Executive Committee
Elected members of the Executive Committee are chosen by members of the Section of Oncology through a process of nomination and voting, administered by BAUS.
Other members of the Executive Commiittee are either co-opted, because of their specific expertise, or appointed ex officio (e.g. a Trustee of BAUS appointed to attend committee meetings).
Additional individuals may also be invited to attend Committee meetings on an ad hoc basis if their specific expertise is required in a particular clinical area.
Members of the Executive Committee
Elected Officers
Mr Viswanath Hanchanale (Chair)
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Vish is a Consultant Urological Surgeon at Royal Liverpool & Broadgreen Hospital and originally joined the team in 2019. He was elected Secretary for a second term from January 2024 and took over the role of Chair in January 2025. His special interests include managing prostate and bladder cancer patients (i.e. pelvic oncology). After qualifying in medicine in India, he pursued a urological career and completed specialist and robotic surgery training in Leeds. To enhance his robotic skills, he supplemented his robotic training with attachments in Belgium and New York.
Mr Bhavan Rai (Vice Chair)
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Bhavan is a Consultant Urological Surgeon at the Freeman Hospital, Newcastle and joined the team in 2021. Bhavan was elected to Vice Chair with effect from January 2025. After completing robotic fellowships at the University of Leipzig, Germany and Lister Hospital, Stevenage,
He has focused on robotic surgery. He has a specialist interest in prostate cancer and upper tract urothelial cancers. His research interest includes systematic reviews, outcomes research and surgical educations.
Mr Gokul Kanda Swamy (Secretary)
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Gokul is a Consultant Urological Surgeon at Morriston Hospital, Swansea and joined the team in January 2023. He was elected to Secretary with effect from January 2025.
Other Elected Members
Mr James Armitage (Member: 2021 to 2025)
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Jim is a Consultant Urologist and the Urology Clinical Lead at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge and joined the team in 2021. His special interests include renal and testicular cancer.
Declaration of interests: James receives honraria from Eisai and Olympus.
Mr Benjamin Lamb (Member: 2021 to 2025)
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Ben is a Consultant Urological Surgeon at Barts Health and UCLH NHS Trusts and joined the team in 2021. After a Fellowship in uro-oncology and robotic surgery at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Australia, Ben spent four years as a consultant urological and robotic surgeon at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge. He has a research interest in multidisciplinary cancer teams (MDTs), and has presented work on decision making, non-technical skills, and leadership in MDTs. Ben is a Prostate Cancer UK Clinical Champion.
Declaration of interests: Ben received funding from Cancer Alliances and Health Education England for training MDTs in assessment and quality improvement methods in the United Kingdom. Ben is a paid consultant for Cambridge Clinical Laboratories, and has received honoraria for speaking from Astellas and Astra Zeneca Alliances and Health Education England for training MDTs in assessment & quality improvement methods in the United Kingdom.
Mr Imran Ahmad (Member: 2023 to 2025)
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Imran is a Senior Lecturer at the Beatson Institute & Honorary Consultant Urological Surgeon at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow. Imran joined the team in January 2023.
Declaration of interests: Imran is a proctor for Intuitive Surgical
Mr Ben Ayres (Member: 2024 to 2026)
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Ben is a Consultant Urological Surgeon at St George's Hospital, London and joined the team in January 2024.
Miss Elizabeth Bright (Member: 2024 to 2026)
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Elizabeth is a Consultant Urological Surgeon at the Royal Cornwall Hospital, Truro and joined the team in January 2023.
Mr Suresh Venugopal (Member: 2025 to 2027)
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Suresh is a Consultant Urological Surgeon at Broadgreen & Liverpool United Hospitals and joined the team in January 2025.
Co-opted & Ex Officio Members
Mr Shiv Pandian (Co-Opted: 2024)
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Shiv is a Consultant Urological Consultant at the North Middlesex Hospital, London. As an experienced urologist with a special interest in urological oncology, he was co-opted to bring a more generalist view to the committee activities.
Ms Rhona McMenemin (Co-Opted: 2017)
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Rhona is a Consultant Clinical Oncologist at Freeman Hospital Newcastle. She joined the team in 2017 and represents the British Uro-Oncology Group (BUG). She has an interest in urological cancers (especially testis, kidney and bladder) and has sat on the NCRI Testis Clinical Studies Group. She is actively involved in education, and leads on SSCs in clinical oncology for the Northern Centre for Cancer Care (NCCC) where she has a dedicated clinical trials unit in the Sir Bobby Robson Unit.
Mr Joe Philip (Co-opted Trustee: 2021)
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Joe is a Consultant Urological Surgeon at Southmead Hospital, Bristol: he was appointed Honorary Secretary Elect in June 2021. and became Vice President Elect in 2024.
Joe is the Trustee's representative on this Committee and will succeed Ian Pearce as Vice President in June 2024, and as BAUS President in 2026.
Mr Waleed Elsayed (BSoT Rep: 2025)
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Walled is an ST7 Specialist Registrar in the West Midlands Deanery and is currently working at University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire. He joined the team in January 2025 having been elected as BSoT Representative on the committee.