SURGERY SYSTEMS LIVE 2026 - Meet the Speakers

Professor Aneel Bhangu

Professor Aneel Bhangu is a Professor of Global Surgery at the University of Birmingham and a Consultant Colorectal Surgeon at University Hospitals Birmingham. He was a founding member of the GlobalSurg Collaborative and the NIHR Global Health Unit on Global Surgery.

Prof. Bhangu co-led the CovidSurg Collaborative, which was the global surgical community's research response to the pandemic. This produced multiple high impact research papers, including with The Lancet, leading to one of the highest Altmetric scores for a surgical paper. This research is of public interest and was covered by major media in 50+ countries, including The Economist.

Associate Professor Deena Harji

Associate Professor Deena Harji is a leading colorectal and robotic surgeon, NIHR Advanced Fellow, Innovation Hub co-founder, MedTech innovator, and global key opinion leader in digital surgery. She is recognised for her work at the intersection robotic surgery and data-driven surgical systems, advancing innovation in digital healthcare, AI, and service transformation. Her research and leadership continue to shape the future of surgical care, training and healthcare information, bringing valuable insights into how technology can transform surgical practice and patient care.

Dr Dmitri Nepogodiev

Dr Nepogodiev is a Public Health Consultant and NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer. Since he qualified in medicine, he has followed a unique pathway combining basic surgical and public health training. His primary academic affiliation is to the NIHR Unit on Global Surgery and the NIHR Group on Environmentally Sustainable Hospitals in LMICs. His aim is to produce evidence that directly informs and influences high priority policy areas in global surgery and sustainable healthcare. Current projects include themes around postoperative mortality, surgical site infection, and net-zero health systems. He also co-leads the DRAGON randomised trial.

Professor Ewen Harrison

Ewen Harrison is a Professor of Surgery and Data Science at the University of Edinburgh and a Consultant HPB Surgeon at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. He is Director of the Centre for Medical Informatics in the Usher Institute, University of Edinburgh. He leads the Surgical and Critical Care Informatics group which pioneers data-driven, collaborative research to improve patient outcomes after surgery across both the global north and south. His work spans AI/machine learning, decision modelling, wearable sensing, and clinical trials.

Professor Simon Bach

Simon Bach is Professor of Colorectal Surgery at University College London and University College London Hospitals, where he leads a research-aligned programme in organ-preserving rectal cancer therapies and advanced surgical technology. He previously directed the RADAR programme (Robotic and Digital Surgery) at the Royal College of Surgeons of England and is Chief Investigator for the RCS MASTERY study, which develops and validatesdigital blueprints for robotic cancer surgery to improve training and quality assurance.

His national research programme applies surgery, robotics and data-driven approaches to eliminating the common technical errors responsible for avoidable patient harm. He is also Chief Investigator for the Cancer Research UK STAR-TREC study, evaluating non-operative treatments for rectal cancer.

Mr John McGrath

John McGrath is a consultant urological surgeon at North Bristol NHS Trust. He is co-chair of the NHS England robotically-assisted Surgery (RAS) steering committee, NCD for specification design of the new National Registry of Robotically-Assisted Surgery (NRRRAS – HQIP) and co-chair of the robotically-associated surgery workstream for the Innovative Procurement Taskforce IPT (DHSC). He is currently the National Clinical Advisor for urology for the NHS England Cancer Programme. and honorary senior lecturer at the University of Bristol and the University of Exeter.

His other interests include sustainability in clinical care pathways as part his role with GIRFT and the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) sustainability hub.

Ms Emily Mills

Ms Emily Mills is the President of the Association of Surgeons in Training and an ST4 in Colorectal Surgery. She sits on the General Surgery Specialist Advisory Committee and General Surgery Recruitment as the Trainee Representative, contributing to national discussions around surgical training and workforce development. She is also on the Steering Group for the Medical Education and Training Review.
Ms Mills has previously been involved in major international initiatives including STARSurg and EuroSurg. She also has a keen interest in robotics and digital surgery, widening participation, and Women in Surgery. She previously held roles on the ASiT Executive Committee, including Yearbook and App Editor and Treasurer, and was formerly the ASiT Foundation Representative.

