Academic staff

Dr Aiden Jayanth is Head of Anatomy at the School of Medicine, University of Surrey. He is also the Lead for Year 1 of the Surrey Medical programme. Externally, he is the Treasurer of the London and South East Committee of Anatomists (LSECA). 

Aiden is a medically qualified anatomist and has completed doctoral studies in molecular medicine focusing on healthcare-associated infections. He has taught anatomy, physiology and pathophysiology on a number of undergraduate and postgraduate pre-registration healthcare programmes, including medicine. He also teaches anatomy on a number of external courses offered by the Royal College of Surgeons. 

At Surrey, Aiden will be managing the new anatomy teaching facility, integrating traditional cadaver-based teaching with modern approaches. His research interests are in inclusivity, assessments and development of cadaveric teaching.

Dr Katherine Webber graduated from the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne in 2000 and trained in general and palliative medicine in London. She was awarded a PhD from Imperial College, London for development of a cancer pain assessment tool which has been validated in multiple languages and widely used internationally for clinical and research purposes. She has an MSc from University of Bristol in Palliative Medicine with research evaluating alcohol and drug misuse in cancer populations.

Katherine was appointed as Consultant in Palliative Medicine at the Royal Surrey Foundation Trust in 2014 and as Foundation Programme Director in 2016. She has co-developed an international medical graduate foundation trust grade programme as well as deanery foundation expansion. She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Academy of Medical Educators.

Her main research interests focus on palliative medicine and medical education. Katherine was a co-applicant on two successful NIHR grants investigating the role of artificial hydration at the end of life. She has published medical education research assessing the role of workplace-based assessments in postgraduate training. She has extensive experience of psychometric analysis and clinical assessment development.

Mandeep is a Clinical Senior Lecturer in Head & Neck Surgical Oncology at the University of Surrey and an Honorary Consultant Maxillofacial Head & Neck Reconstructive Surgeon at the Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust in Guildford. He has expertise in the surgical treatment of oral cancer, salivary gland cancer, jaw tumours, Osteoradionecrosis (a complication of head and neck radiotherapy) and microvascular or free-flap reconstructive surgery. 

Mandeep has successfully completed an NIHR Integrated Clinical Academic Training (ICAT). This included the award of the prestigious NIHR Doctoral Research Fellowship (DRF) to deliver the DEFeND surgical trial. His success in delivering this trial led to winning the NIHR North West Coast Research Student of the Year award in 2020. Mandeep was appointed as an NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer (ACL) at the University of Liverpool on the successful defence of his PhD marking his first formal step in combining clinical practice with academic research. In combination with his academic training, Mandeep has undergone a comprehensive advanced training in head and neck surgery and microvascular reconstruction at the Liverpool Head & Neck Centre, renowned for being one of the busiest centres in the UK and Europe. He was awarded his Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) in 2022 and is on the GMC Specialist Register for Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery. 

As a clinical academic, Mandeep is focused on improving patient outcomes following surgery to remove head and neck cancer. His research involves surgical innovation, through developing and refining surgical techniques, and the incorporation of patient reported outcomes to facilitate personalised and patient-centred care. Additionally, he is committed to evaluating innovations within the framework of high-quality clinical trials. He currently holds the following active grants/awards:
1. Royal College of Surgeons & Blond McIndoe Pump Priming award for newly appointed consultants.
2. Royal Surrey Charity and University of Surrey “Bid for Better” award. 
3. NIHR EME funded RAPTOR trial (Joint Lead Applicant, Associate Chief Investigator)

Mandeep also supports training the next generation of surgeons. He is a clinical supervisor for training surgeons and course faculty for the internationally recognised Liverpool Practical Microvascular, Advanced Head & Neck Reconstruction and Head & Neck Dissection postgraduate courses. 
 

I am recently appointed (April 2023) to the University of Surrey as Programme Director, School of Medicine to develop a new medical school in Guildford, Surrey, having been a scenario, block, theme and module lead at KCL medical school since 2011.

