HPB Cancer MDT staff
Mr Zahir Soonawalla FRCS MS DNB
Consultant Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgeon
Zahir was appointed Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgeon at Oxford in 2004. He has expanded the range of treatments offered at Oxford with the development of complex minimally-invasive procedures such as laparoscopic and robotic liver resection and pancreatectomy. He is the Clinical Director for General Surgery, having previously been the Deputy Divisional Medical Director. These roles provide oversight of the quality of care provided to all patients across the department.
Zahir has an interest in theatre performance and chairs the Robotic Surgery Steering Committee at the Churchill Hospital. He has chaired the Neuroendocrine Tumour (NET) MDT at Oxford and, in addition to liver and pancreatic surgery, has a special interest in surgery for neuroendocrine tumours.
His national roles include regional representative on the council of the Association of Upper GI Surgeons (AUGIS) and member of the Clinical Practice Committee of the UK and Ireland Neuroendocrine Tumour Society.
Mr Michael A Silva MBBS MS MD FCS SL FFST FRCS (Gen Surg) FRCSEd
Consultant Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgeon
Michael was appointed Consultant Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgeon in 2009. He is Clinical Lead for the department and previously was chair of the liver cancer MDT (2012-2020). He introduced minimal access laparoscopic liver surgery to Oxford and is a robotic HPB surgeon. He has a special interest in the treatment of cholangiocarcinoma and bile duct injuries sustained at surgery. Michael is the Oxford lead for the national programme offering total pancreatectomy and islet auto-transplantation for a select group of patients with chronic pancreatitis.
He completed higher surgical and specialist HPB training the West Midlands and obtained a MD in 2007 following research into the effects of ischaemic injury caused to the liver during surgery and transplantation from the University of Birmingham.
Michael is the training programme director for higher surgical trainees (general surgery) in the Oxford Deanery. He is a member of council of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and was director of the surgical advisory network in the UK for the College (2018-2022). He is a fellow of the faculty of surgical trainers, Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and is also a clinical lecturer at Worcester College, University of Oxford.
Michael was a specialist advisor to the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) (2018-2021) and served on the editorial board of the British Journal of Surgery (Open) (2015-2021) and Current Surgery Reports. He is a reviewer for many leading scientific journals. He has in excess of 80 publications in international peer reviewed journals and has written many book chapters on his specialty interests.
Mr Srikanth Reddy MBBS FRCS (Gen Surg) PhD
Consultant Hepatobiliary Pancreatic and Transplant Surgeon
Srikanth was appointed as Consultant Hepatobiliary Pancreatic and Transplant Surgeon at Oxford in 2010. He is Clinical Lead for the department of transplant surgery and previously was lead for clinical governance in the transplant division, where his role was to ensure safe clinical practice.
Srikanth is the Oxford lead for the Adult Small Bowel Transplant Service. His research interests include strategies to reduce ischaemia reperfusion injury in liver, pancreas and kidneys.
Srikanth trained in Oxford and Birmingham in general, hepatobiliary pancreatic and transplant surgery. While training in Oxford he obtained a PhD in normothermic perfusion for organ preservation in liver transplantation.
Mr Venkatesha Udupa MBBS MS MSc MCh FRCS FEBS
Consultant Hepatobiliary Pancreatic and Transplant Surgeon
Venkatesha was appointed Hepatobiliary Pancreatic and Transplant Surgeon in Oxford in 2019. His clinical activities include complex HPB surgery and transplantation (kidney, pancreas, intestines and more recently uterine) along with abdominal multiorgan retrieval surgery. He is joint lead for the national kidney auto transplantation programme.
Venkatesha completed his residency in General Surgery and Surgical Oncology with a focus on HPB surgery from Tata Memorial Hospital, a leading national tertiary referral hospital for comprehensive cancer care at Mumbai, India and completed fellowships in HPB surgery and abdominal multi-visceral transplantation in Dublin and Oxford.
He obtained higher degrees: an MCh from University College Dublin for his research on role of receptor for advanced glycation end products in biliary diseases and an MSc in Healthcare management from Institute of Leadership, Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland.
Venkatesha is a member of several national and international HPB, surgical oncology and transplantation associations and has published in peer-reviewed journals.
Mr Alex Gordon-Weeks MBChB BSc DPhil FRCS
Consultant Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgeon and Clinical Lecturer
Alex was appointed Consultant Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgeon in 2021. His specialist interest is in the management of hepatobiliary malignancy with a particular focus on colorectal liver metastasis and cholangiocarcinoma.
Alex completed a one-year fellowship in advanced liver surgery in Aintree Hospital, Liverpool after having his higher surgical clinical-academic training in Oxford.
He completed a DPhil in Radiation Biology in 2014 and was subsequently appointed as NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer.
Alex is jointly appointed as a clinical lecturer in hepatobiliary malignancy through the Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences, University of Oxford. His research interests include the tumour microenvironment, therapy resistance and tumour immunity.
