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 Jonathan Aning (Chair)
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Jon is a Consultant Urological Surgeon at the Bristol Urological Institute. He joined the team in 2021 and was an executive committee member until his appointment to the Section Chair in January 2023. He specialises in the treatment of prostate and bladder cancer, including robotic surgery. Jon is a keen researcher and passionate about improving patient outcomes. He is an Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Bristol and is actively involved in research into prostate and bladder cancers.
Mr Viswanath Hanchanale (Vice Chair)
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Vish is a Consultant Urological Surgeon at Royal Liverpool & Broadgreen Hospital and originally joined the team in 2019. He has been elected Secretary for a second term from January 2024. 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 (Secretary)
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Bhavan is a Consultant Urological Surgeon at the Freeman Hospital, Newcastle and joined the team in 2021. 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.
Other Elected Members
Mr James Armitage (Member: 2021 to 2023)
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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 2023)
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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 Gokul Kanda Swamy (Member: 2023 to 2025)
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Gokul is a Consultant Urological Surgeon at Morriston Hospital, Swansea and joined the team in January 2023.
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.
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: from 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 Omar El-Taji (BSoT Rep: from 2023)
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Omar is an ST5 Specialist Registrar in the North West deanery and Research Fellow at the Christie, Manchester. He joined the team in January 2023 having been elected as BSoT Representative on the committee.
He is a former GB judoka and a member of the editorial board of Current Urology (BUG).
Declaration of interest: Social Media Editor for Journal of Clinical Urology (JCU)