Meet the team

 Dr Mark Aldersley, Consultant Hepatologist

I graduated from the University of Southampton in 1987 before continuing my training in Coventry and Reading. In 1992 I was appointed as the first Leeds Liver Unit Hepatology Registrar and continued to work in West Yorkshire before completing my PhD thesis in molecular biology at the University of Leeds in 1998.

I was appointed to my first Consultant Hepatologist post in Coventry in 1999 and also worked one day each week on the Birmingham Liver Unit until I returned to Leeds in 2005.

My clinical interests are liver transplantation, viral hepatitis and alcohol and I am lead clinician for viral hepatitits in West Yorkshire and for clinical research in Hepatology. 

I enjoy cross-country running and cycling particularly with Hector the Labrador and Reggie the Retriever. 

Mr Magdy Attia, Consultant Transplant Surgeon

After receiving my Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degrees from Assuit University Medical School in Cairo, Egypt, and completing a few years of surgical residency, I moved to the UK in 1997 to pursue a career in Transplantation & Hepatobiliary Surgery. I started as a research fellow in the Department of Transplantation & Hepatobiliary Surgery and University of Leeds. My research topic was organ preservation for Transplantation. I obtained an MD degree from the University of Leeds.

I completed my training in General Surgery and subsequently focused my training in Transplantation & Hepatobiliary Surgery. My main interest is Liver Transplantation in adults and pediatrics. I also spent a year of training in the Liver Unit at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.

I started as a Consultant in 2008 at Leeds Teaching Hospitals and I am currently the Clinical Lead for Transplantation & Hepatobiliary Surgery. My areas of expertise include liver transplantation (adult, paediatric and living donor), renal transplantation and laparoscopic donor nephrectomy, hepatobiliary surgery and general and laparoscopic surgery.

I have research interests in normothermic machine perfusion, organ preservation techniques and immunosuppression trials.

 Dr C Ramu Chimakurthi, Consultant Hepatologist

I qualified from Rangaraya Medical College of NTR University of Health Sciences, India in 2003. Having completed my Specialist Registrar training in South West Peninsula Deanery, I came to Leeds Liver Unit in August 2015 to do Fellowship in Advanced Hepatology including Liver Transplantation. I was appointed as a Locum Consultant in June 2016 and moved into a substantive post in August 2017. I currently do Pre and Post Liver Transplant clinics besides Viral Hepatitis and Immune Hepatology. I have an interest in clinical teaching to medical professionals and nursing colleagues.

 Dr Lee Claridge, Consultant Hepatologist

I qualified in 1999 at the University of Nottingham and undertook higher specialist training in the West Midlands. I trained in Transplant Hepatology at the Birmingham Liver Unit where I also carried out research into the immunological aspects of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and fibrogenesis. I joined the department as a consultant in 2012. My clinical interests include acute liver failure, liver transplantation, metabolic fatty liver disease and non-invasive assessment of liver fibrosis. I am clinical governance lead for hepatology and liver transplantation.

Dr Audrey Dillon, Consultant Hepatologist

I qualified from Trinity College Dublin, Ireland in 2006 and completed specialist training in general medicine and gastroenterology in Ireland in 2014. I did research for a MD degree on liver cirrhosis progression and non-invasive markers to predict decompensation. I have a special interest in liver transplantation, portal hypertension and alcohol related liver disease. I also have an interest in ethics. I have a MSc in Healthcare Ethics and Law and served as Chair of the Ethics and Professionalism Committee of the Medical Council of Ireland to revise the ethical guide for Irish doctors. I joined LTHT in April 2016 following advanced training in liver transplantation in Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham.

Dr Jayne Dillon, Consultant Hepatologist

I qualified from University College London Medical School in 2000. I completed my Specialist training in Gastroenterology in the West Midlands and worked on the Liver Unit in Birmingham for a year. I then completed an 18 month Fellowship in Liver Transplantation at the University Health Network in Toronto General Hospital at the end of 2013. I joined the Liver Unit at St. James's University Hospital in January 2014. My main interests include Liver transplantation, Live Liver donation, Portal Hypertension and Palliative Care in Liver Disease. I am the Hepatology Lead for Undergraduate Education.