Oncology
The Oxford Cancer Centre Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Oncology Team includes the following Consultant Oncologists.
Dr Paul Miller
Medical Oncologist
Professor Somnath Mukherjee
Clinical Oncologist
The Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Oncology Team treats patients with pancreatic cancer, bile duct cancer, duodenal cancer and hepatocellular cancer, using predominantly chemotherapy. For inoperable pancreatic cancer Professor Somnath Mukherjee specialise in the use of chemoradiation.
The team is committed to ensuring clinical trials are available for our patients, and runs mainly NCRN Phase III clinical trials.
Gastroenterology
Dr Noor Bekkali MD PhD
Consultant Gastroenterologist
Noor was appointed Consultant Gastroenterologist at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford in 2018. She qualified from the University of Amsterdam from where she also obtained a PhD.
She then commenced training in gastroenterology in the Academic Medical Centre (AMC), Amsterdam and later spent a year at UCLH London focusing on pancreatobiliary medicine. To gain further ERCP and EUS training she did an extended fellowship in Newcastle upon Tyne.
Noor now participates in the European Society for Gastroenterology (ESGE) working subgroup to develop standards and training for EUS and ERCP and is also part of a UK Delphi EUS-user group. She is a member of the national ERCP working group which focusses on improved ERCP care.
She is involved in national and international trials relating to pancreatobiliary endoscopy and co-organises annual EUS / ERCP and live endoscopy courses.
Noor's research interests include cholangioscopy, EUS-diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and endoscopic management of severe pancreatitis.
Dr Emma Culver BSc MBChB MRCP DPhil
Consultant Hepatologist
Emma is a Consultant Hepatologist and Senior Lecturer at the Translational Gastroenterology Unit, John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, with an interest in immune mediated liver diseases including IgG4-related disease, autoimmune hepatitis, primary sclerosing cholangitis and primary biliary cholangitis, hepatocellular cancer (HCC) and Cholangiocarcinoma (CCa)
She set up and co-ordinated the IgG4-RD Study in Oxford during her Academic Clinical Fellowship (2010) and Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Fellowship (DPhil 2011-2015). Her PhD work focused on the natural history and immunological drivers of IgG4-RD.
Her NIHR BRC Oxford Clinical Lectureship (2018-) centred on the fibrotic mechanisms of this disease. She runs the Oxford Autoimmune Liver Disease service with specialist IgG4, PSC and autoimmune liver clinics, and runs a regional autoimmune liver disease MDT, and a national Oxford-London IgG4 MDT.
Emma is Chair of UK IgG4 and on the Steering Committee for UK PSC, and a member of the International IgG4-RD, PSC and AIH Study Groups.
Dr Adam Bailey MBChB FRACP
Consultant Gastroenterologist
Adam was appointed Consultant Gastroenterologist, in 2009. He covers a broad range of gastroenterology in his NHS practice, with a focus on his special interest areas.
His advanced endoscopic skills include biliary endoscopy (ERCP), resection of benign neoplastic lesions throughout the gastrointestinal tract, endoscopic therapy of inflammatory bowel disease, dilatations and stenting. He has an interest in upper gastrointestinal diseases including Barrett's early neoplasia and gastrointestinal bleeding, as well as cholestatic liver disease and pancreatic disease.
He graduated from Otago University, New Zealand, in 1999 and completed his training as a gastroenterologist in Sydney, Australia, in 2005. He subsequently completed a fellowship in advanced therapeutic endoscopy in 2006 at Wesmead Hospital, Sydney, as well as a Clinical Fellowship primarily in luminal gastroenterology and inflammatory bowel disease at the John Radcliffe Hospital in 2008.
Interventional Radiology
Dr Jane Phillips-Hughes
Interventional Radiologist and Endoscopist
Jane qualified in Medicine from the University of Wales College of Medicine in 1986. She then obtained MRCP before undertaking training in Radiology in Cardiff from 1989 to 1995, obtaining FRCR in 1992.
She specialises in hepatobiliary and gastrointestinal interventional radiology, endoscopic ultrasound and ERCP.
Within the Oxford Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Cancer Multidisciplinary Team, her main roles are in endoscopic ultrasound assessment of pancreatico-biliary disease, drainage of pseudo-cysts, percutaneous and endoscopic insertion of stents for biliary obstruction, and angiography and embolisation for vascular complications of hepatobiliary and pancreatic disease.
Dr Mark Anderson BM BCh BA FRCS FRCR
Interventional Radiologist
Mark graduated from Oxford Medical School in 1994 and worked in London before completing radiology training at Oxford.
He has undertaken the Ratcliffe Fellowship in thermal ablation at University College Hospital, London and a fellowship in oncological imaging in Oxford. He was appointed consultant in 2008 and is the Clinical Lead for the Thermal Ablation Service.
In addition to his clinical commitments, he has an active research interest in thermal ablation and the use of functional imaging techniques to understand the behaviour of tumours and select appropriate therapies for patients.