Ms Elizabeth Li

Ms Elizabeth Li is an Assistant Professor in Applied Health Surgical Research at the University of Birmingham and a General Surgery Registrar at University Hospitals Birmingham. She has a background in translational research, international cohort studies, and clinical trials, with formal training in health research methodology, health economics, qualitative research, behavioural science, and advanced statistics. Ms Li has experience delivering large-scale international studies through collaborative research networks. Her work brings together clinical practice, research methodology, and surgical innovation to support evidence-based improvements in surgical care. She is also actively involved in education and training, supporting both clinical and academic development within surgery.

Professor Stella Vig

Professor Stella Vig is a consultant vascular and general surgeon, healthcare strategist and national clinical leader with more than 30 years’ NHS experience spanning frontline clinical practice, policy, operational delivery and system transformation.
She has been a consultant surgeon at Croydon University Hospital since 2006, where she has led major improvements in surgical services, elective care and clinical pathways. She is National Clinical Director for Elective Care at NHS England and Director, Workforce and Productivity, within the NHS England Medical Directorate, and she previously served as National Medical Director for Secondary Care and Quality.
Across South West London, Professor Vig works with both the Integrated Care Board and the Acute Provider Collaborative to shape planned care strategy, redesign clinical pathways and improve the quality, productivity and sustainability of services.
Her wider portfolio includes national leadership in robotic-assisted surgery, artificial intelligence and healthcare technology, alongside advisory work with professional bodies. She brings clinical and operational leaders together to translate policy and innovation into scalable improvements for patients and staff.

Mr Jason Ramsingh

Mr Jason Ramsingh is a Consultant General and Endocrine Surgeon working in a high-volume tertiary centre in the North East of England. His clinical practice includes thyroid, parathyroid and adrenal surgery, alongside Emergency General Surgery. He has a special interest in robotic adrenal surgery and established the robotic adrenal surgery service at his hospital, helping develop one of the first high-volume endocrine surgery units in the UK to offer this approach. He co-chairs the Robotic Assisted Surgery Steering Group for the North East and North Cumbria Provider Collaborative, supporting the development of robotic surgery across the region and improving access for patients.

Mr Ramsingh has held several clinical leadership roles, including Clinical Director for General Surgery at the Royal Victoria Infirmary. He currently serves as Associate Medical Director for Quality and Safety. His wider interests include outpatient and theatre transformation, value-based healthcare, and the use of patient-level costing data to support robotic surgical services.

Miss Oroog Ali

Miss Oroog Ali is a Consultant Robotic Colorectal and General Surgeon at Gateshead NHS Foundation Trust, UK. She is one of the UK's only female robotic proctors with a dedicated robotic practice in colorectal and hernia surgery.
She has led the implementation of the first robotic surgery programme at her hospital, delivering robotic procedures for colorectal pathologies and hernias with a focus on precision, surgical innovation, and patient-centred outcomes. She also holds national roles within the Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland (ACPGBI), the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd), and the British Hernia Society (BHS).
Miss Ali has presented and published extensively in general surgery. She completed her surgical training in the North East of England, where she was awarded both the ASGBI Gold Medal and the RCSEd GB Ong Medal for outstanding performance in the FRCS examination.

Ms Dr. Nadine Hachach-Haram FRCS

Proximie founder and CEO Nadine Hachach-Haram, BEM, is a practising NHS surgeon, lecturer, and award-winning clinical entrepreneur. In 2016, she founded Proximie on the belief that the operating room's greatest untapped asset was its own data. At the time, almost none of it was being captured, structured, or acted on. She set out to change that.

Proximie is now the operating system for intelligent operating rooms. The platform connects surgical data, devices, and teams across a cloud-native infrastructure, giving hospitals and surgical teams the real-time visibility and workflow intelligence to act on what is happening in the OR, improve surgical quality, and move beyond what happened last quarter. Available in over 500 facilities, across 50 countries and 5 continents, with 25 MedTech partners and more than 100,000 hours of surgical data captured, Proximie has built the world's largest repository of real-world surgical intelligence. Its partnerships include a technology partnership with NVIDIA, positioning Proximie as a leading AI platform for the operating room. CNN called it the “Future of Surgery”. The measurable results are starting to warrant that.
Nadine's vision for a digitally connected global surgical workforce has won recognition far beyond healthtech. She was awarded the British Empire Medal in the late Queen's Birthday Honours, and sits on the Royal College of Surgeons' Commission on the Future of Surgery, joining some of the UK's leading doctors, engineers, data experts, healthcare leaders, and patient representatives to set out likely trends in surgery over the next 20 years.
Alongside her work at Proximie, Nadine continues to practise as Consultant Plastic Surgeon and Director of Clinical Innovation and Strategic Partnerships at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust in London.

