Faculty
Dr G Baranidharan
Course Director
Consultant in Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Honorary Clinical associate Professor
University of Leeds
I am an undergraduate from Chennai, India and have completed my higher specialist training in anaesthesia and Pain management from Yorkshire and Canada. I am a keen believer in multimodal pain management and currently follow International Spine Intervention Society guidelines and perform Precision spinal diagnosis and treatment. I also have a special interest in neuromodulation for visceral pain.
I am very interested in teaching Interventional Pain Medicine and I started this workshop in 2008 and have had very good feedback over the years. I sincerely believe that this course will give you the confidence in performing precision diagnosis and treatment for spinal pain and also a good understanding of interventional cancer pain management and Neuromodulation.
Honorary Secretary: Neuromodulation society of UK and Irelend (NSUKI)
Honorary Secretary: Interventional Pain Medicine Special Interest Group of British Pain Society
Board Member: Faculty of Pain Medicine
Email: g.baranidharan@nhs.net
Dr Karen Simpson
Co Director
Consultant in Pain Medicine
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
I graduated from the School of Medicine at Leeds in 1979. I entered anaesthesia with a view to specialising in Pain Medicine; I had met some very inspirational teachers in pain management during my undergraduate anaesthesia training in Leeds and Bradford. As a trainee I was seconded to the School of Pharmacy in Bradford University where I did basic science research. I obtained my FRCA in 1983 and then spent 3 years as Lecturer in Anaesthesia in Leeds. As well as teaching, I concentrated my research efforts on pharmacology and pain topics. In 1987, I was appointed as a Consultant in Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine in Leeds. Since then, as well as working within a large multi-professional Pain Management Service, I also have maintained an interest in palliative medicine; I am an Honorary Consultant at St Gemma's Hospice, Leeds. I am still very involved in teaching and research. I was a founder member of the Leeds Pallium Research Group. I was an FRCA examiner for 12 years. I have been an active member of the British Pain Society and I was Secretary of the Society (2002-2004). I was Regional Adviser in Pain Medicine 2003-2007. I am a Board member of the Faculty of Pain Medicine of the Royal College of Anaesthetists and I was the 1st Vice Dean.
Dr Sanjeeva Gupta
Co Director
Consultant in Pain Medicine
Bradford Royal Infirmary
I completed my basic medical degree in 1988 from Mysore in South India and was awarded MD (Anaesthesia) from the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh, North India. I came to the UK in 1994 and became a fellow of the Royal College of Anaesthetists, London in 1995. After training in Oxford, Norwich and Cambridge I commenced my current post as a consultant in Pain Management and Anaesthesia in 1999. I passed an examination in 2004 to be awarded a Fellow of Interventional Pain Medicine (FIPP) by the World Institute of Pain.
I have a special interest and expertise in pain originating from the spine, chronic postoperative pain, and neuropathic pain. I believe that precision pain diagnosis and management is the key to managing low back pain, neck pain and pain in the thoracic spine. Stimulation guided pain mapping and management can be useful in difficult cases.
I am a treasurer of the Interventional Pain Medicine SIG of the BPS and regularly organise parallel sessions on interventional techniques at the Annual congress of the British Pain Society (BPS). I am a Regional Advisor for Pain Medicine for the Yorkshire region. I am on the faculty of the International Spine Intervention Society cadaver courses and European coordinator for the Global Update in Pain conducted every three years in Mumbai, India.
Qualifications:
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1988 – MBBS: Mysore Medical College, Mysore, India
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1992 - MD: Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh
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1994 - Dip NB: Diplomat of the National Board of Examinations, New Delhi, India
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1995 - FRCA: Royal college of Anaesthetists, London
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2004 - FIPP: World Institute of Pain
Dr Dudley Bush
Consultant in Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine
Leeds teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
I qualified from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1985. I have been a consultant at Leeds since 1995. I trained in the UK and at the University of Michigan, USA. Leeds provides multidisciplinary pain service that includes an interventional pain management practice. My practice includes spinal injections and radiofrequency procedures, spinal cord stimulation and intrathecal drug delivery techniques.
Dr John Titterington
Consultant in Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine
Leeds teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
I graduated from Leeds University in 2007 and went on to be appointed as a full time pain consultant at Leeds in 2018. Prior to this I completed the FRCA and the UK pain exam FFPMRCA and undertook a fellowship to hone my experience and skills in spinal cord stimulation and cancer pain. My interests include the interventional treatment of spinal/ back pain, nerve pain and particularly cancer pain. I am the cancer pain lead at Leeds which provides level 4 services not limited to neruolytic blocks and intrathecal pumps.
Dr Sherdil Nath, Sweden
Qualified in New Delhi India 1966
Worked UK 1968 to 77 Norwich, Manchester, Cambridge
FRCA 1973, moved to Sweden 1977
Consultant University hospital, Umeå, Sweden 1977 onwards.
Involved in Pain therapy since 1972 with spinally mediated pain, especially precision diagnostics and radio-frequency are my main research interests.
I have been teaching and running minimally invasive pain therapy, including cadaver courses in many countries for the last 15 years.
