Programme Committee and Faculty

Andrew Swift is a consultant ENT surgeon and rhinologist at the Liverpool Head and Neck Centre, Liverpool University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and honorary senior lecturer at the University of Liverpool and Edge Hill University. 

He qualified from the University of Sheffield in 1977 and undertook his early surgical training in Bristol, and specialist ENT training in Bristol and Liverpool. Andrew spent 1984-85 investigating the physiological effects of nasal obstruction, supported by a Medical Research Council research grant. He was appointed as a consultant at Walton Hospital in 1989.

Andrew was one of the first ENT surgeons to introduce endoscopic sinus surgery to the UK (1989).  His special interests include sinonasal papilloma, frontal sinus disorders, the endonasal repair of CSF leaks and septorhinoplasty. Andrew is an enthusiastic teacher who has organised many courses and conferences.

He is a previous examiner and assessor for the Intercollegiate FRCS-ORL; European Board examiner for otorhinolaryngology; hospital governor; recent council member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England; and full honorary member of the German ENT Society.

Andrew is currently President-elect of ENT UK. He has also held the following titles:

• President, Liverpool Medical Institution (2004-5)
• President, Section of Laryngology and Rhinology of the Royal Society of Medicine (2011-12)
• President, British Rhinological Society (2009-12)

Raj Bhalla is a consultant rhinologist and skull base surgeon at Manchester Royal Infirmary and Salford Royal Hospital. His interests are rhinoplasty, sinus and skull base surgery, education and training. He is an honorary senior lecturer with the University of Manchester, President-Elect of the British Rhinological Society, was Chair for Courses and Simulation with ENT UK, and is on the the Royal Society of Medicine (Rhinology Section) and British Society of Facial Plastic Surgery councils.

He organises and hosts a number of training courses each year for all stages of ENT clinician, attracting national and international participants. He was Academic Co-Chair for BACO 2018.  This will be the third Experts Opinion meeting Raj has co-organised with Andrew Swift.

Ray is a consultant in paediatric otolaryngology at the Royal Liverpool Children’s Hospital, Alder Hey. He is also an honorary professor and clinical sub-dean at the University of Liverpool.

Ray is a past-president of the British Association for Paediatric Otolaryngology (BAPO), and president-elect of European Society of Pediatric Otolaryngologists (ESPO). He is Editor-in-chief of Scott-Brown’s Otolaryngology, and author of several textbooks including Pediatric Otolaryngology- Practical Clinical Management (Thieme, 2017).

Prof Chris Raine is a consultant ENT surgeon based at Bradford Royal Infirmary. He has a general ENT practice but specialises in paediatric and adult otology. In 1990, he established the Yorkshire Auditory Implant Service (formally the Yorkshire Cochlear Implant Service), where thanks to the innovative developments in implantable devices, he and his colleagues offer a comprehensive service.

Chris has held numerous official posts during his career. He continues to give advice to NHS England and the Department of Work and Pensions. In recent years he has worked alongside colleagues supporting and improving ENT services in Malawi. He is always welcoming of any support you are able to offer in this work.

Ann-Louise is a consultant paediatric otolaryngologist at the Birmingham Children’s Hospital. Her sub-specialist interests are paediatric rhinology; paediatric endoscopic anterior skull base surgery; and bone anchored hearing implantation, including microtia and facial deformity.

She continues to be actively involved in otolaryngology post-graduate teaching both at local and national level.  She is Vice Chair of the Otolaryngology Speciality Advisory Committee for the Joint Committee of Surgical Training, as well as a member of the Joint Committee on Intercollegiate Examinations.

James is a consultant at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford. He has a strong academic background as a Medical Research Council funded clinical research fellow, which led to an award of a PhD in 2003. James is an honorary senior clinical lecturer in the University of Oxford, and has had fellowships in Sydney and Toronto.

Each year he performs more than 40 cochlear implant surgeries, 15 bone anchored hearing aid implants, around 80 major ear operations, and many children’s surgeries such as tonsillectomies, adenoidectomies and grommet insertions. He sees children at the Oxford Children’s Hospital, and provides treatment for premature babies and neonates with ENT conditions.

Professor Lloyd is a consultant neurologist and skull base surgeon at the Manchester Royal Infirmary and Salford Royal Hospital in Manchester. He is also Professor of Otolaryngology at the University of Manchester. He works within the Manchester Skull Base Unit, the Richard Ramsden Auditory Implant Centre and the Manchester NF2 service, the largest services of their kind in the UK. He is also part of the UK’s largest adult and paediatric auditory brainstem implant service.

Professor Lloyd teaches extensively at undergraduate and postgraduate levels and runs the Manchester Skull Bass Course and the Combined Universities Advanced Otology Course. He has published extensively in his area of expertise and is part of the NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre in Hearing, a university/NHS translational research collaboration between audiology and otolaryngology.

