COORDINATING CENTRE

Queen Mary University of London

Ahmet Imrali
Tissue Bank Technician
Ahmet joined our tissue bank in 2016 and his role as a senior tissue bank technician is to maintain and ensure that tissue bank samples are collected and stored precisely. He also develops high quality human tissue specimens and tissue derivatives such as organoids as well as new protocols and techniques for our tissue bank.
Catherine McMaster-Christie
Tissue Bank Coordinator
Catherine worked for PCRFTB as a tissue collection officer for 2 years while working for the BCI tissue banks since 2019, consenting patients and collecting blood/tissue samples. She is currently maternity cover in the role of Tissue Bank Coordinator at the Bart’s site, helping to coordinate tissue collection and facilitating research.
Christine Hughes
Quality Assurance Monitor
Christine has worked for the PCRFTB since Feb 2018, when she conducted pancreatic cancer research using tissue bank samples. Prior to this, she was a tissue bank technician within the same institute. In 2020, Christine was coordinator for the PCRFTB and now works on the quality assurance aspect of the PCRFTB.
Claude Chelala
Co-PI
Prof Chelala joined Barts Cancer Institute driven by a high motivation to translate her work from a substantial basic/computational research platform into a translational/patient setting. She established a research team with complementary expertise in translational bioinformatics, health data science, molecular biology, databases and software engineering. She leads the Health Informatics and Bioinformatics for PCRFTB.
Abu Dayem Ullah
Honorary Researcher
Dr Dayem Ullah joined PCRFTB in 2015 as the founder data architect of PCRFTB, and developed the data entry and retrieval system for the biobank. He is currently working as a senior CAP-AI Digital Fellow at the University, while involved in several research projects driven by clinical data at the PCRFTB.
Rhiannon Roberts
Tissue Bank Coordinator
Rhiannon is the current tissue bank coordinator, helping to coordinate tissue collection across PCRFTB centres and facilitating research. Rhiannon started working with PCRFTB in 2017.

KEY CENTRES

ABM University Health Board Swansea

Ashwin Kumar Chidambaram
Clinical Research Fellow
Started working with PCRFTB in 2018.
Awaiting bio.
Kathy Dykes
HPB Clinical Nurse Specialist
Started working with PCRFTB in 2017.
Awaiting bio.
Bilal Al-Sarireh
Principal Investigator
Prof Bilal Al-Sarireh is a Laparoscopic General and Gastrointestinal surgeon with special interest in hepato-pancreato-biliary surgery. After qualifying from Jordan University of Science and Technology in 1996, he moved to the UK in 1997 and was awarded a PhD in Surgical Oncology from the University of Nottingham in 2001. Thereafter, he had his basic surgical training at St James Hospital in Leeds, and subsequently undertook specialist hepato-pancreato-biliary (HPB) and laparoscopic surgery training in Liverpool. In 2009 he completed his HPB and laparoscopic surgery training at the internationally renowned HPB unit in Liverpool. Professor Al-Sarireh moved to Wales in 2009 where he established a tertiary pancreato-biliary Unit for Wales. Currently he is the Clinical Lead for HPB Surgery at Swansea Bay University Health Board working out of Morriston Hospital in Swansea providing a tertiary pancreato-biliary service for mid and south Wales

Barts Health NHS Trust

Adrian Kontor
Tissue Bank Technician
Started working with PCRFTB in 2019.
Awaiting bio.
Amina Saad
Tissue Collection Officer
Started working with PCRFTB in 2016.
Awaiting bio.
Andrew Ang
Clinical Research Fellow
Dr Andrew Ang has been a clinical research fellow since August 2021 and works with the BPTB/CTB databases. He is a prospective surgical trainee with research interests in HPB/General surgery.
Anthony Chau
Tissue Acquisition Officer
Started working with PCRFTB in 2021.
Awaiting bio.
Athena Michaelides
Clinical Research Fellow
Started working with PCRFTB in 2021, Dr Athena Michaelides is a junior doctor in general surgery. She is an honorary clinical research fellow at the Royal London Hospital and contributing clinician to the Tissue Bank at Barts Cancer Institute. Her current research involves studying the patterns of cancer recurrence.
Hemant Kocher
Principal Investigator
Prof Kocher is surgeon-scientist with clinical and research interest in pancreatic cancer based at Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London. He is Consultant HPB Surgeon, HPB MDT Lead and Research Director for Surgery at the Barts Health NHS Trust. He is Chief Investigator and co-director for PCRFTB
Saba Tazayoni
Research Technician
Saba started working with PCRFTB in 2021. Saba processes and store samples for BPTB, as well as to accurately record the corresponding information for future use. His interests include cats.

Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Sarah Smith
Healthcare Associate Practitioner
Started working with PCRFTB in 2019.
Awaiting bio.
Stuart Robinson
Principal Investigator
Stuart Robinson is a Consultant HPB surgeon at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle. He completed his PhD with the fibrosis research group at Newcastle University and was the first NIHR academic clinical lecturer in surgery in the North East of England during his training. His main areas of interest is the management of cancers affecting the pancreas, liver and bile duct. He also has a specific interest in the management of gastrointestinal neuroendocrine tumours.