Dr Peter Hall, York
Qualified MB BS, University of London in 1986.FRCA 1992. Consultant in Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine, York since 1996. Specialist training in pain medicine: London and the West Midlands, UK. Current position: Lead clinician, working within a multidisciplinary team specialising in the management of both malignant and non-malignant pain.
Interventional practice includes spinal injection techniques, radiofrequency procedures, spinal cord stimulation, sacral nerve stimulation and intrathecal drug delivery systems.
Dr Ron Cooper, Coleraine
MD FFARCSI DPMed RCSI FIPP
I qualified from QUB in 1981 and have been consultant since 1993 in Anaesthesia & Pain Relief in Causeway and North West Independent Hospitals since 1993. My practice is mainly interventional based, utilizing a large range of interventional procedures, including spinal injections, radiofrequency techniques, trigeminal therapies, neuromodulation techniques (both drug delivery systems and SCS), disc targeted therapies and sacroiliac joint procedures.
I have been a past convenor of the N.I. Pain Society and am currently the Chairman of the Interventional Pain Medicine SIG at the British Pain Society. I am involved in teaching at local, national and international level.
E-mail: arcooper@btinternet.com
Veerabadran VELAYUTHAM
M.B.,B.S, FCARCSI
I qualified in India in 1995. I did my training in Anaesthesia in the UK and Canada. In 2007, I completed a year's Fellowship in Regional Anaesthesia at the reputed University of Western Ontario, London,Ontario. I took up my Consultant Anaesthetist post at Preston in 2008.
My area of interest is Ultrasound Guided Regional Anaesthesia(UGRA) and I utilise it regularly in my clinical practice. I have been involved in teaching and training UGRA since 2008 and been faculty at various regional,national and international workshops.
I have been a contributory author to a cochrane review, authored a couple of book chapters related to regional anaesthesia and also been part of a training DVD and an App (RA GuRU) in regional anaesthesia.
Dr Manohar Sharma
MD, FRCA, FFPMRCA, MSc Pain Management, Walton centre, Liverpool
I am trained in Pain medicine in Liverpool. I have been in current Consultant Post from December 2004. 75% of my Job includes Chronic pain Medicine and rest is Anaesthetics. I have special interest in Interventional pain procedures for Spinal Pain, Cancer pain and Trigeminal Neuralgia. I have held demonstration Pain theater sessions for Annual Pain Course which is organised by Pain Relief Foundation, Liverpool, every year in November. I regularly perform spinal pain relief procedures including spinal cord stimulation, transforaminal epidural steroid injections and radiofrequency procedures (including pulse RF) for spinal pain. For cancer pain I regularly perform Cervical Cordotomy for unilateral refractory pain. Other blocks include neurolytic spinal blocks for cancer pain, trigeminal ganglion level procedures for Trigeminal Neuralgia and various sympathetic blocks. I strongly believe that these procedures have a role in chronic pain management. I support and encourage teaching to improve techniques of Interventional pain procedures.
Dr Shyam Balasubramanian, Coventry
I graduated in India in 1995 and have gained experience in pain management & anaesthesia from 3 continents. In the UK, I specialised in anaesthesia and pain management in East Yorkshire & Warwickshire Schools. I completed a one year Fellowship in Pain Management at the University of Western Ontario, London, Canada; a premier multidisciplinary pain management centre in North America. Currently I am working as a Consultant in Pain Management & Anaesthesia in University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Trust, UK.
Whilst in Canada I started using ultrasound for a variety of regional blocks. I developed interest in this area and subsequently introduced ultrasound guided blocks in the pain clinic in managing chronic pain conditions. Currently, in University Hospitals, Coventry, I am introducing ultrasound guided spinal interventions and other injection therapies in treating patients with persistent pain.
I have sound academic records and have authored 3 books in anaesthesia and pain management. I believe and practice evidence based pain medicine focusing on back pain, neuropathic pain and persistent pain conditions after surgery. My management also encompasses broader pain management strategies such as pain education, behavioural modification, simple exercises and coping strategies.
Website: www.handlepain.co.uk
E mail: pain.shyam@gmail.com
Dr Simon Tordoff MBChB, FRCA, FIPP Leicester
Dr. Simon Tordoff graduated from the University of Cape Town Medical School in 1980, and spent seven years working in South Africa in surgical, medical and anaesthetic fields.
In 1987 he moved to the United Kingdom and underwent his specialist anaesthetic training. He was awarded the Fellowship of the Royal College of Anaesthesia in June 1989. In 1993 he spent a year as Pain Fellow at the Flinders Medical Centre in Adelaide, South Australia.
He was appointed as consultant in anaesthesia and pain management at Northampton General Hospital in August 1994, and he practised there for seven years. He moved to Leicester in 2001 to take up a post at the Leicester General Hospital. He is also based at the LOROS Hospice where he assists in the management of patients with cancer-related pain.
