Category: Speakers

Peter Brooks

Dr Peter Brooks has been a Consultant Paediatric Anaesthetist at Chelsea & Westminster Hospital in London since 2004. He is an expert on the use of total intravenous anaesthesia in children and is passionate about supporting other anaesthetists to introduce this technique into their practise safely for the benefit of their patients. He has delivered numerous lectures and workshops at national and international conferences. Other professional interests include neonatal anaesthesia and, training and quality improvement in paediatric anaesthesia. He has won awards for innovation from NHS England and the Association of Anaesthetists. Dr Brooks has until recently been a Lead Training Program Director for the Imperial Programme in the London School of Anaesthesia. He has been a member of the Scientific Committee of the Association of Paediatric Anaesthetists with responsibility for supporting the trainee research network. He trained in London and undertook fellowships at Great Ormond Street Hospital and British Columbia's Children's Hospital in Vancouver.

Tom Hardy

Tom is a consultant paediatric and neuro anaesthetist at the Great North Children’s Hospital and RVI Newcastle.

After completing medical school and foundation training in Edinburgh, Tom spent 3 years working in Australia in anaesthesia and intensive care before commencing formal anaesthetic training in London.

During this time Tom developed an interest in medical education and simulation completing fellowships and further qualifications in these areas.

Tom completed advanced training in Regional and Neuro Anaesthesia and undertook a Paediatric Anaesthesia Fellowship at Great Ormond Street Hospital before commencing his consultant career in 2020.

As a consultant Tom has a focus on promoting and developing paediatric regional anaesthesia and has recently been appointed as the new Education Lead.

Rishi Diwan
Consultant Paediatric Anaesthetist & Acute Pain Lead
MBBS & MD (Anaesthesia),Mumbai, India
FRCA ,CCT (anaesthesia),
Fellowship in Paediatric Anaesthesia , Montreal Children’s Hospital McGill University, Montreal , Canada.

Dr Rishi Diwan  has been a Consultant Paediatric Anaesthetist at  Alder Hey Children’s Hospital NHs Foundation Trust ,Liverpool, UK since 2009

He trained as an anaesthetists in India and developed his interest in paediatric anaesthesia at Sir JJ Group of hospital ,Mumbai India. Graduated with MD in anaesthesia  in 1999 from University of  Mumbai /Grant Medical College.

He worked as paediatric anaesthetists at BJ Wadia Children’s Hospital in Mumbai before coming to UK in  2000  to gained further experience and training . Gained his FRCA and CCT in anaesthesia in the process.

In 2007-8 went to Montreal Children’s Hospital , McGill University , Canada for 1 year Fellowship in Paediatric Anaesthesia.

Having successfully completed his fellowship returned to UK as a Locum Consultant Paediatric Anaesthetists  at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital before joining Alder Hey in a  substantive post in 2009.

He is Acute Pain Service lead at Alder Hey . He has Special intertest in Ultrasound Guided Regional Anaestheia and has over the years  enthusiastically contributed to teaching regional anaesthesia Locally, Nationally &Internationally.

He was instrumental in establishing anaestheic led line list service for insertion of tunnelled central lines at Alder Hey.

In addition, he has clinical interest in paediatric Spine Surgery,  ENT &Airway surgery, EXIT procedure  and Craniofacial Surgery.

Sanjay Varma

Clinical Lead for the Burns Service
Northern Regional Burns Centre for Cumbria and North East England
The Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne

Graduated University of Edinburgh 1991. Training in Plastic Surgery mainly throughout Scotland in the Scottish Plastic Surgery Rotation. International Plastic Surgery Fellowships in Detroit, Adelaide and Galveston.

Appointed as a Consultant Plastic Surgeon 2008, Adult and Paediatric Burns Surgery with subspecialty interests in Paediatric Plastic Surgery.

Dr Sarah Bell

Dr Bell is a Consultant in Paediatric Anaesthesia at the Great North Children's Hospital. Her special interests include anaesthesia for the neonate and anaesthesia for cleft lip and palate surgery.

Lee Ferguson

Dr Lee Ferguson is an Associate in Cardiac Anaesthesia in the Department of Anaesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital, USA and is an assistant professor of anaesthesia at Harvard Medical School.

He completed his medical degree at the University of Edinburgh in 1998 and undertook specialist training in anaesthesia at the South East of Scotland School of Anaesthesia, based in Edinburgh. During that training, he undertook sub-specialty training in paediatric critical care medicine and completed PICU fellowships at Evelina Children’s Hospital, London and Boston Children’s Hospital, USA. In addition, he completed a one-year fellowship in paediatric cardiac anaesthesia at Boston Children’s Hospital.

He relocated to the USA in 2017 after seven years working as a consultant in paediatric cardiac intensive care medicine at Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne. He currently splits his clinical time between providing anaesthesia in the cardiac operating rooms and catheterisation laboratories and working in the 45-bed cardiac ICU at Boston Children’s Hospital. His clinical research interests include mechanical support and resuscitation science.

Geoff Shenton

Geoff Shenton is a Paediatric Haematologist at the Great North Children’s Hospital in Newcastle. He is the lead for paediatric leukaemias and advanced cellular therapies. As a very hands on clinician, he understands the need to work together with the wider teams to ensure the best outcomes for patients. Increasing understanding of the different challenges of working with leukaemia patients, especially round their initial presentation is vital to ensure the best care and he is often found wandering theatres wanting a quick chat about the “interesting patient” he has put on the list.

Dr Steve Roberts

Consultant Anaesthetist with interest in ultrasound regional anaesthesia, orthopaedic and craniofacial surgery.

Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust

Dr Annabel Pearson

Consultant in Paediatric Anaesthetics and Acute Pain

Dr Annabel Pearson is a consultant specialising in paediatric anaesthesia and acute pain management at the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children in the UK where she is co-lead for Regional Anaesthesia and Acute Pain.

Annabel joined the RA-UK board in 2023 as the lead for Paediatrics. Annabel is passionate about promoting the use of regional anaesthesia in children and developing educational resources to allow anaesthetists to develop their skills in this expanding area. Annabel has developed resources aimed at supporting education in paediatric regional anaesthesia, including publishing a paper introducing the Plan A block principle for paediatrics and has produced infographic posters to support this that have been adopted internationally. She is leading in a project, alongside members from the APA and ESPA, to develop web-based resources for ultrasound guided paediatric regional education.

Ben Messer

Ben is a Consultant in Critical Care Medicine and Long-term Ventilation in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and the clinical lead of the North East Assisted Ventilation Service.

His main critical care interest is acute non-invasive respiratory support. Within home ventilation, his interests are tracheostomy ventilation, upper airway dysfunction and secretion management in MND, and the respiratory and perioperative care of neuromuscular patients.

He is the immediate past chair of the critical care specialist advisory group of the British Thoracic Society. He was the chair of the multi-professional writing committees for the joint British Thoracic Society and Intensive Care Society guidelines for Respiratory Support Units and Specialist Weaning Units.