Mr Oliver Sowerby

Oliver Sowerby is Vice President of MedTech Innovation at Cambridge Consultants, the deep technology arm of Capgemini. A Chartered Engineer, he has led the technical development of reusable surgical instruments, laparoscopic tools, otoscopes, chemical reactors and fully automated machinery.
His current focus is bringing medical technology companies together with clinicians and technical experts to develop the next generation of surgical technology. Cambridge Consultants recently collaborated with CMR Surgical and NVIDIA on the use of AI world models in surgical training, presented at the Hamlyn Symposium and the Society of Robotic Surgery.
Oliver mentors clinicians through the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme, and has served and chaired trustee boards.

Dr Anastasia Chalkidou

Dr Anastasia Chalkidou is Programme Director for HealthTech at NICE, where she is responsible for guidance covering medical technologies, diagnostics, digital health and artificial intelligence.

Previously, she was Associate Director of the King’s Technology Evaluation Centre (KiTEC) and a Senior Research Fellow in Health Technology Assessment at King’s College London. Her work focused on complex interventions, medical devices and digital health technologies. She has led numerous national and hospital-based health technology assessment projects and advised MedTech companies on evidence-generation strategies and value propositions, from early development through to market.

She is currently a co-investigator on ASSESS-DHT, a European initiative supporting health technology assessment of digital health technologies.
Dr Chalkidou began her career in clinical oncology after completing her medical degree in 2004. She also holds an MSc in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, a PhD focused on validating PET biomarkers in oncology, and an MA in Higher Education Practice. She co-chairs the HTAi Medical Devices Interest Group.

Ms Nuha Yassin

Ms Nuha Yassin is Vice President of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and a Consultant Colorectal and Robotic Surgeon.
Her clinical practice focuses on colorectal cancer and inflammatory bowel disease, with specialist interests in robotic surgery, minimally invasive techniques and the responsible adoption of surgical innovation to improve patient outcomes.
Ms Yassin is recognised as the UK’s first female proctor in robotic colorectal and general surgery. Through her work as a surgeon, educator, proctor and leader, she is committed to supporting high-quality surgical training and the safe, evidence-based introduction of new technologies into clinical practice.
Her wider interests include robotics and digital surgery, workforce development, surgical education, research and inclusive leadership. Across her clinical, College and national leadership roles, she advocates for innovation that strengthens surgical care while maintaining the compassion, judgement, teamwork and trust at the centre of surgery.

Mr Michael Powar

Michael Powar is a Consultant Colorectal and Robotic Surgeon at Cambridge University Hospitals, and led the introduction of robotic colorectal surgery in Cambridge. He sits on the Trust's robotic surgery steering group, is Colorectal Teaching Lead at the University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine and is President of the Royal Society of Medicine Coloproctology Section. With HPB colleagues, he performed Cambridge’s first combined robotic colorectal and liver resection with the patient being discharged from hospital within 72 hours.
He was the first clinician to introduce sacral neuromodulation for faecal incontinence in the East of England, and now leads one of the highest-volume sacral neuromodulation implanting centres for faecal incontinence globally.
He served on the founding medical advisory board of CMR Surgical and advises medical technology and robotics companies across Europe, the United States and Asia. He has recently spent time in robotic innovation centres and operating theatres in China and will share some of these insights at Surgery Systems Live 2026.

Mr Pritam Singh

Mr Pritam Singh is a Consultant General and Oesophago-Gastric Surgeon at the Royal Surrey County Hospital and joint Upper Gastrointestinal Clinical Lead for the Surrey and Sussex Cancer Alliance. He specialises in benign and malignant conditions of the oesophagus and stomach, with particular expertise in minimally invasive and robotic surgery.
Following specialist surgical training in the West Midlands and an Oesophago-Gastric Fellowship at Nottingham University Hospitals, he undertook further training in minimally invasive gastric cancer surgery at the Cancer Institute Hospital in Tokyo, Japan. He is involved in developing robotic oesophago-gastric surgery at Royal Surrey.
Mr Singh holds a PhD from Imperial College London, where his research focused on the quality of surgical training. He has a strong interest in surgical education and regularly teaches on national training courses, including programmes delivered by the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