I was initially appointed as a Locum Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at Guys and St Thomas (GSTT), London in 2009. I obtained a substantive clinical academic role at KCL/GSTT in January 2011. I have been particularly involved in menopause care since 1997 when I spent over 3 years with Professor Janice Rymer in the Menopause Research Unit, Guys Hospital performing my own research in addition to being involved with numerous national and international trials. I was awarded MD ‘A comparison of E, E+P, Raloxifene and Tibolone on markers of CVD’ in 2004. I have published extensively in this area. I have previously been a council member BMS in 2012-15 and elected again for a second term in 2021-2024. I am a Menopause specialist – one of the first. I lead a busy tertiary menopause clinic at GSTT and continue to teach and train many undergraduates, GSTT PG trainees in Menopause care and numerous trainees/GP’s/Specialists from around the country for the SSM with the RCOG, FFP and the BMS.

Laura graduated from University of Southampton in 2003 with a Bachelor of Medicine Degree and was awarded Clinical Honours and Clinical Distinction. She also achieved a First Class Intercalated BSc in Biomedical Sciences.  She underwent a medical training programme at Royal Bournemouth Hospital attaining Membership of the Royal College of Physicians (MRCP) and then completed her GP training through the Basingstoke Vocational Training scheme resulting in Membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners (nMRCGP) in 2009. She worked in Primary Care across Surrey and Hampshire prior to settling as a GP in Aldershot in 2016. Her interest in medical education started after training and working as a GP Clinical Supervisor.

Laura became involved with the very first cohort of University of Surrey Physician Associate students in 2017 shortly after which she was appointed as an Associate Tutor on the course. She has been substantively employed as a Teaching Fellow since 2018. She continues to work one day a week in Primary Care and is delighted to be working alongside University of Surrey graduates who are now fully qualified Physician Associates.

Laura completed her Post graduate certificate in Medical Education (General Practice) from Dundee University in 2021. She is currently the Physician Associate GP liaison lead and has developed the communication thread that runs through the first year of the course.

Ben Field is an Associate Professor of Diabetes & Endocrinology at the University of Surrey and an honorary consultant endocrinologist at Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust.  He is also the Caldicott Guardian for the University of Surrey; the NIHR Kent, Surrey and Sussex (KSS) Clinical Research Network specialty lead for diabetes, metabolic and endocrine disorders, and NHS England KSS Training Programme Director for Endocrinology & Diabetes.  His research interests include gut hormone physiology, drug development in type 2 diabetes, hypoglycaemia and self-management in type 1 diabetes, diabetic foot disease, vascular disease, thyroid disease, prescribing in primary care, and the development and implementation of clinical guidelines.  He is a member of the Academic Subcommittee of the Association of British Clinical Diabetologists (ABCD) and of the steering committees for ABCD national audits on COVID-19 and diabetes and on GLP-1 receptor agonists.

Ben Field served as a British Army officer in the Royal Engineers before entering the Medical College of St Bartholomew's Hospital, where he gained a first class BMedSci and graduated in medicine with distinction.  After specialist training at Guy's and St. Thomas' hospitals, he joined Imperial College London as an MRC clinical research training fellow, under the supervision of Prof Sir Steve Bloom FMedSci FRS, Dr Alison Wren FRCP and Dr Niamh Martin FRCP.  His PhD was awarded for research into the physiological role of gut hormones in controlling appetite, energy expenditure and insulin secretion.  

Subsequently, Dr Field became a member of Prof Bloom's laboratory management team, supervising the early phase development of potential new obesity treatments.  He was jointly responsible with Dr (now Prof) Tricia Tan for the regulatory and ethical submission, clinical conduct and reporting of an in-house first-time-in-human trial, and for the design and external contracting of phase 1 single ascending dose and multiple ascending dose trials of another potential diabetes and obesity treatment.  In addition, he supervised a team of clinical research fellows using indirect calorimetry and intravenous glucose tolerance tests to investigate the effects of combinations of gut hormones on beta-cell function and metabolic rate in humans.  He also collaborated with engineering colleagues, Dr Iasonas Triantis and Dr Amir Eftekhar, in development of techniques to record from, and to stimulate, the vagus nerve, using an atraumatic interface.  He has given invited lectures on his work and related developments in the Nobel Forum, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm; the University of Aarhus, Denmark; the World Gastroenterology Congress in London; the European Congress on Obesity in Istanbul, the European Association for the Study of Diabetes annual meeting in Berlin, and at other conferences in Ireland, Belgium, Switzerland, Romania, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

As Training Programme Director, Dr Field was responsible from 2019 to early 2024 for coordinating the Internal Medicine Training programme for doctors across Kent, Surrey and Sussex, and has from 2024 been responsible for the regional Higher Specialty Training programme in endocrinology and diabetes.  For eight years until the summer of 2020 he was also the Royal College of Physicians Tutor at Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, with responsibility for the welfare and training of junior doctors in the medical specialties.  He continues to pursue his interest in medical education through tutoring in diagnostic acumen on the University of Surrey Physician Associate Studies PGDip course.