Dr Phil Boardman MBChB MRCP FRCR
Interventional Radiologist
Phil graduated in Medicine from Leeds University in 1986. He trained in General Medicine in Leeds and Bradford before undertaking training in Radiology in Oxford. He underwent subspecialty training in Interventional Radiology in Oxford, Hull and London. Dr Boardman was appointed Consultant Radiologist in Oxford in 1998 having previously held a consultant appointment in Bristol.
Phil is an Interventional Radiologist and as such uses minimally-invasive, image-guided techniques to treat a number of conditions. He performs a wide range of interventional radiological procedures. He leads the Interventional Radiology team in the development of SIRT and is particularly interested in the application of Interventional Radiology techniques to patients with cancer.
Dr Andrew Macdonald MBChB MRCS FRCR
Interventional Radiologist
Andrew was appointed as a Consultant Interventional Radiologist at Oxford University Hospitals in 2020. He obtained his undergraduate medical degree from Oxford University Medical School in 2009.
He completed four years of surgical training and membership of the Royal College of Surgeons prior to completing Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology training in Oxford and obtaining fellowship of the Royal College of Radiology.
His current clinical and research interests focus on interventional oncology and complex embolisation procedures.
Cross-sectional Radiology
The Cross-sectional Radiologists cover both the John Radcliffe and Churchill sites. They are specialists in all relevant radiological modalities, including CT, MRI, ultrasound and fluoroscopy.
They perform interventional procedures, such as biopsies, including liver and pancreatic biopsies, and drainages of fluid collections. The Cross-sectional Radiologists are experts in assessment of focal liver lesions. They are able to offer specialist procedures, such as secretin stimulated MRCP. They work closely with our gastroenterological, surgical and interventional radiology colleagues.
All Cross-sectional Radiologists are members of the European Society of Gastrointestinal and Abdominal Radiology and British Society of Gastrointestinal and Abdominal Radiology.
Dr Andrew Slater
Andrew was appointed Consultant Radiologist specializing in GI Radiology in 2005
Fellow of Royal College of Radiologists and Member of European Society of Gastrointestinal Radiology
Dr Helen Bungay
Dr Helen Bungay qualified from Cambridge and Oxford Universities (1990) and has been a consultant at the Trust since 1999.
Dr Margaret Betts
Dr Margaret Betts qualified from the University of Birmingham and has been a consultant at the Trust since 2003.
Clinical Specialist Nurses
Ms Sue Wilner
Senior Specialist Nurse
Sue has been working as a senior Specialist Nurse with the Oxford Hepatobiliary Service since 2008. She trained at the Royal London Hospital where she spent several years working in cancer haematology before completing further study in cancer nursing at St Bartholomew's Hospital and also palliative care at University College Hospital London.
Sue moved to Oxford in 1994 to join the Cancer Research UK research nurse team where she was involved in caring for patients taking part in both early and late phase clinical trials for a number of different types of solid tumours.
Her current role as a senior Specialist Nurse within the Oxford Hepatobiliary MDT is to see and care for patients referred for major and complex pancreatic and liver surgery, and support those who have had a new diagnosis of cancer and may require other non-surgical treatments or chemotherapy.
Working together with her nursing and dietitian colleagues in Oxford and the wider Thames Valley Cancer Network Sue strives to improve the quality of patient experience and helps ensure that a comprehensive service is offered to all patients along the treatment pathway. She has also completed a postgraduate certificate in leadership
Ms Natasha Young
Specialist Nurse
'Tash' graduated from the University of Bedfordshire and worked on an emergency surgical ward for two years before volunteering to be redeployed to intensive care during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tash worked as a Cancer Nurse Specialist in Urology before moving to the HPB team in May 2022 and is studying for a PG Cert in Advanced Cancer Care.
Along with colleagues, Tash supports patients referred to the HPB team who have a new cancer diagnosis or require complex surgery or oncology treatments.
Ms Natasha Guildford
Macmillan Specialist HPB Dietitian
Natasha is a Specialist Dietitian attached to the department of HPB Surgery and works in conjunction with the Clinical Nurse Specialist Team at the Churchill Hospital.
She graduated from the University of Plymouth in 2011 and has been working within the NHS since. She spent two years working in Belfast, Brighton and the Isle of Wight, before moving into a Research Dietitian role at University Hospital Southampton. In 2016 she began working as a Specialist HPB Dietitian (2016-2021), and then progressed to an Advanced Oncology Dietitian at St Richards Hospital in Chichester (2021).
Natasha joined the Oxford HPB team in September 2021 as a Macmillan Specialist HPB Dietitian. She supports patients by giving advice on pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT), improving fitness for surgery and identifying any nutritional deficits throughout their treatment pathway.
Non-clinical staff
Phoebe Martin and Lauren Stubbs are the departments PAs, and are usually the first line of contact with the HPB team for non-clinical services like clinic appointments and following up investigation results.
Both Phoebe and Lauren work very closely with the HPB surgical and CNS teams.
