The BSGE has a twenty-six year history of improving standards, promoting training and encouraging the exchange of information in minimal access surgery techniques.
From our inaugural president Alan Gordon to our current leader Dominic Byrne, our fourteen presidents have helped the society grow from a group of thirty surgical pioneers to the dynamic, active society it is today, with a membership of over a thousand consultants, trainees, nurses, GPs and students.
The BSGE’s first president retired from the NHS in 1992 and worked with the ESGE and ISGE for the next six years. Illness forced him to stop work in 1998. Happily, he is now recovered and, at the age of 85, enjoys a good quality of life with his wife Mary and the couple’s Lhaso Apso dog Leo.
Victor Lewis
Victor has now retired from practice and spends winters in the desert in Southern California. In summer, he returns to London to enjoy the museums and theatres, and to attend Retired Fellows Society events at the Royal Society of Medicine.
Christopher Sutton
Chris is a visiting professor at the University of Surrey. He still gives the occasional lecture and is asked to write review articles and book chapters. He no longer operates on humans but was recently asked by the University of Amsterdam to demonstrate the laparoscopic use of argon neutral plasma energy on pigs, which he says he found much more difficult.
Ray Garry
Ray spent 22 years as a consultant in obstetrics and gynaecology in Middlesbrough and Leeds, before heading to work as professor of O&G at the University of Western Australia
in Perth. In both roles he had a special interest in minimal access surgery, developing endometriosis treatment centres. He has been a board member and holder of various ffices in ESGE, AGES and BSGE, as well as editing Gynaecological Endoscopy. He now describes himself as a “grey nomad of the obstetric world,” working as a locum in rural Australia as well as for Medicins Sans Frontieres in Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Ethiopia.
John Newton
Anthony Smith
Continuing his clinical research in Manchester, Anthony has a personal chair in urogynaecology at Manchester University. He is also involved in the provision and development of services for women with childbirth injuries in Uganda.
Peter O’Donovan
Working as a consultant gynaecologist at Bradford Teaching Hospitals, Peter is also Professor of Medical Innovation at Bradford University. He is president of ESGE for a two-year term, starting 2014.
Jeremy Wright
Jeremy retired from the NHS in 2011 and, since then, has been working in Ethiopia. Currently, he is an obstetric fistula surgeon at Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia, predominantly in Addis, but also travelling to far-flung rural areas to operate in satellite hospitals.
In his spare time, he runs a laparoscopy service to teach Ethiopian gynaecologists about minimally invasive procedures
Sian Jones
Living in Hebden Bridge, Sian celebrated her 60th birthday in Venice last year, taking her NHS pension before returning to work three days a week at Bradford.
She also joined the NHS e-Referral Service as a national clinical lead and works one day a week for them.
Sian recently upgraded her motorhome and plans to spend long weekends travelling the country and the rest of her spare time “growing things in my greenhouse, raised beds and field”.
Alfred Cutner
Alfred is a Consultant at University College Hospitals, London and is currently the vice Chairman of the British Society of Urogynaecology
Jonathan Frappell
Working part-time as a gynaecologist at derriford Hospital, Plymouth, Jonathan
is also lead consultant for the Plymouth Endometriosis Centre. He is on the RCOG council and will be going to China with the college in May to teach laparoscopic surgery. Jonathan is also an external examiner for the MSc course at Surrey University.
Kevin Phillips
Kevin Phillips became a member of the BSGE council more than 10 years ago and has seen the society grow over the years. He started as a junior council member, before serving as secretary, vice president and president. He described it as a priviledge to be part of a society which has developed alongside progress in endoscopic procedures in gynaecology. While his lists now hardly ever have open procedures, Kevin says there is still work to do to ensure all women have access to minimally invasive gynaecological procedures. Since moving on from the BSGE presidency, he has continued to progress his endometriosis practice and to sell the message that complex endometriosis needs treatment in specialist centres.
He is now one of four trust medical directors at Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust and has been “more than occupied” by trying to keep non-cancer surgery flowing with pressures on beds and accident and emergency departments.
Ertan Saridogan
Our outgoing president saw membership surge to over 1000 during his tenure. He is a Consultant in Reproductive Medicine and Minimal Access Surgery at University College London Hospitals. He is currently the President of the British Society for Gynaecological Endoscopy and a Trustee and the Chairman of Medical Advisory Panel of the Endometriosis UK. He is also a member of the European Society for Gynaecological Endoscopy Advisory Board. His clinical interests include laparoscopic and hysteroscopic surgery for benign gynaecological conditions, reproductive surgery, endometriosis, fibroids and outpatient hysteroscopy. His research interests include noninvasive diagnosis of endometriosis, clinical outcomes following endometriosis surgery, outpatient hysteroscopy, and the place of screening and risk reducing surgery in women with a history of familial cancer.
Dominic Byrne
During Dominic’s time in office he helped the BSGE became a more professional and prominent society, with the power to influence change. He introduced standard operating procedures for Council and role descriptions for all BSGE positions, to increase transparency and clarity for members.
Dominic introduced the Endometriosis Centre project and oversaw its growth and evolution. It is now an internationally recognised network of specialist endometriosis centres, that work professionally to meet exacting standards and audit their outcomes, to the benefit of patients with severe endometriosis. In 2018 the Endometriosis Study group published a paper, in BMJ Open, describing the outcome of surgery for rectovaginal endometriosis in nearly 5,000 patients. This is the largest published endometriosis surgery dataset in the world, to date.
Dominic Byrne is a Consultant Gynaecologist specialising in Laparoscopic and Hysteroscopic surgery at the Royal Cornwall Hospital where he leads the BSGE accredited, Cornwall Endometriosis Centre. He is a nationally recognised expert in Laparoscopic surgery and regularly gives presentations at national and international Scientific meetings on the subject. He is currently a trainer for the RCOG Advanced ATSM in Laparoscopic surgery for benign disease and for the national LapHyst project.
Sanjay Vyas
Sanjay Vyas was BSGE President from 2018-2020. During his time in office he introduced overseas membership, co-chaired a highly successful ASM at Celtic Manor and presided over the Society’s vital guidance on laparoscopy and the management of abnormal menstrual bleeding during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Appointed as a consultant in 1994, Sanjay is the senior gynaecologist at Southmead Hospital. He is also an Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer at the University of Bristol and director of the North Bristol NHS Trust Endometriosis Centre.
Sanjay’s clinical interests include laparoscopic and hysteroscopic procedures for benign gynaecology, in particular endometriosis and pelvic ultrasound scanning.
As well as his roles for the BSGE, Sanjay was also an elected member of the council of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. His work has contributed to major improvements in the training of junior doctors, and care for women. He is regularly invited to lecture at national and international educational meetings.
Thomas Justin Clark
Thomas Justin Clark was BSGE President from 2020-2022.