Dr Bruce Duncan, Consultant in Intensive Care and Anaesthesia

I was born in Port Elizabeth and went to school in Cape Town, South Africa. I graduated as a medical doctor at the University of Cape Town, and did two years military service in South Africa, Namibia and Angola. I worked in South Africa for a further four years before moving to the UK where I attained a fellowship with the Royal College of Anaesthetists in 1997. I attained a consultant post at Leeds Teaching Hospitals in 2000 where I have worked in anaesthetics, intensive care and liver transplant for the last sixteen years. I have also been involved in the development of robotic surgery over this period, and have been actively involved in teaching and training in both anaesthetic and surgical specialities.

I am Consultant Liver Transplant and Multiorgan Retrieval Surgeon at St James’s University Hospital. After studying at the University of St Andrews and Manchester I completed my hepatobiliary and transplant training in Leicester and Leeds, before being appointed first to locum consultant in 2018 and then to substantive position in July 2019.

I have published over 50 peer reviewed papers and completed a MD at the University of Leeds in the field of Biomarker Discovery in Cholangiocarcinoma using ‘Omic’ platforms. My research interests include proteomics, lipidomics and metabolomics in hepatobiliary cancer, liver and renal transplantation. Other interests include the use of social media in medicine, and promoting and representing an active voice for Black, Asian and Ethnic Minorities in Organ donation in Yorkshire.

I qualified from the University of Leeds in 2008, having also undertaken an intercalated degree at University College London. I have worked on the Liver Unit since 2013 and subsequently joined the team on a permanent basis as a Specialty Doctor. My clinical interests include all aspects of general and transplant hepatology, particularly the management of patients with complex portal hypertension. I also have an interest in clinical informatics and undergraduate and postgraduate clinical education, and am an academic and personal tutor for the School of Medicine at the University of Leeds. 

Dr Vinod Hegade, Consultant Hepatologist

I graduated with MBBS degree from Bangalore University in India before coming to the UK in 2003 to pursue post graduate medical training. My higher specialist training in gastroenterology and hepatology was in the West Yorkshire region. I did a research fellowship and studied cholestatic pruritus for my PhD thesis at Newcastle University. I completed my transplant hepatology training in Freeman Hospital, Newcastle, followed by an advanced ERCP fellowship in Leeds.

I received triple accreditation in hepatology, gastroenterology and general medicine in 2018 and was appointed to my first Consultant Hepatologist post in Sheffield in November 2018.

My main clinical interests are autoimmune liver diseases (AIH, PBC, and PSC), liver transplantation and biliary endoscopy (ERCP). I have research interests in pruritus (itch) in liver disease and clinical trials of novel therapies for AIH, PBC and PSC.

I studied Medicine at Oxford University and University College London and qualified in 1991. I undertook my specialist training in the South West of England and have worked in Liver Transplant Units in London (Royal Free), Birmingham and Melbourne, Australia. I was appointed as a consultant at the Bristol Royal Infirmary in 2003 before moving to St James’s University Hospital, Leeds, UK in 2005. My clinical interests include all aspects of hepatology and especially liver transplantation, hepatocellular carcinoma and immune related liver disease. I also have an interest in education, patient experience and the interface between primary, secondary and tertiary services. I co-founded the Yorkshire and Humber Liver Network in 2007.

Dr Kashimutt qualified at the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Bangalore, India in 2002. He undertook his anaesthetic training in the UK, initially in Cambridge and the West Midlands, then completing specialist training in West Yorkshire. He became a fellow of the Royal College of Anaesthesia, London in 2012 and a Fellow of the College of Anaesthesists (Ireland) in 2012. His clinical interests are Liver Transplantation anaesthesia, Anaesthesia for Endocrine surgery, Urology and Interventional radiology. In his spare time Dr Kashimutt enjoys running and badminton.

