Keynote and plenary speakers

Ramani is Professor of Perioperative Medicine, Head of the Centre of Perioperative Medicine and Head of the Department of Targeted Intervention within the Division of Surgery and Interventional Science at UCL. She is a Consultant Anaesthetist at UCL Hospitals, where she was previously also a consultant in critical care medicine (2009-2018). Nationally she leads the Health Services Research Centre at the National Institute of Academic Anaesthesia (NIAA) at the Royal College of Anaesthetists. Ramani was a council member of the Royal College of Anaesthetists between 2008 and 2012 and now contributes to NHS leadership in her role as Associate National Clinical Director for Elective Care at NHS England.

Ramani’s academic interest is health services and improvement research in perioperative medicine, in particular, risk stratification and outcome measurement, and the evaluation of interventions aimed at improving the quality of care for patients undergoing major surgery. She has led a number of national or international “citizen science” research programs including the first and second Sprint National Anaesthesia Projects and the Perioperative Quality Improvement Programme (www.pqip.org.uk), and she is a member of the National Emergency Laparotomy Audit project team.

Ramani is married to (the very patient) Ed, an inventor, and has two (very active) adopted sons, Zack (4) and James (3). She lives in the Sussex countryside surrounded by sheep.

Bart Morlion trained as an anaesthesiologist but has worked for many years full-time in pain medicine. He is the director of the Leuven Centre for Algology & Pain Management at the University Hospitals of Leuven and clinical professor at the University of Leuven, where he teaches pain management, pharmacology and evidence based medicine at the medical school.

He is the current president of the European Pain Federation EFIC and past-president of the Belgian Pain Society (2006-2012). He is program director of the Belgian Interuniversity Postgraduate Studies in Algology and is also an active member of several committees in international scientific societies. Bart Morlion is currently deputy editor of the European Journal of Pain and author of numerous publications on the management of pain. His professional interests include all aspects of multimodal chronic pain management, cancer pain management, pharmacotherapy of pain, and quality management.

Dr Justin Skowno is a full-time clinician-researcher at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead in Sydney. He is a senior staff specialist at the hospital and a clinical senior lecturer with the University of Sydney. His research interests include cerebral monitoring using optical, electrical and other modalities, the neurodevelopmental impacts of anaesthesia and the developing area of data science in anaesthesia, and he is currently the Chairperson of the Scientific Committee for the Society for Paediatric Anaesthesia in New Zealand and Australia (SPANZA). Dr Skowno is a member of the editorial board of the journal Pediatric Anesthesia and is a peer reviewer for Anesthesiology and other leading speciality journals. As a clinician, his focus is on paediatric cardiac anaesthesia, onco-anaesthesia, and anaesthesia for neonates and infants, and he manages the TIVA service at the hospital, as well as being the research lead for the department.

At various times he has been a MAMIL cyclist, climber, trail-runner and touch footy player, and still dabbles in these while trying to keep up with his wife, Emily, and three children.

Solomon Aronson is Executive Vice Chairman in the Department of Anesthesiology and a tenured professor at Duke University in the Departments of Anesthesiology and Population Health Science. He is an adjunct honorary professor at the University College London.

He earned his BS in molecular biology with distinction at the University of Wisconsin and his MD with honors in research at the Medical College of Wisconsin. After completing an anesthesiology residency including a year as chief resident at the University of Texas Medical Galveston, he completed a fellowship in cardiac and vascular anesthesia at the Texas Heart Institute in Houston. Thereafter, he was recruited to the University of Chicago where he ascended to the rank of full professor and served as chief of the cardiothoracic and vascular anesthesia division. In 2006 he was recruited to Duke and in 2011, Dr Aronson received his MBA with a concentration in Health Sector Management at Duke University Fuqua School of Business.

Having written more than 300 manuscripts, book chapters, and abstracts as well as six textbooks, he is recognised as an expert on topics concerning perioperative echocardiography and perioperative blood pressure risk, perioperative medicine and population health and health economics. He has lectured nationally and internationally.

Dr Aronson has been repeatedly listed in Best Doctors in America. He continues to serve on the FDA as a consultant after served on the Anesthesia and Life Support Advisory Committee and Anesthetic and Analgesic Drug Products Advisory Committee. In 2017, University College London awarded a professor appointment. In 2019, he was honored by the American Society of Echocardiography with a lifetime achievement award.