Alongside designing and recruiting to clinical trials, Dr Field chairs the Independent Data Monitoring Committee for an ongoing NIHR-funded, randomised, double-blind, clinical trial in the field of adrenal hormone replacement.  He is a Review Editor for Frontiers in Endocrinology (Lausanne).

James is a clinical educator working as a lecturer on the Physician Associate PgDip. He has worked at the University of Surrey as a visiting teaching fellow since 2020, and subsequently as a lecturer since 2021. He works clinically as an Occupational Health physician at Health Partners Group. 

He qualified from Cardiff University in 2016 and completed his Foundation Training at Frimley Park Hospital. He undertook a Clinical Teaching Fellow (CTF) role at Frimley Park Hospital in 2018. Whilst working as a CTF he completed a PgCert in Biomedical and Healthcare Education at St George's University. 

He is involved in a number of education groups and co-created the Developing Medical Educators Group (DMEG (medicaleducators.org) of the Academy of Medical Educators (AoME), and also has a seat on the AoME Council and Education Committee. He is currently the co-lead of the membership committee of AoME. His educational interests are focussed towards the transition from student to healthcare practitioner, simulation and inter-professional education.

From 1st June 2019 my principal academic base has moved  to the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at University of  Oxford.

My Clinical Informatics and Health Outcomes Research Group, has also moved with me.  We are located in Eagle House, Walton Well Road, Oxford, OX2 6ED, a 15 minute walk from Oxford station. 

I retain a fractional appointment at University of Surrey as a Vice Chancellor's Fellow.  The secure network which hosts the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) Research and Surveillance Centre (RSC) remains physically at Surrey, though its staff have largely moved to Oxford. 

My role at Surrey has enabled me to keep responsibility for this network.  I was delighted to have been added to the Guildford Roll of Honour for my contributions to the University and town. Whilst my academic base has moved to Oxford I remain a GP at Woodbridge Hill Surgery in Guildford. 

I welcome enquiries from within Surrey or elsewhere who are looking for research collaborations, particularly with the RCGP RSC database and network. 

Richard is a Consultant in Emergency Medicine and Pre-hospital Care at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and Clinical Lead for the Medic One flying squad. He is a Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) Consultant and Director of Research for Kent, Surrey & Sussex Air Ambulance.

Born in Luxembourg, Richard developed an early passion for pre-hospital emergency care as a volunteer fireman. He studied at Edinburgh University where he developed close research links with the Scottish Ambulance Service. He undertook a unique doctorate thesis on out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, a project that has developed into a national strategy for cardiac arrest in Scotland.

Richard has an established research portfolio in pre-hospital resuscitation, trauma care and emergency medicine with an extensive publication record. He has won numerous international awards including the top research award from the European Resuscitation Council and British Medical Journal Group Emergency Medicine Team of the Year.

Richard was a lead doctor for the London 2012 Olympic Stadium and takes leading role in Event Medicine. He is an active member of the UK International Search & Rescue Team and deployed to the Nepal Earthquake in 2015. Richard is a current member of the Resuscitation Council (UK) Executive Committee and author of several international pre-hospital guidelines.

Hardev Pandha is a clinician scientist and medical oncologist who graduated in medicine at the University of Birmingham. He trained in internal medicine and subsequently in medical oncology at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School at Hammersmith Hospital, London. He completed his PhD (Imperial College) in the Imperial Cancer Research Fund labs at the Hammersmith. He was a visiting fellow at Stanford University prior to completing his medical oncology training at the Royal Marsden Hospital, London. He was a senior lecturer in tumour immunology and medical oncology at St Georges, University of London in 2000 before being appointed Prof of Urological Oncology at the University of Surrey in 2006.

His areas of expertise include the management of patients with Urological cancers and malignant melanoma. He has a key interest in early phase clinical trials involving targeted agents and the translational aspects of novel therapies. His portfolio includes gene and viral therapy as well as immunotherapy and small molecule inhibitors. His laboratory interests reflect this and in particular a combination of novel and biological therapies with more conventional treatments. His lab team have evolved a robust infrastructure of patient sample procurement and biobanking for translational research.