a prostatectomy. It is an informal seminar for patients and their partners to learn exactly what to expect from admission through to coping at home.
When not at work, Helen enjoys being out on the water on her paddle board, cycling, and hiking.
Qizhi Huang
General Practioner
Mosborough Health Centre
Qizhi’s project is going to look at improving the bone health of patients needing long-term ADT (Androgen Deprivation Therapy). She wants to increase the knowledge for both patients and clinicians to support both parties in developing awareness about the impacts of ADT.
Qizhi is an academic GP in Sheffield. She was successfully awarded an NIHR clinical lectureship in 2021 at the University of Sheffield. Her research interest is older adults with complex multiple morbidities. In particular, she is interested in improving cancer patients' quality of life, e.g., management of long-term complications for patients with prostate cancer requiring hormone treatment.
Qizhi is also passionate about equality, diversity and inclusion in research and clinical practice. She is a member of DERA (Deep End Research Alliance) Yorkshire and Humber. She started to work with a local black men community- Sheffield African Caribbean Mental Health Association (SACMHA) in Sheffield in 2021. Following her initial work, they are setting up a black men support group (1in4 Sheffield Prostate Cancer Support Group) which is the first black men prostate cancer support group in South Yorkshire.
Being ethnic Chinese, she also has close links to the Chinese communities in Sheffield and often gives health talks in the communities, and volunteers in local Chinese schools. She lives with her husband and has two daughters and a cat. She loves travel and walking.
Karen Alford
Bladder and Bowel Clinical Nurse Specialist
Solent NHS Trust
Karen became a Clinical Nurse Specialist in 2017, over that time she has developed an interest to improve male services for prostate assessments. She began her NHS career as a recovery/theatres/anaesthetics nurse which she really enjoyed. It was that role where Karen discovered her passion for surgery and spending time working alongside anaesthetists and urology consultants doing radical prostatectomy’s, TURPS and other specialties. She later branched out to community nursing working within district nursing and rapid response teams.
Currently, Karen’s clinics are varied as they are a nurse led service managing both men and women. Karen is trained in vaginal examinations/pelvic floor, bowel examinations and other investigations, including FLOW studies and bladder scans. She’s developed a passion within her role in driving change for current services for men in her local community. The men that Karen sees are either referred by other health professionals or are self-referrals to get help with lower urinary tract symptoms including urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction. She wants to build on her current skills and develop a “one stop” service for men which will be community based and hopefully deliver quicker results in assessment and diagnosis.
Karen’s hobbies include cake making for animals. She currently runs a small business making celebration cakes and biscuits, which she decorates and sells to the public. She has built and managed a website to help grow her business. Karen is happily married and has three children. She is an inspirational leader to her children as they are involved in healthcare in some capacity.
Mark Salji
Clinical Lecturer Urology
Greater Glasgow and Clyde
Mark's project is going to look at the metabolic changes that occur during hormone therapy resistance. He is aiming to develop new treatment options targeting these metabolic changes and develop the use of MRI scanning to detect and measure N-acetyl aspartate (NAA) levels, with the aim to provide a non-invasive marker of which prostate cancers may be more likely to become resistant to hormone therapy.
Mark has recently completed training as a consultant urological surgeon at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow. His training included 3 years as a Medical Research Council (MRC) funded Clinical Research Training Fellow at the Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute in Glasgow where he completed a lab-based PhD working on castration resistant prostate cancer. His PhD was heavily based in mass spectrometry, proteomics, metabolomics, and bioinformatics which combined with his clinical training as a urological surgeon, gives a rare skill set to tackle the major problems in prostate cancer.
Mark is positioning himself as a clinician scientist with a clinical interest in prostate diagnostics and targeted fusion biopsy. He intends to become a world leader in clinically oriented basic science research generating new insights and therapeutic interventions in the field of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC).
In addition to his research interests Mark has been involved in a variety of outreach and knowledge exchange activities. He has organised and led seminars and workshops for groups of 20 early career researchers on R programming. He has presented at Beatson Institute open days and at Prostate Cancer UK patient engagement events to talk about his research. He is lead-author of two book chapters on Prostate Inflammation and Prostate Neoplasms in Blandy’s Urology 3rd Edition and has promoted research to clinicians through invited articles on gathering preliminary data, literature reviews and lab-based research.
