Education committee

 

One of the founding principles of the society is education. This committee's purpose is to support BOFAS in this.

BOFAS is of the view that education should be inclusive of trainees as well as established medical practitioners, our colleagues in podiatry, physiotherapy and in nursing.

We as health care professionals share a desire to bring about the best possible outcomes for the treatment of patients with foot and ankle problems.

BOFAS considers that a unified educational framework is one way by which we can achieve this goal.

 

Our strategy for the future is:

  • Increase the breadth of our educational offering, in terms of content and mode of delivery
  • To offer this to an ever wider audience: to patients and healthcare professionals of all types and grades, both home and abroad
  • To build on our recent collaborations with the USA and Europe and reach out overseas in educational partnership
  • To continue to prioritise education in the management of Diabetic and urgent foot problems
  • To further develop and focus on our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion agenda
  • To develop new technologies in surgical education
  • To guide and set standards of education and training of surgeons after completion of formal training

 

​Membership of EdComm:

  • Chair:  Callum Clark
  • Secretary: Howard Davies
  • Member: Maneesh Bhatia
  • Member: Jim Carmichael
  • Member: Graham Chuter
  • Member: Verity Currall
  • Member: Vivek Dhukaram
  • Member: Rajesh Kakwani
  • Member: Krishna Vemulapalli
  • Member: Matthew Welck
  • Overseas Comm: Tim Williams
  • Simulation Working Group: Togay Koç
  • MIS Working Group: Robbie Ray
 

Callum Clark - Chair

Callum Clark graduated from Cambridge and completed his orthopaedic training in the north west London training programme, the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Stanmore and Melbourne, Australia. He was appointed as a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Heatherwood and Wexham Park hospitals in 2004 and has a busy foot and ankle surgical practice. He has run the Windsor Foot and Ankle fellowship since 2007 and post-accreditation fellowship education in the UK remains his main focus. Over the years he has convened many courses locally, nationally and also internationally and continues to teach regularly. Elected to EdComm 2013 and 2016.

Elected: March 2022

Howard Davies - Secretary

Howard Davies graduated from Manchester University and completed his Orthopaedic training in Leeds and the East of England. He undertook a Foot & Ankle Fellowship in Sheffield and joined the Sheffield Foot and Ankle Unit as a Consultant and honorary clinical lecturer in 2013. He is a regional clinical co-ordinator for the National joint registry and regularly teaches on regional and national courses.

Elected: November 2018  |  Re-elected 2022

Maneesh Bhatia

Mr Maneesh Bhatia is a consultant Orthopaedic Foot  and Ankle Surgeon at University Hospitals Leicester since 2009. He is a member of the scientific committee of European Foot and Ankle Society. He is currently the link person between BOFAS  and EFAS and is helping to organise educational events for young foot and ankle surgeons. His book on musculoskeletal injections won the BMA best book award in 2021 and his most recent book “Essentials of foot and ankle surgery “ has been nominated for BMA best book award for 2022 and is being translated in Chinese.

Elected: March 2022

Jim Carmichael

Jim Carmichael is a fellowship trained consultant orthopaedic Surgeon at North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust (NWAFT) specialising in the care of foot and ankle conditions. He graduated from Nottingham University Medical School in 1997 and completed the Basic Surgical Rotation in the Nottingham region. He relocated to Wessex in 2002 for his Higher surgical training completing a masters in orthopaedic engineering before undertaking fellowships in Sydney and London. He was appointed as a consultant orthopaedic surgeon in Peterborough in 2010 where his practice covers the breadth of adult foot and ankle surgery and he has led the creation of the NWAFT diabetic foot service.

Elected: March 2023

Graham Chuter

Graham Chuter is a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon working in Darlington since 2012. He graduated from Dundee University, trained in the Northern Deanery and was selected for a specialist fellowship in Melbourne. One of three F&A surgeons in County Durham & Darlington Trust, he takes the lead in ankle arthroplasty and has been local PI for multicentre trials. His practice is elective adult foot & ankle and general and specialist trauma. He has been heavily involved in education and training throughout his medical career and is faculty on many national and international courses.

Elected: November 2019  | Re-elected: March 2023

Verity Currall

Verity trained in Bristol as far as fellowships, which were in Windsor and King’s College Hospital. She has been a consultant in Luton and Dunstable Hospital since 2016. She is the Trust T&O Education Lead and also the Undergraduate Lead for Surgery. She was elected to EdComm in 2022.

