BSc (Hons) MBBS MRCS (Eng, Edin) PhD

My initial exposure to research was a project on the process of wound healing as a first year medical student at UCL in London. This small study encouraged me to do a one year project in tissue repair as part of an a successful intercalated BSc. Subsequent to this and during my basic surgical training, I worked on a number of clinical projects; however, it was not until completion of basic surgical training that I had the opportunity to continue with basic scientific research. Having completed a one year research fellowship from the Royal College of Surgeons of England, I subsequently gained an MRC (UK) clinical training fellowship. This award led to a successful PhD in molecular genetics of scar formation at the University of Manchester. I then began my specialist training in Plastic Surgery. Since completion of my PhD, I continued to maintain an active research interest as a lecturer and was successful in achieving an NIHR clinician scientist award in plastic & reconstructive surgery research. Over the past few years, I have supervised numerous students who have successfully completed their PhD research, given oral presentations in national and international meetings (510 to date) as well as published (H index = 50) in peer reviewed scientific literature ( 450 publications) . My group comprises of post docs, experimental officers, postgraduate students (PhD, MD, MSc, MRes), academic foundation doctors and elective medical students. My recent appointment as an honourary professor at UCT at the division of Dermatology is an opportunity to expand my research interest co-supervising student projects, working closely with and directly benefiting a population most affected by keloid scars.