I qualified from the University of Sheffield Medical School in 1997. After two years of medical and surgical training I spent 2½ years as an Anaesthetic Senior House Officer at North Staffs Hospital, which was Britain’s first Trauma Centre. From there I returned to Sheffield for my Registrar training. I moved to Leeds in June 2011, and have been involved in the transplant program ever since as one of the team of eight Anaesthetists.

My other professional interests include day case surgery, and Trauma management. I am an Advanced Trauma Life Support instructor and course director. I am the Trust lead for Information Governance, and am also the deputy Trust Caldicott Guardian. My other non-clinical interests include service development, and educational supervision.

Outside of medicine my main interests are Irish music, and trying to hit a golf ball further than my nine year old son can.

I qualified from the University of Sheffield Medical School in 2004 and subsequently completed specialist training in advanced hepatology, gastroenterology and general medicine, working throughout Yorkshire and in Edinburgh. I trained in Transplant hepatology at both the Liver Transplant Unit in Leeds and also the Scottish Liver Transplant Unit in Edinburgh. I was awarded a postgraduate MD through the University of Edinburgh for my research into pioneering stem cell therapy for patients with cirrhosis and involving patients with Acute Liver Failure. 

My clinical interests include liver transplantation, trying to improve treatments for people with cirrhosis and Acute Liver Failure. I also enjoy medical education and have formal postgraduate qualifications in it.

Mr Pollard joined the Leeds Liver Unit in 1993 having previously trained in Cambridge and in the USA. Mr Pollard was Clinical Director of the liver transplant programme between 1995 and 2007 and working with Peter Lodge oversaw the unit's expansion from just 4 beds to a stand alone service with its own ward, operating theatre, clinics and dedicated staff. He was also involved in developing the small bowel transplant programme and the living related liver transplant programme. He actively participates in general surgery and in the living related kidney transplant programme. He has recently retired from clinical private practice, and uses the time working for the Royal College of Surgeons, and undertaking medicolegal work.

He has been happily married for 34 years and has three grown up children and one grandchild. In his spare time he enjoys travel, cycling, running, scuba diving and classic car restoration.

Dr Ray is the Lead Clinician for Theatres and Anaesthesia at St James's University Hospital. She holds the MBBS and FRCA qualifications. Her clinical interests are liver transplant and hepatobiliary surgery anaesthesia, acute surgery and trauma and orthopaedics.

Dr Rao has 14 years anaesthetic experience with the last decade all being in the UK. His sub speciality interests are Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic surgical and Transplant anaesthesia. His interests outside medicine include Badminton where he plays men’s doubles in the Leeds league. He also enjoys cookery.

I graduated from the University of Glasgow in 2002 and trained in medicine at Queen’s Medical Centre Nottingham.  I then moved to Birmingham to train in Liver Medicine and Transplantation.  Whilst in Birmingham I was awarded a Medical Research Council Fellowship to study the mechanisms of hepatitis C virus uptake into the liver and gained a PhD in 2013.  I was the appointed as a Clinical Lecturer in Birmingham before moving to the University of Leeds at the end of 2015 as a new University Academic Fellow to establish a research programme in liver disease.  My research interests are primarily in the outcomes of patients with cirrhosis and of patients undergoing liver transplantation and in recognition of achievements in research I was awarded the Andrew Burroughs Young Investigator Award by the British Association for the Study of the Liver in 2016.  My clinical expertise is in the management of patients with primary liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma, HCC) and patients with hepatitis B and C infection.

Giles Toogood is Professor of Hepatobiliary Surgery and Consultant Surgeon at St James’s University Hospital, Leeds, UK. After studying at Oxford University he completed his hepatobiliary and transplant training in Oxford, Cambridge and Adelaide, Australia before being appointed to his current post in 1998. He has published over 150 peer reviewed papers and has been involved in National and International Guidelines in HPB clinical practice. He was the founder of the Great Britain and Ireland Hepatopancreatobiliary Association, GBIHPBA, in 2009.