Sam Hughes
Clinical Nurse Specialist Metastatic Uro-Oncology
Portsmouth University NHS Trust
Sam’s project as a Clinical Champion will see her set up a supportive care clinic for patients not on active treatment, providing support for patients and family members in their biggest time of need. She is going to utilise the patient voice to help her shape her services.
Sam has worked in cancer care since qualifying in 2009. She knew from her very first student placement that Oncology was where she would specialise. Sam started as a Ward Nurse on a 46-bed Oncology Unit, after 3 years she took on a post as Ward Sister within her Trust which covered the ward but the Acute Oncology service too. Wanting to expand her skills further Sam took on a secondment as Lead Governance Nurse for Cancer to gain a wider insight into how cancer services worked. She felt the later role prepared her for the transition to outpatient care as a Metastatic Uro-Oncology Clinical Nurse Specialist.
Sam has contact with about 100 patients a month diagnosed with metastatic disease. Sam also recently attended Prostate Cancer UK’s Living and Dying Well with advanced prostate cancer programme in winter 2022/2023 and has set up a Best Supportive Care Clinic within her Trust.
Gemma Harris
Exercise Clinic Lead and Senior Physiotherapist
GenesisCare
Gemma’s project is to improve access to physiotherapy led prehabilitation and rehabilitation for patients before, during and after their cancer treatment to help minimise side effects, improve the effectiveness of treatments and reduce risk or recurrence. She’s hopes to ensure that patients feel stronger, listen to, more confident and empowered to participate in exercise to improve their treatment outcomes.
Gemma is a Chartered Physiotherapist with specialist training in cancer pre-habilitation and rehabilitation. Gemma currently works as a course Tutor for CanRehab UK and as Exercise Clinic Lead for one of the leading providers in the UK of independent cancer care. Thanks to charity funding Gemma also works in her local community to make cancer rehab services accessible to all people affected by any type of cancer. Gemma is passionate about helping patients manage the physical side effects of cancer surgery and treatment.
Gemma gained oncology experience working at Cancer Centre London, GenesisCare Windsor and Guy's Hospital. She has undergone specialist training and certification with The Royal Marsden, PINC&STEEL and CanRehab. She is a member of the specialist interest groups Association of Chartered Physiotherapist in Oncology and Palliative Care and Physio's in Exercise Oncology.
Gemma also has a special interest in Pilates and has completed training with the Australian Institute of Pilates and Physiotherapy. Gemma enjoys teaching Matwork, small equipment and reformer Pilates. Gemma loves to practice what she preaches and enjoys walking, cycling, CrossFit and swimming with her young family.
Altan Omer
Consultant Urologist
University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire
Altan’s project will focus on the clinical aspects of prostate cancer, and its early detection. He would like to prove that in our current era, prostate cancer screening is feasible and that efforts need to be made to implement screening and raised awareness of the risk of prostate cancer in those hard-to-reach communities. He would like to establish a platform that would bring patients' advocates and professionals together to identify the current needs and design an effective screening programme. He is going to create a PSA finger-prick test and compare the accuracy of this with a PSA lab test. If successful, this could reduce the cost of PSA testing.
Altan is a Consultant Urologist at University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire with a special interest in prostate cancer diagnosis, and robotic surgery for prostate cancer and bladder cancer. He started medicine at the University of Medicine and Pharmacology "Carol Davila" in Bucharest, Romania. He undertook his specialist training at the Fundeni Clinical Institute of Uronephrology and Renal Transplantation followed by 2 fellowships in robotic surgery at the Lister Hospital in Stevenage and Churchill Hospital in Oxford, respectively. Altan was appointed a consultant urologist in September 2019.
Altan is passionate about the early diagnosis of prostate cancer and has managed to implement the local anaesthetic trans-perineal biopsy instead of the transrectal prostate biopsies within local cancer networks leading to a marked improvement in the accurate diagnosis of prostate cancer and decreasing the associated complications. He has worked on several projects focused on the diagnostic accuracy of recurrent diagnostic pathways and currently, is a Principal Investigator for the TRANSLATE Trial at Coventry.