Elected: March 2022

Vivek Dhukaram

Vivek Dhukaram has been a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire since 2010. He qualified from Madras Medical College, Chennai, India and completed Orthopaedic higher surgical training on the Glasgow & South Trent rotation. He undertook foot and ankle fellowships from Nottingham and RNOH Stanmore and was awarded BOFAS & EFAS travelling fellowships. He established the foot and ankle unit in Coventry. His practice includes all  aspects of foot & ankle surgery, with special interest in deformity correction. He regularly teaches on regional and national courses as well as being an examiner for FRCS Orth.

Elected: March 2022

Krishna Vemulapalli

Krishna Vemulapalli graduated from India and completed his Higher Surgical Training from The Royal London Hospital and Percivall Potts Rotation before his appointment as a Consultant Orthopaedics Surgeon at Barking Havering & Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust( BHRUT). He specialises in Foot and Ankle surgery and Orthopaedic surgery for Children. He is also Honorary Senior Lecturer at Queen Mary University, London. He is passionate about teaching and was instrumental in getting the Queens Hospital 'Training Hospital of the Year 2014' and 2nd runner-up in 2020 for Orthopaedics. He also has won several awards for outstanding patient Care and Teaching including ‘Trainer of Year 2015’ and ‘Highly Commended Clinical Supervisor of the year-PGMDE-UCL partners 2016’. He is a Clinical Lead of the department and chief architect for BONES (BHRUT Orthopaedics NHS Elective Surgery) Project which is a pioneer NHS High Volume week performing 135 Hip & Knee arthoplasties and 85 day cases in a week.

Elected: March 2021  |  Re-elected: March 2024

Matthew Welck

Matthew Welck graduated from Leeds University in 2003 and completed his orthopaedic training in London.  He undertook fellowships in Windsor, Stanmore and Baltimore, USA.  He joined the foot and ankle unit at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital as a consultant in 2016.  He has a keen interest in education and research.  He sits on the Royal National Orthopaedic NHS Trust education committee and is the Educational supervisor for the Foot and Ankle unit. He supervises trainees in an accredited postgraduate Foot and Ankle fellowship programme.  He is co-convenor of the Stanmore ‘Surgery of the Adult Foot and Ankle’ course.  He has set up a ‘Novel Techniques in Foot and Ankle’ cadaveric course and a regular regional complex cases meeting.  He is looking to work with all areas of the society to improve IT and communication.

Elected: March 2023

Tim Williams - Co-Opted Overseas Committee

Tim Williams graduated from Guy's and St. Thomas' Medical School in 1999, completed his surgical training in London and East Anglia before undertaking his fellowship training at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital.  He was appointed as Consultant Foot and Ankle Surgeon at Colchester in 2011.  Here he has established a working and educational relationship with the British army garrison, supporting the Regional Rehabilitation Unit.  His education interests include training junior doctors as well as allied healthcare practitioners and he has taught on the Oxbridge theatre personnel course.  In 2015 he was invited faculty to the inaugural foot and ankle meeting in Dammam, Saudi Arabia.

Co-opted: March 2023

Togay Koç - Co-opted Simulation Working Group Lead

Togay Koç is a Consultant Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgeon with a specialist interest in Foot & Ankle Surgery at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust. He qualified from Guy's, King's and St Thomas' Schools of Medicine in London before completing his orthopaedic training in the Wessex Deanery. He has been on Fellowships to Southampton, Oxford, Guildford and Frimley as well as a visiting Fellowship to the Harborview Medical Centre, Seattle, USA. He benefited greatly from the support he received from BOFAS during his training, fellowship and beyond including the BOA Future Leaders Programme.

Co-opted: March 2024

Robbie Ray - Co-Opted MIS Working Group Lead

Robbie Ray graduated from Glasgow University School of Medicine. His orthopaedic training was on the prestigious Edinburgh rotation, then Fellowship training in Sydney, Australia and in Toronto, Canada. He is a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the PRUH, Farnborough, part of King’s College Hospital London NHS foundation trust. He specialises in conditions and trauma of the foot and ankle, with a special interest in minimally invasive and keyhole techniques. He teaches at all grades from medical students to fellow consultants. He has given multiple national and international presentations including teaching for the European Foot and Ankle Society (EFAS) and the Minimally Invasive Foot and Ankle Society (MIFAS). He is very interested in patient outcomes following surgery and research and has won multiple BOFAS outcomes awards and is highly published in the area of minimally invasive foot surgery.

Co-opted: March 2024