On 5th November Scalpel will host its eighth annual undergraduate surgical conference, continuing a string of successful conferences since 2009 featuring exciting workshops and lectures. This year our conference sees our theme shift to global surgery as we invite Steve Mannion and Swee Ang as our keynote speakers, both of whom have accumulated years of experience within the realms of what global surgery entails. For this blog piece, we take a brief look into the life and work of both these extraordinary surgeons as an introduction in advance of our conference. We hope this piece leaves you even more excited for our quickly approaching event!
Mr Steve Mannion is the founder and Programme Director of Feet First, a charity that aims to treat clubfoot in the developing world. Even before founding the charity in 2003, however, he had dedicated much of his life working in under-resourced parts of the world as a trauma and war surgeon. Mr Mannion obtained his medical degree at the University of Cambridge before undertaking surgical training and specialising in orthopaedic surgery. In between working within the NHS, he has worked in surgical programmes for agencies in conflict situations including Afghanistan, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, and Angola. Working with CBM, a charity committed to transforming the lives of people with disabilities in developing parts of the world, Mr Mannion has also spent three years as a medical missionary in Malawi and made up one of the only two surgeons for 7 million people in the northern part of the country. His work in Malawi focused on training and capacity building in orthopaedic surgery.
Our second speaker, Ms Ang, is a founding member of Medical Aid for Palestinians, a charity that began in the 1980s after the Sabra and Shatila massacre. These events triggered Ms Ang to leave her job and begin her focus on her charity, a global surgery career and special medical/humanitarian efforts that have spanned 28 years. During her time working for MAP, Ms Ang also gained the ‘Star of Palestine’. Ms Ang obtained her primary medical qualification and a master’s degree in occupational medicine at the University of Singapore before moving to the UK. She then trained in orthopaedic surgery in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and was the first female consultant orthopaedic surgeon to be appointed at St Bartholomew’s Hospital. More recently, Ms Ang was involved in looking after some of the victims of the 7 July 2005 suicide bomb victims in the Royal London Hospital.
We are truly excited about hearing from such inspirational individuals and we hope you will be able to join us on 5th November to hear for yourself their tales and experiences.
Bibliography & Further Reading:
- http://www.spirehealthcare.com/fyldecoast/our-facilities-treatments-and-consultants/our-consultants/mr-stephen-mannion/
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7572792.stm
- https://uk.linkedin.com/in/steve-mannion-359b5b4
- https://www.justgiving.com/feetfirst
- https://www.ucl.ac.uk/global-health/events/010211palestine
- http://www.caabu.org/events/related/victim-no-resurrection-talk-dr-swee-ang
- http://www.c4ts.qmul.ac.uk/staff/dr-swee-chai-ang
- http://www.map-uk.org/who-we-are/who-we-are