Dr Anthony Hammond, Kent
Dr Anthony Hammond trained in General Medicine and Rheumatology at The Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases (Bath), Bart’s Hospital, London and undertook doctoral research in SLE at The Royal Postgraduate Medical School (Hammersmith Hospital), London.
In addition to experience with arthritis, gout, SLE and other rheumatological disorders, he is an expert in interventional spinal pain management, lecturing and teaching extensively and is a faculty member with the International Spinal Intervention Society (ISIS) amongst others.
He has particular expertise in the minimally invasive management of sciatica and back pain related to intervertebral disc damage including with day case percutaneous and endoscopic disc decompression and discectomy techniques.
Mr Shivakumar Gnanamurthy, Neurosugeon, Leeds
I am Consultant Neurosurgeon in the Leeds Teaching Hospitals. I joined the Trust in april 2013. My specialisation is in Functional and Paediatric Neurosurgery. I trained in Nottingham in Neurosurgery attaining my Fellowship (FRCS) in Neurosurgery in 2008. After completion of my training I completed my Fellowship in Functional Neurosurgery in The Walton Centre for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Liverpool. I returned back to Nottingham where I was a Consultant for a year. I completed my second Fellowship in Paediatric Neurosurgery with a special interest in Epilepsy surgery in The Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London in March 2013.
My main field of interest is Neuro-oncology (Resection of tumours in eloquent regions with cortical mapping and awake resection), Neuro-endoscopy, Stereo-tactic procedures, Epilepsy surgery (Adults & Paediatrics), Spinal Cord Stimulators, Spasticity (Adults), Hydrocephalus and General degenerative spine.
Dr Arun Bhaskar, Leeds
Dr. Bhaskar completed his specialist training from the Northwest Deanery, UK in 2006 after graduating from the University of Kerala, India. In addition to the Royal College Fellowships in anaesthesia, pain medicine and intensive care, Dr. Bhaskar also has a fellowship in interventional pain practice. Dr. Bhaskar is also currently doing a PhD programme in Palliative Medicine at the University of Lancaster.
Dr. Bhaskar’s special interests include complex pain including neuropathic pain, cancer pain, visceral & pelvic pain, pain interventions and neuromodulation. He has also a special interest in opioid management in complicated cancer pain as well as opioid-dependence and its management in the pain patient population. Dr. Bhaskar has been involved with several clinical trials in breakthrough cancer pain, neuropathic pain in cancer including chemotherapy-induced neuropathy and also in developing novel techniques for interventional treatment for complex cancer pain. He has been a contributing author towards the British Pain Society’ s “Cancer Pain Management” document. Dr. Bhaskar is on the faculty of many courses including the European Pain school and serves as section editor for Journal of Observational Pain Medicine.
Dr. Bhaskar is the current secretary of the World Society of Pain Clinicians and an elected member of the Council of the British Pain Society. He is also the executive liaison for Interventional SIG, Neuropathic pain SIG and Cancer pain SIG of the British Pain Society. He is also an elected council member of the Neuromodulation Society of UK & Ireland and also advises NICE on interventional procedures, cancer pain and is a co-opted member of the GDG for Care of the Dying. Dr. Bhaskar is also the immediate past-chair of the Northwest Pain Clinicians, UK and a member of the steering group of the Northern England Pain Society. He is also a member of the palliative care training advisory committee for Royal College of Physicians and also a member of the joint working group of British Pain Society and Association of Palliative Medicine.
Dr Nicholas Patrick Plunkett
Dr Nick Plunkett’s subspecialist interest is pain medicine. This was the focus of higher training abroad and the attainment of a higher qualification by examination in pain medicine (FFPMANZCA). He has been awarded a similar qualification by the newly formed Faculty of Pain Medicine at the Royal College of Anaesthetists and is a Foundation Fellow of this body (FFPMRCA). He has considerable involvement with the FFPMRCA with respect to training and assessment issues.
He is the Chair of the Faculty of Pain Medicine Examinations
Dr Kiran Kumar Koneti
Dr Kiran Koneti qualified as anaesthetist from Chennai, India before moving to UK in 2003. He undertook further specialist training in Anaesthesia & Pain Management across various North East (UK) hospitals. He completed advanced pain training from Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne and pursued further interventional pain interest with post CCT fellowship in Neuromodulation at the James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough. He has been Consultant in Pain Management & Anaesthesia at City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Trust since 2013.
Dr Koneti has always been keen on research and established Pain research for City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Trust and currently leads NIHR portfolio trials. He has been a keen educator. Apart from delivering regular talks and presentations; he has been running Ultrasound guided cadaver workshops and courses for acute and chronic pain interventions for the betterment of patients. He was the first to introduce Ultrasound guided chronic pain interventions in clinical practice for the North East (UK) patients.
Along with enjoying his family time he has been contributing to the below:
Secretary - Northern Region Pain Group (NRPG)
Education/Chronic Pain Co-Ordinator - NESRA (North East Society of Regional Anaesthesia)
BPS Expert Working Party member - Healthcare Resource Group (HRG)
Treasurer, BPS Interventional Pain Medicine SIG
Clinical Tutor MSc (RA) - University of East Anglia