Mr Vanash Patel

Mr Vanash Patel is a Consultant Colorectal and General Surgeon, Clinical Director and Robotic Surgery Service Lead at West Hertfordshire Teaching HospitalsNHS Trust. He is also an Honorary Clinical Associate Professor at Imperial College London.
He has led the development of one of the UK’s most established multidisciplinary robotic surgery programmes, where robotic surgery has become the standard approach for elective colorectal cancer resection. He has also led its expansion into emergency general surgery, developing the clinical governance, patient-selection and training frameworks required for safe and effective implementation.
His work focuses on building high-performance surgical programmes through standardised clinical pathways, effective multidisciplinary teamwork, structured robotic training and the integration of technology across the entire patient journey. He has helped develop innovative perioperative pathways incorporating prehabilitation, enhanced recovery, remote monitoring and Virtual Hospital care, improving recovery and reducing patients’ time in hospital.
Mr Patel has published more than 70 peer-reviewed papers, with clinical and academic interests spanning robotic and minimally invasive surgery, surgical education, service transformation and patient outcomes. In 2026, he received the prestigious Silver Scalpel Award for excellence in surgical training and has been shortlisted for Clinical Leader of the Year at the HSJ Awards.

Ms Ines Iraki

Ines Iraki is Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Uncovr, a surgical artificial intelligence company building a video-understanding foundation model for surgery. The platform analyses live surgical video and intraoperative workflow data to generate operative reports and procedural coding in real time, with the operating surgeon reviewing and approving every document before it reaches the electronic health record.
She founded the company in 2025 with Johann Diep and Professor Eric Vibert, following work that identified a persistent gap between what happens in the operating room and what is captured in the surgical record. Uncovr is now deploying in a pipeline of more than 400 operating rooms in the United States and Europe, and in June 2026 raised a seed round led by Index Ventures.
She holds a degree from HEC Paris and is based between Paris & New York.

Professor Cliff Shelton

Professor Cliff Shelton is a Professor in Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine at Lancaster Medical School and a Consultant Anaesthetist at Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester.
He is Director of Simulation and Clinical Skills at Lancaster Medical School and Strategic Lead for Sustainability at the NIHR Research Support Service Hub delivered by Lancaster University and partners. His clinical interests include anaesthesia for trauma, obstetrics and emergency care, while his research focuses on patient safety, healthcare quality and environmentally sustainable perioperative practice.
Professor Shelton is Co-Chair of the Association of Anaesthetists Safety, Standards, Environment and Sustainability Committee and Deputy Chair of the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists Sustainability Committee. He is also an editor of the journal Anaesthesia and is actively involved in surgical education, clinical research and developing more sustainable approaches to healthcare.

Mr James Glasbey

Mr James Glasbey is an NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer/Assistant Professor in Surgical Systems and Digital Health, and a General Surgery Registrar at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust.
He is based within the Department of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Birmingham, where his academic work focuses on high-priority areas at the intersection of global surgery, perioperative care, sustainability and digital health.
Alongside his academic and clinical roles, he continues to contribute to AI development and evaluation, surgical education, research collaboration and the development of future surgical systems.

Ms Anne Osdoit

Anne Osdoit is Chief Executive Officer of Moon Surgical, the French-American surgical robotics company behind the Maestro system, and a Partner at Sofinnova Partners.

Moon Surgical takes a deliberately different approach to soft tissue robotics. Rather than putting the laparoscopic surgeon behind a console, Maestro provides robotic assistance within existing workflows, addressing the docking and turnaround times that have limited wider robotic adoption. The company is backed by Sofinnova Partners, Johnson & Johnson's venture arm and NVIDIA, with independent board members including Intuitive co-founder Frederic Moll.
She spent a decade at Mauna Kea Technologies across clinical and regulatory development, marketing and the company's IPO, before leading Sofinnova's MD Start programme. She has been founding chief executive of Moon Surgical, Gradient Denervation Technologies, SafeHeal and May Health, and remains a board member of the latter two.
A trained biomedical engineer, she studied at École Polytechnique in Paris and Johns Hopkins University.

Professor Venkatesh Munikrishnan

Professor Venkatesh Munikrishnan is a Consultant Colorectal and Robotic Surgeon at Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, India, and National Lead for the Apollo Robotic Colorectal Surgery Programme.
Following specialist surgical training in the United Kingdom, he returned to India in 2010 and established a dedicated colorectal surgery service at Apollo Hospitals, subsequently developing one of India's largest robotic colorectal surgery programmes. His clinical expertise focuses on minimally invasive and robotic colorectal surgery, particularly the management of rectal cancer.
Professor Munikrishnan has performed over 1,000 robotic colorectal procedures and is actively involved in surgical research, education and the international adoption of robotic techniques. His work focuses on improving surgical outcomes, developing cost-effective robotic surgery and expanding access to advanced colorectal care.