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Adam Appelbee
Tissue Collection Officer
Started working with PCRFTB in 2022.
Awaiting bio.
David Maldonado-Perez
Biobank Coordinator
Started working with PCRFTB in 2019.
Awaiting bio.
Mr Zahir Soonawalla
Principal Investigator
Mr Zahir Soonawalla is a consultant HPB Surgeon at Oxford since 16 years. His clinical practice includes pancreatic and liver surgery for cancer, as well as a specialist interest in neuroendocrine tumours. He is the Deputy Divisional Medical Director with a focus on theatre performance.

The Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust

Akshay Mohan
Operations Manager
Akshay Mohan is the Operations Manager for Tissue Access for Patient Benefit (TAPB). They were involved in consenting patients, coordinating patient recruitment and working with a multidisciplinary team to find potential procedures that yield enough tissue for the PCRFTB research.
Brian Davidson
Principal Investigator
Consultant HPB and Liver Transplant Surgeon at the Royal Free Hospital and Professor of Surgery at UCL. Major research interests include Evidence based Healthcare (UK Cochrane Editor), Clinical Trials, pathogenesis of HPB cancers and novel surgical technologies. Chair of London NIHR RfPB grant panel. Has completed 6 clinical trials in surgery, published 615 full peer reviewed articles including 115 Cochrane reviews (64 are in National or International Guidelines).
Amir Gander
Tissue Bank Manager
Started working with PCRFTB in 2018.
Awaiting bio.
Alexandru Chivu
Tissue Collection Officer
Started working with PCRFTB in 2019.
Awaiting bio.
Diana Katergga
Tissue Collection Officer
Started working with PCRFTB in 2018.
Awaiting bio.
Elena Zattera
Tissue Collection Officer
Awaiting bio.
Itzel Canas-Perez
Admin
Awaiting bio.
Kyra Fraser
Tissue Collection Officer
Awaiting bio.
Tissue Collection Officer
Admin
Shiv has been working with the PCRFTB for almost 3 years as a tissue collection officer since 2018. His primary role is consenting patients.
Satyarth Rathore
Tissue Collection Officer
Awaiting bio.
Tania Machain
Tissue Collection Officer
Started working with PCRFTB in 2018.
Awaiting bio.

University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust

Ali Arshad
Principal Investigator
Mr Arshad is a consultant hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgeon in Southampton. He graduated with honours from Cambridge University and then completed surgical training in general, hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery in the East Midlands. This was intercalated with a two year full time clinical research fellowship in pancreatic cancer in Leicester. He completed his clinical liver and pancreatic fellowship training in Birmingham. Mr Arshad has a particular interest and expertise in all aspects of the management of pancreatic cancer. He has published widely on the use of omega-3 fish oils and methods of improving quality of life in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.
Kathy Potter
Tissue Bank Manager
Kathy is the manager of the University of Southampton Faculty of Medicine Tissue Bank and have interacted with the PCRFTB since 2017. Tissue Bank technicians process, store and ship samples obtained with consent from patients with pancreatic disease to the PCRFTB. Close interaction of the Tissue Bank team with the University Hospital Southampton clinical teams ensures high sample quality. Clear SOPs provided by the PCRFTB and regular teleconferences result in strong communication between all participating groups
Ben Grace
Tissue Collection Officer
Started working with PCRFTB in 2020.
Awaiting bio.

University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust

Chloe Hardy
Tissue Collection Officer
Started working with PCRFTB in 2018.
Awaiting bio.
Deep Malde
Principal Investigator
Mr Deep J. Malde is a Consultant General, Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic (HPB) Surgeon at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust. He received specialist training at centres in Manchester, Leeds and Cambridge before being appointed as Consultant surgeon. He carries out pancreatic and liver resections and has a major interest in Laparoscopic and Robotic HPB resections contributing hugely to the service development at Leicester. He has a specialist interest in Neuroendocrine Tumours (NETs) , being the co-founder and lead for the Leicester NET Service which is currently in the process of achieving ENETS Centre of Excellence accreditation.

COLLABORATING CENTRE

The London Clinic

Christine Topman
Clinical Trial Coordinator
Started working with PCRFTB in 2019.
Awaiting bio.
Iqraa Afzal
Junior Clinical Trial Coordinator
Started working with PCRFTB in 2021.
Awaiting bio.
Sara Sajjad
Clinical Trial Coordinator
Started working with PCRFTB in 2021.
Awaiting bio.
Satya Bhattacharya
Principal Investigator
Satyajit Bhattacharya specialises in surgery of the liver and pancreas (Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary or HPB surgery). He was appointed Consultant Surgeon in 1999 at Barts Health NHS Trust, a post he held for 22 years. He has been Medical Director of The London Clinic (an independent hospital) since 2017 and practises there as a HPB surgeon. He is the Serjeant Surgeon to the Royal Household. He is an Examiner for the Intercollegiate FRCS examinations. Satyajit has raised close to £1 million over the years for cancer research. He has 75 research papers and book chapters to his name and is an Honorary Reader at Barts Cancer Institute.