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Introduction:

The BASL main committee is made up of three principal officers - the President, the Secretary and the Treasurer. The chairs of the British Viral Hepatitis Group (BVHG), the BLNA (British Liver Nurses' Association) and the British Liver Â鶹´«Ã½ (BLTG) also sit on the main committee, as do the leads of the sub-committees covering services, research and education and training.

The work of the Committee:

The Committee works together to promote BASL’s aims within hepatology and to represent the interest of its members. Committee Members are also involved in many areas of work on behalf of BASL including contributing to NICE consultations.

The current BASL Committee Members are as follows:

President (2023-2025)*	Dr Dr Ian Rowe, University of Leeds & Leeds Liver Unit, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
President Elect*	n/a
Past President	Dr Tim Cross, Liverpool University Hospital
Secretary*	Dr Deepak Joshi, King's College Hospital, London
Secretary Elect*	n/a
Treasurer*	Dr Ahmed Elsharkawy, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham
BLNA Chair*	Dianne Backhouse, Hull University Teaching Hospital
BVHG Chair*	Prof Patrick Kennedy, Barts and The London School of Medicine & Dentistry, QMUL
BLTG Chair*	Dr James Ferguson, University Hospitals, Birmingham
Services Sub-Committee Chair*	Dr Ryan Buchanan, University of Southampton
Research Sub-Committee Chair*	Dr Vishal C Patel, Roger Williams Institute of Liver Studies and King's College Hospital
Education & Training Councillors X 2*	Dr Victoria Snowdon, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge / Dr Louisa Vine, Plymouth
Surgery Representative	Mr James Richards, University of Cambridge
Pathology Representative	Dr Anna Paterson, Cambridge University Hospitals
Trainee Representatives	Dr Wenhao Li, Barts Liver Centre
Paediatric Representative	Dr Lauren Johansen , University Hospitals Birmingham
Communications Representative*	Dr Benjamin White, Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Scientist Representative*	Dr Antonio Riva, Roger Williams Institute of Liver Studies and King's College Hospital
Patient Group Representative	Vanessa Hebditch, British Liver Trust
BHPG Vice Chair	Yun Kim, University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust
BAAL Chair	Dr Felicity Williams, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham
Public Affairs & External Relations	President

*Governing Board Members

The Governing Board members are registered with Companies House in the UK as a Trustee (Director) of BASL.

Biographies

Dr Ian Rowe, Associate Professor & Consultant Hepatologist, University of Leeds & Leeds Liver Unit, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

Dr Rowe trained at the University of Glasgow and, following general medical training at Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham, specialised in Gastroenterology and Hepatology in Birmingham.  He was awarded a Medical Research Council Research Training Fellowship in 2009 and subsequently an NIHR Clinical Lectureship at the University of Birmingham and the Liver and Hepatobiliary Unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham.  In 2015 he was appointed as a University Academic Fellow at the University of Leeds and Honorary Consultant at the Leeds Liver Unit.  His main research interests are in improving the outcomes of patients with liver disease and those following liver transplantation.  His clinical practice is in hepatocellular carcinoma and liver transplantation.

Dr Tim Cross, Royal Liverpool University Hospital

Dr Cross qualified from St. Bartholomew's Hospital Medical School in 1996. He undertook general gastroenterology on the NE Thames rotation and underwent hepatology training, including transplant hepatology, at Kings College Hospital, Cambridge and the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. He then worked as a consultant for three and a half years in the South West Liver Unit in Plymouth before relocating to the North West. He has an interest in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Dr Ahmed Elsharkawy, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham

Dr Ahmed Elsharkawy has been a consultant transplant hepatologist at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham since 2012. He is also honorary senior lecturer at the University of Birmingham and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London.

His clinical interests include viral hepatitis, liver transplantation, polycystic liver disease, drug induced liver injury, primary biliary cirrhosis, acute liver failure, acute on chronic liver failure, NAFLD (especially in the context of hepatitis B) and cirrhotic sarcopaenia. He has pioneered novel approaches to the management of hepatitis C in the community.

He was awarded his PhD from Newcastle University on the role of NF-kB in the hepatic inflammation-fibrosis-cancer axis. He is a research active NHS clinician and is principle investigator on a number of clinical trials; as well as a member of trial steering committees.

He is the immediate past Chairman of the British Viral Hepatitis Group and current lead of the BASL HBV specialist interest group. He has more than 60 peer reviewed publications. He is a regular peer reviewer for both publications and grants. He is keen on promoting the role of social media, in particular Twitter, and is the EASL Social Media Advisor.

Dr Deepak Joshi, Transplant Hepatologist and HPB Endoscopist - King's College Hospital, London

Dr Deepak Joshi is a transplant hepatologist with an interest in autoimmune liver disease. He is the clinical lead for HPB medicine and an advanced biliary endoscopist, specialising in paediatrics. He is a Reader in HPB medicine at King’s College London. He is a co-author of the book, Hepatology at a Glance. His current research interests include the management of biliary disease pre- and post - liver transplantation including the role of endoscopy.

Dianne Backhouse - Hepatology Clinical Nurse Specialist, Hull University Teaching Hospitals

Diane's nursing career commenced in 1990 at the Hull District School of Nursing. She has enjoyed being part of the trusts Gastroenterology team since 1994 working in roles from junior staff nurse to matron, with 16 years as the senior sister on the gastro ward.  She has always had an interest in liver nursing and has regularly attended the BLNA since 2000.

In April 2018 Dianne commenced as CNS Hepatology leading the new liver nurse service at Hull University Teaching Hospitals Trust.  This role consists of daily nurse led in reach to the acute medical unit, ED & non specialist wards for patients with decompensated cirrhosis, clinics for cirrhosis surveillance & liver ward discharges, and the day case paracentesis service.  The new liver nurse service has resulted in excellent patient outcomes including a reduction in length of stay for patients requiring paracentesis, ensuring cirrhosis surveillance clinics occur at the correct timeframes by decreasing waiting list times, implementation of the cirrhosis care bundle, as well as excellent patient feedback.