Mr Theophilus Teddy K Anyomih

Mr Theophilus Teddy K Anyomih is a General Surgery Registrar and Clinical Research Fellow at the NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Global Surgery, University of Birmingham. He is an RCS England Research Fellow and Cutler Surgical Fellow for 2026.
His research focuses on surgical outcomes, equity and global surgery systems across high- and low-income settings. He serves as Principal Investigator of AlliGatOr, the world’s largest prospective study of acute appendicitis, spanning over 110 countries and 1,300 hospitals. He has also contributed to major international collaborations including GlobalSurg and Global PaedSurg.
His recent research includes a multi-country study examining pre-hospital time and perforation risk in acute appendicitis, currently under review at The Lancet Global Health, and a systematic review of Lancet Commission on Global Surgery indicators published in the British Journal of Surgery.
Alongside his academic work, Teddy co-founded acethemrcs.com and has taught on the Cambridge Anastomosis Course across the UK, Malawi and Ghana. He founded InciSioN-Ghana, supporting mentorship and surgical research capacity across sub-Saharan Africa, and serves as an executive of the Ghana Doctors Dentists Association UK.

Miss Laura Castro

Ms Laura Castro is a General Surgery Resident at ULS Amadora-Sintra: Hospital Professor Doutor Fernando Fonseca in Lisbon, Portugal, and a Clinical PhD Fellow at the NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Global Surgery, University of Birmingham.
Her academic work is based within global surgery, with a focus on surgical systems, international collaboration and improving surgical care across different healthcare settings.
Alongside her clinical and academic roles, Ms Castro serves as Vice-President of Humanity On The Move, reflecting her wider commitment to global health, equity and collaborative approaches to improving healthcare.
Her work brings together clinical surgery, global surgical research and advocacy, with a focus on strengthening surgical systems and improving outcomes for patients internationally.

Mr Cortland Linder

Mr Cortland Linder is a PhD Fellow in Global Surgery at the University of Birmingham and a General Surgery Registrar.
His doctoral research explores contextual solutions to improving surgical care across different healthcare settings. In low- and middle-income countries, his work focuses on the role of secure hospital energy in enabling safe surgery. In high-income countries, he is investigating ring-fenced surgical facilities, including surgical hubs, and their role in supporting surgical delivery.
Mr Linder is a Clinical PhD Research Fellow with the NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Global Surgery. Alongside his academic work, he has trained as a Specialty Trainee in General Surgery within the NHS in the West Midlands.
His work brings together global surgery, surgical systems, infrastructure and service delivery, with a focus on practical solutions to improve access to safe and effective surgical care.

Mr Liam Phelan

Mr Liam Phelan is a General Surgery Registrar in the West Midlands Deanery and a Research Fellow at the NIHR Global Surgery Unit, University of Birmingham.
He is currently undertaking a PhD in Applied Health Research at the University of Birmingham, exploring postoperative mortality in low- and middle-income countries and interventions to reduce it. His work focuses on global surgery, surgical outcomes and improving perioperative care across different healthcare settings.
Alongside his clinical and academic roles, Mr Phelan is Head of Education and Engagement at TeachMeSurgery, supporting surgical education for students and trainees. His work brings together clinical training, global surgical research and medical education, with a focus on improving access to high-quality surgical knowledge and safer surgical care.

Ms Cynthia de Carvalho Fischer

Ms Cynthia de Carvalho Fischer is a Clinical Research Fellow and PhD Candidate at the NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Global Surgery, University of Birmingham. She is also an abdominal surgeon in Germany.
Her research focuses on surgical systems, with a particular interest in global surgery, population health and equity in surgical care. She has clinical experience across university tertiary care centres in Germany and Switzerland, alongside experience in medical education.
Ms de Carvalho Fischer’s work brings together clinical surgery, health systems research and global surgery. With an international background and experience across both high- and low-resource settings, she is committed to improving surgical care across borders, languages and healthcare systems.
She is also involved with Global Surgery Germany, supporting wider engagement with global surgery research, advocacy and collaboration.

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