FACULTY
Dr Brian Saunders MD FRCP
Consultant Gastroenterologist and Senior Lecturer
Dr. Brian Saunders is an internationally-renowned gastrointestinal endoscopist and luminal gastroenterologist. His main clinical interests are the diagnosis and prevention of intestinal diseases through endoscopy (colonoscopy, gastroscopy, capsule enteroscopy, enteroscopy) and the management of inflammatory bowel disease. He has particular expertise in therapeutic colonoscopy including polypectomy, endoscopic mucosal resection, stenting, stricture dilatation and thermal ablation of bleeding lesions as well as the screening and surveillance of those at increased risk of colorectal cancer due to a family history, personal history of polyps or longstanding colitis.
Dr. Saunders was appointed to the consultant staff at St. Mark's Hospital in 1997 and became Chief of Endoscopy in 2003. In the same year he led the successful St. Mark's bid to become a National Endoscopy Training Centre and he chaired the National workgroup that introduced the accreditation process (quality assurance and performance assessment) for screening colonoscopists. As Director of the Kennedy-Leigh Academic Endoscopy Unit at St. Mark's he supervises a team of 12 research clinicians working on new techniques to improve the management of gastrointestinal diseases through the use of flexible endoscopes. Between 2005-2009 he was Dean of the Academic Institute at St. Mark's Hospital, responsible for post-graduate education within the hospital and for the organisation each year of a major international conference on luminal gastroenterology. He is currently Chairman of Gastroenterology at NW London Hospital Trust and Director of the NHS bowel cancer screening service for NW London.
Dr. Saunders qualified from University College Hospital in 1988 and was trained in general medicine and then gastroenterology and endoscopy in London and Melbourne, Australia. He achieved MRCP in 1991 and became FRCP in 2002. In 1996 he was awarded an MD from the University for his work into 'making colonoscopy easier' which formed the basis of his award for the Hopkin's Endoscopy prize from the British Society of Gastroenterology in 1996. He has authored more than 120 scientific papers, written 20 book chapters and has given more than 100 invited lectures or live demonstrations of endoscopy throughout the world. In 2002 he gave the Foundation lecture at the British Society of Gastroenterology on 'therapeutic colonoscopy' and was the J. Edward Berk lecturer at the American College of Gastroenterology in 2004. He is an International Committee Member of the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy and Research Committee member of both British and European Societies of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. In 2005 he was guest editor of the journal North American Clinics of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy and has co-authored a major text book on the practice of Endoscopy, “Practical Gastrointestinal Endoscopy”.
Dr Chris Fraser MB ChB, MD, MRCP
Consultant Gastroenterologist & Endoscopist
Dr Fraser is a nationally-renowned gastrointestinal endoscopist and luminal gastroenterologist with a wide spectrum of expertise. His specialist interests include the non-surgical treatment and prevention of gastro-oesophageal reflux and dyspepsia including endoscopic anti-reflux procedures, medical management of inflammatory bowel disease and the investigation and treatment of disorders affecting the small intestine (such as Crohn's disease, polyps and tumours, strictures and bleeding) with particular emphasis on the role of capsule endoscopy and double balloon enteroscopy. Dr Fraser is also a nationally recognised expert therapeutic colonoscopist, with an interest in colorectal cancer screening and surveillance of high risk patient groups. He provides regular teaching and live demonstration of colonoscopy in hospitals throughout the U.K.
Dr Fraser has received multiple national and international scholarships and prizes for his work, including three prestigious 'Young Investigator' awards, and has authored numerous scientific papers, book chapters, editorials and reviews. He has lectured in Europe and the Middle East and is actively involved in research, particularly with capsule endoscopy, double balloon enteroscopy and endoscopic anti-reflux therapy. He is a member of the British Society of Gastroenterology and the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. Dr Fraser successfully led the St Mark's Hospital bid to become one of the first bowel cancer screening centres for the National Bowel Cancer Screening Programme which begins later this year.
Dr Fraser qualified from Edinburgh University in 1992 and trained in Gastroenterology in Aberdeen, Manchester and London. He achieved MRCP in 1996 and was awarded an MD from the University of Manchester in 2004 for his thesis which examined the neurophysiologic control of human swallowing. Dr Fraser undertook the 1st Advanced Endoscopy Wolfson Fellowship at St Mark's Hospital in 2003 prior to his appointment to the consultant staff in 2004.
Dr Siwan Thomas-Gibson MD FRCP
Consultant Gastroenterologist and Honorary Senior Lecturer
Dr Siwan Thomas-Gibson is the Clinical Lead for Endoscopy and also the Deputy Director of Bowel Cancer Screening at the Wolfson unit at St Mark’s and Northwick Park Hospitals. She is a gastrointestinal endoscopist and luminal gastroenterologist. Her specialist interests include the prevention, diagnosis and management of intestinal diseases utilising endoscopy and the management of patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Her main clinical expertise include diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopy (colonoscopy, gastroscopy, capsule enteroscopy) with a particular interest in polypectomy, endoscopic mucosal resection, stricture dilatation and colonoscopy in inflammatory bowel disease. As one of only 5 accredited Bowel Cancer Screening colonoscopists in the unit she has particular expertise in the screening and surveillance of those at increased risk of colorectal cancer (family history, personal history of polyps, polyposis syndromes and longstanding colitis).
