OTDT Medical Team

Professor Manas graduated from Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg 1980 and completed his surgical training at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa.

He completed two fellowships at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore and Paul-Brousse, Paris. He was the recipient of the CJ Adams/Sandoz Traveling Fellowship to the UK in 1993 and joined the NHS (Freeman Hospital - Newcastle upon Tyne) in 1994.

He attained a personal chair in Transplant and HPB Surgery at Newcastle University in 2007 and has been instrumental in successfully developing a super-regionally funded transplant program in the Northeast of England as well as establishing an HPB and Abdominal Sarcoma cancer service for the region.

He established the first integrated Transplant Institute in the UK and was appointed as the first Director.

He was the President of the British Transplantation Society and is the current member of the council and past Chair of the British Liver Transplant Group (BLTG). He was previously deputy chair of the NHSBT Liver Advisory Group as well as NHS England Hepato-Pancreatico-biliary Clinical Reference Group.

Derek has many research interests including novel markers for early detection of hepatocellular (HCC) cancer and cholangiocarcinoma, ablation techniques for treating liver tumours, liver transplantation for cancer, radio-embolization in the management of HCC and colorectal liver metastases and irreversible electroporation (IRE) for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

He has over 350 peer review publications, 8 book chapters and co-edited 2 books on liver tumours. He is currently an examiner for the Royal College of Surgeons and European Exam board and a University external examiner for postgraduate degrees. He is a an associate editor of Transplantology and a regular reviewer for numerous journals including - British Journal of Surgery, American Journal Surgery, European Journal of Surgical Oncology and American Journal Transplantation.

Professor Lorna Marson is a renal and pancreas transplant surgeon at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and the Dean for Admissions and Widening Participation for College for Medicine and Veterinary Medicine at the University of Edinburgh.

Lorna, in her NHSBT role, provides clinical leadership in organ donation and transplantation Research and Development (R&D) at a UK level. She provides oversight of, and clinical advice and input into, organ donation and transplantation research and development on behalf of NHSBT. This includes acting as the NHSBT lead in the NIHR Blood and Transplant Research Unit and being integral to the delivery of relevant actions within the strategy Organ Donation and Transplantation 2030: Meeting the Need. She will chair the newly formed Research and Development Steering Group, with a lay co-chair.

Dr Dale Gardiner is a Consultant in Adult Intensive Care Medicine at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust. Dale provides clinical leadership to the UK Network of Clinical Leads for Organ Donation (CLODs). In partnership with the OTDT Clinical Team and Organ Donation Operational Teams, they work to support delivery of relevant actions within the strategy Organ Donation and Transplantation 2030: Meeting the Need, ensuring Deceased Donation will become an expected part of care, where clinically appropriate, for all in society.

Mr Ian Currie is a Consultant Transplant Surgeon at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh who has an interest in liver transplantation. Ian leads a tertiary referral service for renal cancer that has invaded the vena cava.

Ian, in his NHSBT role, leads the National Organ Retrieval Service (NORS) which is a vital part of the Organ Donation and Transplantation pathway and has contributed to the increase in deceased donors and organ transplants. Ian is supporting the increased use of technology to improve organ quality and transplant safety including supporting NORS centres to establish their own Normothermic Regional Perfusion (NRP) services.

In addition to clinical services, Ian has developed a range of educational platforms to support learning in organ retrieval surgery.

Dr Rommel Ravanan is a Consultant Nephrologist with sub-specialty interest in transplantation and research interests including renal and transplant epidemiology, and high immunological risk transplantation. He is also an Associate Non-Executive Director on the board of Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Rommel, in his NHSBT role as Associate Medical Director for Innovation, provides clinical leadership at a national level and works collaboratively with colleagues to evaluate and embed innovation, improve equity of access to transplantation and ensure excellence in post-transplant outcomes.

Rommel will be integral to the delivery of relevant actions within the ten-year vision for Organ Donation and Transplantation in the United Kingdom. The objectives are to ensure that recipient outcomes are amongst the best in the world and that people of all backgrounds and circumstances have timely access to the organ they need.

Lisa Burnapp has a background in nephrology and transplantation and an MA in Medical Law and Ethics. She was a Consultant Nurse in Living Donor Kidney Transplantation at Guy’s & St. Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust from 2002 until March 2022 with a special interest in non-directed altruistic donation. She was a co-Founder of the British Transplantation Society (BTS) Living Donor Forum, co-editing best practice guidelines in the field over a number of years and she is current BTS President.

Lisa, in her NHSBT role has facilitated development and implementation of UK Strategies for living donor transplantation, including the UK Living Kidney Sharing Scheme, since 2010. She provides clinical leadership at a UK level, has an overall focus on maximising living donor transplantation and ensuring we are capable of meeting demand, defining and developing our services both now and in the future. Lisa is integral to the delivery of relevant actions in the strategy Organ Donation and Transplantation 2030: Meeting the Need strategy and particularly the objective pertaining to living donation becoming an expected part of care, where clinically appropriate, for all in society. Together with Matthew Rob, Principal Statistician, Lisa represents NHSBT in both the European Network for Collaboration in Kidney Exchange Programmes (ENCKEP) and the Council of Europe National Focal Point (NFP) network, where she works closely with international colleagues and other agencies to maximise transplant opportunities through living donor transplantation and to eradicate illicit travel for transplantation through the NFP work.

Dr Richard Baker is a Consultant Renal Physician at St James University Hospital, Leeds. He is also the medical lead for the upper limb transplant programme and donor advocate physician for the living liver donor programme. He is an Honorary Clinical Associate Professor at Leeds University.

Richard, in his NHSBT role provides clinical leadership at a national level to continually improve care and performance across the entire transplant pathway through the clinical governance team. His role enables us to look across the pathway to ensure concerns are reported, investigated in a timely manner and action taken to prevent recurrence so we can safeguard the safety of patients.

Mr Chris Callaghan is a Consultant Transplant Surgeon at Guy’s Hospital, and also works at the Evelina London Children’s Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospitals. Chris is an Honorary Reader at King’s College London.

Chris, in his NHSBT roles provides clinical leadership at a UK level to improve organ donation and transplantation by improving the utilisation of donated organs. In partnership with transplant units, Clinical Leads for Utilisation (CLUs) and the OTDT Clinical Team, they work to support delivery of relevant actions within the strategy Organ Donation and Transplantation 2030: Meeting the Need, aiming for optimal organ utilisation in every group, benefitting from new technologies and techniques.