Professor Peter Rea is a consultant ENT surgeon in Leicester, President of the British Society of Otology and past-Chair of the British Society of Neurotology.  He is Honorary Professor of Balance Medicine at De Montfort University, and Honorary Professor to the neuroscience and informatics departments at the University of Leicester. He runs an adult and paediatric practice addressing both middle and inner disease and balance disorders. His balance practice attracts patients internationally and from all corners of the UK. He is on the faculty of 7 national and international otology congresses, and has run the 3-day annual Leicester Balance Course for 16 years. His current research interests include intra-tympanic therapies for Ménière's disease, artificial intelligence led diagnostic solutions for balance disorders working with IBM, the impact of COVID on the nose and middle ear, and developing solutions for hearing loss in developing countries.

Chris Coulson is an ENT consultant at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham. His fields of interest are endoscopic ear surgery, stapes surgery and cochlear implantation. He has a PhD in robotic surgery. He is the CEO of endoscope-i, a tech start-up company creating and delivering innovative healthcare solutions.

Professor Claire Hopkins is a consultant rhinologist at Guy’s Hospital, a large tertiary referral centre in London, with a clinical practice covering the breadth of rhinology including sinusitis, anterior skull base work and facial plastics. She is a professor of rhinology at King’s College London, and the current President of the British Rhinological Society.

She is one of the lead authors of the European Position Statement on Rhinosinusitis and Nasal Polyps and has a large research program covering all aspects of medical and surgical management of rhinitis and sinus disease. She has recently been involved in highlighting the link between COVID-19 and loss of smell and taste, and has undertaken extensive research in this field.

Peter Andrews is the Senior Consultant Surgeon in Rhinology and Facial Plastic Surgery at the Royal National ENT and Eastman Dental Hospital and Consultant Anterior Skull Base Surgeon at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery.

He is the Clinical Director of ENT Surgery at the Royal National ENT and Eastman Dental Hospitals; Chairman of the North Central London (NCL) ENT network; and the National ENT Clinical Lead for the Getting It Right First Time elective recovery programme.

Peter is the current President of the British Society of Facial Plastic Surgery and President Elect of the Rhinology Section of the Royal Society of Medicine.

As the Associate Professor of Rhinology at University College London (UCL) and Academic Lead for Rhinology at UCL, he has published over 70 peer-reviewed publications and runs an olfactory and rhinology PhD programme at the EAR Institute. His research interests include medical device innovation and surgical treatments for smell loss with strong collaborations with the UCL Institute of Neurology and Neuroradiology.

Sean Carrie has been a consultant rhinologist at the Freeman Hospital and honorary senior lecturer at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne since 1999. His particular interests are skull base surgery, office-based surgery and surgical outcomes.

He is President of the European Rhinologic Society (ERS) and past President of the British Rhinological Society (BRS). He is Chairman and convenor of the Newcastle Sinus Surgery and Pituitary courses. He leads the BRS Advanced Rhinology Training programme.

He is Chief Investigator of the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) funded “NAIROS’ multicentre RCT of septoplasty (£1.16million).

Richard’s clinical role is as a head and neck surgeon specialising in oral cavity, microvascular reconstruction, osteoradionecrosis and premalignancy. His interests include composite, chimeric and perforator free flaps, and sentinel node biopsy. Laboratory interests include epigenetics, determinants of premalignancy, and biomarkers of late radiation toxicity.

Richard’s clinical trials, led through Liverpool Clinical Trials Centre, include the management of osteoradionecrosis, premalignancy and immunotherapy of the oral cavity, as well as methodological work on barriers to recruitment and the role of surgeons in multidisciplinary trials. He was appointed as an associate director of NIHR CRN (Cancer) in 2014 with specific remit for advancing surgical oncology trials and the role of surgeons in the national cancer portfolio.

He chairs the Mersey Head & Neck Oncology Research Group (the research arm of Liverpool Head & Neck Centre), an expanding and vibrant multidisciplinary collaboration of clinicians and scientists committed to improving understanding and treatment of malignancies of the mouth, throat and larynx.

Janet Wilson trained in Edinburgh and was a consultant ENT surgeon at Glasgow Royal Infirmary between 1992 - 1995. She was appointed as the first Professor of Otolaryngology HNS Newcastle in 1995.

Janet is a past president of the North of England Surgical Society, British Laryngological Association; Laryngology and Rhinology section of the Royal Society of Medicine; ENT Research Society; and Edinburgh Harveian Society.

In 2017 she was re-elected to Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh Council. She is Convenor of their Informed Consent: Sharing the Decision (ICONS) project.

Janet is Chief Investigator of two multicentre UK trials, NATTINA (adult tonsillectomy), and TOPPITS (the role of proton pump inhibitors in persistent throat symptoms).