A significant part of her role in the department is devoted to postgraduate education and training of endoscopists. Her work in the area of training in colonoscopy aims to improve the quality and standard of care to all patients undergoing endoscopic examination.
Dr Thomas-Gibson is regularly invited to speak at national meetings and was awarded the John of Arderne medal by the Royal Society of Medicine's coloproctology section for her work in 2002. In 2006 she was awarded an MD for her work in 'Improving Training and Assessment in Colonoscopy'. She continues to be active in the field of endoscopic research, currently supervising research fellows studying for MDs within Imperial College London. She has been leading on a national project developing polypectomy training and skills assessments for all endoscopists in the UK and the development of Endoscopic Non-Technical Skills training. This work generates a number of scientific papers each year as well as scientific presentations and book chapters.
Since her appointment at St Mark's Hospital, the Wolfson Unit for Endoscopy has been awarded the distinguished status of OMED World Centre of Excellence for Endoscopic Training and Research, the only such centre in the UK. She has been Training Lead at the centre since her appointment. She regularly teaches national and international trainees attending endoscopy hands-on, therapeutic and lecture courses.
Dr Thomas-Gibson chairs the National Joint Advisory Group for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Quality Assurance for Training sub-group developing and quality assuring the training for all endoscopy trainees in the UK. She is regularly invited to speak on issues concerning the improvement of colonoscopy standards. She has been invited to help develop other novel Train the Trainers teaching programmes for Radiologists and Laparoscopic Colorectal surgeons.
Dr Thomas-Gibson qualified from London University (St Mary’s Hospital, Imperial College) in 1992. She obtained MRCP in 1995 and trained in gastroenterology in the London and Oxford regions. She studied for her MD in the Wolfson Unit for Endoscopy at St Mark's Hospital before being appointed as a consultant there in 2006.
Margaret Vance
Nurse Consultant in Gastroenterology
Sr. Vance is Nurse Consultant in Gastroenterology; she leads a team of 8 specialist research nurses and nurse endoscopists providing gastroscopy, flexible sigmoidoscopy and colonoscopy within the Trust. Sr. Vance has a wide experience of training both nurses, doctors and General Practitioners in flexible sigmoidoscopy and colonoscopy and has developed the first completely nurse-led theoretical and practical flexible sigmoidoscopy training programme at degree level for trainee nurse endoscopists in the UK. She has been the chief endoscopist on several research trials. Maggie continues to play an important role in the development of nurse endoscopy both at national and regional level.
Dr Noriko Suzuki MD PhD
Honorary Consultant Endoscopist
Dr Adam Haycock MBBS BSc MRCP MD
Consultant Gastroenterologist and Endoscopist
Dr Adam Haycock is a consultant physician and gastroenterologist who joined the consultant staff in 2011. He specialises in endoscopy with a particular interest in colonoscopy and therapeutic endoscopy, including polypectomy, endoscopic mucosal resection, stent insertion, stricture dilatation and treatment of bleeding lesions. He also manages all aspects of gastrointestinal and hepatobiliary disorders as well as the care of acute general medical patients at all three trust sites; St Mark’s, Central Middlesex and Northwick Park Hospitals. His particular research interest is on improving the quality of endoscopic training.
Dr Haycock graduated from St Mary's Hospital (Imperial College) in 1999 and was a specialist registrar in the North West Thames region. He completed an MD at St Mark's hospital in 2010 on "Quality Assurance of Training in Diagnostic and Therapeutic Gastrointestinal Endoscopy". This included investigating and developing some novel techniques for assessing and evaluating training processes, including the use of advanced virtual reality simulation for colonoscopy. Work arising from this research has been published in peer-reviewed journals and he has been invited to speak at both national and international meetings on the topic. He is an international member of the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, and part of a multinational working group to establish consensus guidelines for the use of simulation in gastrointestinal endoscopy. He completed a masters level teaching degree in 2011 leading to accreditation with the Higher Education Academy, and in 2009-2010 was the Chair of the national trainees committee in gastroenterology.
Dr Haycock is currently deputy endoscopy training lead for the Trust with a mandate to improve the quality and provision of endoscopic training. He is also developing new protocols and guidelines to improve delivery of services for patients with Barrett's oesophagus.
Research & Clinical Staff
- Ms Ripple Man - Nurse Endoscopist & Polyposis Nurse Practitioner
- Dr Sachin Gupta - Research Fellow
- Dr Alberto Murino - Research Fellow
- Dr Zacharias Tsiamoulos - Research Fellow
- Dr Richard La Nauze - Research Fellow
- Dr Leonidas Bourikas - Research Fellow
- Dr Adela Brigic - Research Fellow
- Dr Yoriaki Komeda - Research Fellow
- Mrs Aine O'Rourke - Research Nurse
- Ms Nicky Palmer - Research assistant
- Eric Tripoli - Research Nurse
Honorary Consultant Staff
- Dr Christopher Williams - Consultant Physician
Video, Photography, Graphics & Multimedia Production
- Mr Stephen Preston - Multimedia Consultant
Administration
- Jean Mannings - Academic Administrator
- Lisa Mackay - Secretarial support