Grace
Prostate Cancer - Advanced Nurse Practitioner
Guys and St Thomas Hospital
Grace’s project will look at reducing some restraints in the diagnostic pathway and how to navigate these challenges using the patient voice. She wants to continue the work within her Trust of possibly implementing a 5-day telephone assessment clinic. She also wants to continue empowering patients in their aftercare management.
Grace works as a Prostate Cancer Advanced Nurse Practitioner within the Localized Prostate Cancer Team at Guys and St Thomas’s Hospital, with a particular focus on diagnostics. She has a special interest in raising patients’ awareness on importance of early PSA checks, engagement of black ethnic minorities in prostate cancer diagnosis and treatments, and engagement of vulnerable patients with mental health issues. Grace also supported her Trust in setting up a support group- Brother to Brother Men to Men- and helps facilitate these monthly sessions. Grace has been an integral part of setting up a joint consultation clinic where patients can meet a Urologist and an Oncologist and discuss treatment options collectively.
Grace is interested in patient experience, service improvements, and staff well-being. She is an independent nurse prescriber who runs trans-perineal biopsy clinics and other nurse led clinics independently, supporting patients living with and beyond prostate cancer.
Gokul KandaSwamy
Consultant Urological Surgeon
Swansea Bay University Health Board
Gokul has a wide range of projects he would like to participate during his time as a Clinical Champion. He wants to improve the pathway within his Trust by initiating a trans-perineal biopsy pathway and deliver quicker treatment for patients.
Gokul has been a Consultant Urological Surgeon in Swansea since 2016. He has specialised in pelvic cancer surgery - prostatectomies, cystectomies and pelvic exenterations. He is also an ex-MDT lead for Swansea Bay University Health Board.
Gokul is chair of Welsh Urology Society, which under his leadership has turned into an in-demand meeting. He also serves on BAUS Council & Oncology Section committees. He is part of BAUS SAS & Widening Participation projects since their inception. He is also a Welsh NPCA lead to oversee audits in Wales. Gokul works closely with Prostate Cymru a Welsh charity.
Pavlo Somov
Consultant Urologist
Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Pavlo’s project is going to look at how to provide an efficient pathway to his patients. In doing this Pavlo will work in collaboration with his Trust’s radiology team to work out the most effective ways to treat patients and utilise every appointment and resource available.
Pavlo Somov is a Urology Consultant based at the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. He has been based in the United Kingdom since 2006 following completing his medical training in Ukraine. Pavlo self-supported himself through his medical career, and later got into surgical training, progressing to ST3 level. After trying various surgical specialties including cardio-thoracic, orthopaedics and general surgery, Pavlo settled on Urology and after years of hard work secured a place in on a Urology Specialist training programme. He has been working as Urology consultant for the last four years, also holding the position of cancer lead for most of this period.
Saiful Miah
Consultant Urologist
Cambridge University Hospitals
Saiful’s project is going to look at constructing a mobile application where patients can review their treatment options in their own time and space. He believes this project would be positive for the patient and the planet, whilst allowing information to be constantly reviewed and updated in real time.
Saiful is a Royal College of Surgeons (Eng.) Fellowship trained consultant urologist at Cambridge University Hospitals with sub-specialist interest in prostate cancer. His clinical interests lie in robotic prostatectomy and prostate cancer diagnostics. He was awarded his PhD (University of Sheffield) on an oncology themed basic science thesis. During his senior higher surgical training, he was an NIHR academic clinical lecturer (UCL) allowing him to continue his with his research studies primarily based on the optimisation of trans perineal prostate biopsies.
His non-clinical interest at work explores the environmental impact current urological care has and how we can implement a more carbon friendly/greener practice in the NHS. His environmental vision includes adopting technologies such as virtual healthcare platforms with the green minded benefits it has associated with it. Outside of work he is a keen runner and football fan (Celtic & Arsenal). He is married with 2 children and enjoys a good work-life balance.