Mr Peter Whitfield
Peter is a Consultant and Honorary Professor of Neurosurgery at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust. He has 25 years consultant experience and undertakes surgery for tumours, vascular conditions, traumatic brain injury and a range of general neurosurgical conditions. He has a strong commitment to training, being Professionalism Lead in the Peninsula Medical School for more than a decade and leading the development of the UK and European Neurosurgical Curricula. He has examined trainee surgeons in the UK, Europe and Asia and been honored to be President of the Society of British Neurological Surgeons. He is lead editor of Traumatic Brain Injury: a multidisciplinary approach and an editor for Gray’s Surgical Anatomy and Emergency Neurosurgery amongst other titles. Peter is married to Juliette, has two daughters and has watched birds and sailed for many decades.
Surgeon Captain Steve Bree
Steve is a Consultant Anesthetist at University Hospitals Plymouth, where he has also undertaken senior leadership roles. He has over 4 decades of Royal Navy experience with roles including Clinical Director of Royal Marine Surgical Teams, Head of Military Anaesthesia and working as the UK Surgeon Generals LO to the US Military. He has a particular interest, based on personal experience, in the management of paediatric causalities in conflict zones. He was deployed operationally multiple times and was honored to be appointed Queens Honorary Physician. Steve has used his military experience to support the NHS in delivering high quality trauma care.
Professor Mark Wilson OBE
Mark is Professor of Practice, Brain Injury at Imperial Hospital and an Honorary Professor of Pre-Hospital Care at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. He works as an Air Ambulance Doctor with Kent, Surry and Sussex alongside his duties as a Consultant Neurosurgeon. He has worked extensively overseas disguising holidays as “brain research”. This has included work as a researcher for NASA and travel to many countries including India, Nepal, South Africa and Australia. He has undertaken Artic and Everest expeditions and wrote The Medics Guide to Work and Electives around the World. He is co-founder of GoodSAM, a system that alerts off-duty clinicians and first aiders to cardiac arrests so earlier CPR/ defibrillation can be performed to improve survival.
Mr Daniel Sokol
Daniel is a medical ethicist who has taught bioethics at St George’s Medical School, London, and Imperial College. He has written textbooks on medical ethics and sat as an ethicist on a number of committees including for the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Justice and the Royal College of Surgeons of England. He is currently Chairman of the Metropolitan Police Research Ethics Committee (MetREC) and an ethics columnist for the British Medical Journal. Daniel has also written articles for many broad sheet newspapers. He remains actively involved in the field of medical ethics, through teaching medical professionals (mostly doctors), writing and advisory work. He is President of The Osler Club and also a practicing barrister, specialising in clinical negligence.
Professor Derrick Pounder
Derrick graduated from Birmingham Medical School and trained in histopathology and forensic pathology in Dublin and in Adelaide, Australia. After working as a forensic pathologist in Australia and Canada he was professor of forensic medicine at Dundee University for 27 years. A research interest in post mortem toxicology led to involvement in the Dr Shipman case. A lifelong interest in the application of forensic medicine to human rights issues led to international investigations as in Chechnya, Azerbaijan, Jamaica, Peru and Israel, and cases such as the Gibraltar shootings and the killing of Mark Duggan.
Mr Peter Kirkpatrick
Peter is a retired Consultant Neurosurgeon who worked at Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge. He was a leading neurovascular neurosurgeon with an international reputation and was Principal Investigator for the STASH Trial looking at statins in cases of aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage. Peter is an enthusiastic aircraft pilot commencing in microlites and light aircraft. Over the last decade or more Peter has been embedded in the restoration of a Hurricane aircraft and now flies the plane at airshows. Peter says “in some respects flying is like surgery – there is very little room for error. Both involve hand and eye coordination and though the Hurricane is a much less sophisticated piece of machinery, in the end it comes down to having to make very rapid life or death decisions”. He believes passionately in the history of these aircraft and the role they played in WWII.
Professor Peter Hutchinson
Hutch is the Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Cambridge. His sub-specialist interest is the management of traumatic brain injury. He is distinguished for his world leading contributions across the translational pathway to advancing the evidence-based care of patients after a traumatic brain injury. He has over 750 publications and has raised over £25 Million as lead applicant for research grants. He leads the NIHR Global Health Research Group on Acquired Brain and Spine Injury. Hutch is currently President of the Society of British Neurological Surgeons. He has a passion for classic cars and motorsport and is the Chief Medical Officer for the Formula One British Grand Prix, where nearly half a million congregate over several days to enjoy life in the fast lane.