Dr Aronson serves on the board of directors as director of business development for the Physicians Diagnostic Clinic (PDC) at Duke. He has served on the board of directors and was president of the intraoperative council for the American Society of Echocardiography, served on the board of directors and was president for the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiology, was a founding trustee member of the National Board of Echocardiography and served on their board.

Dr Aronson is married to Dr Leena Sharma and they have two children, twins who both graduated from college. In addition to enjoying time with his family, he works at his tennis and golf games, listens to music, pursues drawing and painting interests and enjoys travelling and serving his community. He serves on the board of directors for the Greater Durham Boys and Girls Club of America.

Claudia Sommer is a Professor of Neurology at the University of Würzburg, Germany, with a focus on peripheral neurology and pain. She received training in neurology, psychiatry, neuropathology, and experimental anaesthesia. At the University of Würzburg, she serves as a consultant in neurology, organises outpatient clinics for patients with peripheral neuropathies, headache and pain, and leads the Northern Bavarian Neuromuscular Centre and the Peripheral Nerve Laboratory. Research interests are the fibromyalgia syndrome, the pathophysiology of antibody-mediated diseases, and the role of inflammation in the pathophysiology of neuropathic pain. She has written more than 250 original research papers and more than 100 reviews and book-chapters and edited several books. She is active in the development of national and international guidelines on diagnosis and treatment of peripheral neuropathies, and on neuropathic pain. She is a reviewer for scientific journals, the German Research Foundation (DFG) and serves on the editorial boards of several scientific journals. She is a longstanding member of the Peripheral Nerve Society (PNS) and a Board Member of the Inflammatory Neuropathy Consortium (INC), as well as Chair of the Teaching Course Subcommittee of the European Academy of Neurology (EAN). As of January 2019, she is president of the German Pain Society and president-elect of the International Society for the Study of Pain.

Proudly South African, Ross was born and educated at the continent’s tip in Cape Town. His professional fields of interest have centred upon acute and critical care, trauma, anaesthesia, aeromedical, emergency, wilderness and expedition medicine. He has worked extensively as an expedition doctor, including serving as overwintering expedition leader and doctor for the South African National Antarctic Expedition, and is co-founder and medical director of WildMedix, South Africa’s first company to offer accredited training in wilderness medicine. After shifting his predominant focus to anaesthesiology and perioperative medicine, he spearheaded the development of the first African Fellowship in Airway and Thoracic Anaesthesia and is now Associate Professor and Airway Lead for the Department of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine at the University of Cape Town. Ross’s clinical and research interests include all facets of airway management, aeromedical and prehospital care, remote and expedition medicine, point-of-care investigation, thermoregulation and extreme physiology. He has secured research and educational grant funding from the South African Society of Anaesthesiologists, Wilderness Medical Society, University of Cape Town, and medical industry. Ross is a keen course director, instructor, dynamic international speaker, and #FOAM (free, open-access medical education) enthusiast, with more than 30 publications. When not providing care in the hospital or abroad, Ross is usually to be found with his family in the wilds, committing random acts of aviation and/or adventure.

Andrew Klein is a Cardiothoracic Anaesthetist at Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge. He is the editor-in-chief of Anaesthesia, which has an impact factor of 5.4 and is very active on social media. He is on the board and council of the Association of Anaesthetists, the membership organisation for >11,000 anaesthetists in Great Britain and Ireland. He also sits on the board and council of the National Institute of Academic Anaesthesia (NIAA), which manages research grant funding in the UK. He is also a member of the research committee for the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA).

Andrew’s main research area is pre-operative anaemia and the effects of iron replacement therapy. He is one of the principal investigators of the ITACS trial (Intravenous Iron for the Treatment of Anaemia before Cardiac Surgery). He has recently chaired two working parties updating the UK national Guidelines for Cell Salvage and for the Management of Jehovah’s Witnesses patients undergoing surgery. He is also currently researching new point-of-care testing technology for managing haemorrhage during surgery and high-flow nasal oxygen to improve recovery after major surgery, including thoracotomy, emergency laparotomy and sternotomy.

Andrew is a keen cricket supporter and member of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) at Lord’s in London, and a lifelong and long-suffering West Ham United season ticket holder.