Education is an essential part of this role therefore she is involved in training programmes for students, nurses, ACP’s, junior doctors as well as for teams outside of the trust such as alcohol liaison & local GP’s.  In 2019 Dianne had the pleasure of presenting the impact of their new liver nurse service to wider teams at EASL & the BLNA.

Professor Patrick Kennedy, Barts and The London School of Medicine & Dentistry, QMUL
Prof Kennedy is a Consultant Hepatologist at Barts Health NHS Trust. He graduated from University College Dublin and completed his post-graduate medical training in Gastroenterology and Hepatology in London. He was appointed as a Clinical Senior Lecturer in Hepatology at Barts and The London School of Medicine & Dentistry in 2009.  His work in viral liver disease is known internationally and he is widely published in the field. He has produced novel work redefining disease phase in hepatitis B virus (HBV) and investigating the role of individualised treatment & management strategies for chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients.

Professor Kennedy’s main clinical interests include viral liver disease; focusing on disease assessment and stratification using novel virological and immunological approaches. Translating these novel tools to clinical practice and evaluating their utility to broaden treatment candidacy is a key element of his work. He has a specialist interest in liver disease in young people and runs a dedicated young adult liver service at The Royal London Hospital. He also manages liver disease for professional sports people and elite athletes across the United Kingdom and abroad.

Professor Kennedy is a member of the viral hepatitis clinical guideline committee for NICE and provides expert opinion for the United Kingdom Advisory Panel on blood-borne viruses. In addition, he is a key opinion leader in viral liver disease and a member of expert advisory panels for early drug development. In keeping with his longstanding research interest and publication record in viral liver disease, he is the chief/principal investigator for a number of investigator-led and commercial phase 1, 2 and 3, clinical trials in HBV.

Dr James Ferguson, University Hospitals Birmingham
Dr Ferguson is a transplant Hepatologist based at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. He is the clinical lead for the IQILS project, was the treasurer of BASL and a co-author of the recent lancet commission on liver disease in the UK.

Dr Victoria Snowdon, Consultant Hepatologist, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge
Dr Snowdon was appointed as a Consultant Hepatologist at Addenbrookes in 2018. She qualified from Nottingham University in 2003. Her first exposure to Hepatology was working with Prof Matthew Cramp in the Southwest in her medical house job, which enthused her to pursue a career in Hepatology. In 2010 she was awarded a Wellcome Trust Scottish Translational Medicine and Therapeutics Initiative (STMTI) to complete a PhD investigating renal dysfunction in cirrhosis and the role of Relaxin as a therapeutic modulator in liver disease at the University of Edinburgh, with Prof John Iredale, Prof Jonathan Fallowfield and Prof Peter Hayes. During these three years she worked in the Scottish Liver Transplant unit as a clinical fellow. She undertook her advanced liver year in Addenbrooke’s in 2014-15.  She pursued further research and clinical training at Royal Free before finishing her training at Addenbrooke’s Hospital.  Her academic and clinical focus is Hepatocellular carcinoma, Portal hypertension, Renal dysfunction in cirrhosis and education.

Dr Louisa Vine, Consultant Hepatologist, Derriford Hospital, Plymouth
Dr Louisa Vine is a hepatology consultant at the South West Liver Unit with her main interest being in Hepatocellular Carcinoma, for which she is clinical lead, the surveillance of patients with stable cirrhosis and endoscopy including ERCP. She has a strong interest in education and is education lead for the department and TPD for Gastroenterology in the Peninsula Deanery.  

Dr Anna Paterson, Cambridge University Hospitals
Anna is a Consultant Histopathologist at Cambridge University Hospitals subspecialising in hepatic, pancreatic and renal pathology and is the lead for hepatopancreatobiliary pathology. She has a particular interest in transplant pathology including strategies to improve donor organ preservation and utilisation.

Dr Wenhao Li, Barts Liver Centre

My name is Wenhao Li, I am an Academic Clinical Lecturer in Hepatology and Specialist Registrar in North East Thames Deanery, London. 

On behalf of the BASL trainees’ committee, I was the national lead for UK national trainee survey of hepatology which identified key issues around liver training, research and the future workforce. This was the largest hepatology training survey conducted in the UK to date and highlighted key disparities in Hepatology training, research and future consultant job planning that requires urgent action. Nationally, trainees felt least confident in managing patients with viral hepatitis, hepatocellular carcinoma and post-transplant complications. There was significant regional variability in trainees undertaking out of programme research in Hepatology and the number of trainees intending to work as consultant hepatologists in level 2 or 3 centres were threefold higher compared with level 1 centres.

As BASL trainee representative, I intend to work with other members of the trainees’ committee and other key stakeholders to develop solutions to the issues raised from the trainees’ survey. These include BASL-led national teaching events focused on viral hepatitis, hepatocellular carcinoma and post-liver transplant complications. I believe that BASL trainees’ committee can play an important role in improving the understanding of barriers to trainees choosing training in Hepatology/transplant Hepatology, fostering interest in Hepatology at various levels of medical training, and maintaining the commitment to Hepatology in those who have expressed interest in the field. 

Dr Felicity Williams, University Hospitals, Birmingham
Felicity is a Senior Liver Physiotherapist and NIHR Clinical Research Fellow at University Hospitals Birmingham and University of Birmingham. She is in her final year of completing her PhD on the assessment of sarcopenia in end-stage liver disease. Further research interests include prehabilitation, rehabilitation and physical activity in patients awaiting liver transplantation.