Faculty

Grainne Bourke
Leeds, UK

Grainne Bourke is a consultant hand and plastic surgeon in Leeds Teaching Hospitals, U.K. She has specialist interests in Children's hand surgery, major nerve injury and Hand and Upper Limb Transplantation.

Dean Boyce
Swansea, UK

Dean Boyce is Clinical Director of the Welsh Hand & Peripheral Nerve Surgery and the Welsh Centre for Plastic Surgery & Burns. He was appointed in 2003 after training in South Wales, the West Midlands, Manchester, Wrightington, and Sydney, Australia. He has a strong academic background, having been awarded a Hunterian Professorship for research into human and foetal scarless wound healing. His current research areas mirror his clinical interests in peripheral nerve & brachial plexus surgery, congenital hand surgery, upper limb cerebral palsy and Dupuytren's disease. He is heavily involved in postgraduate training and is currently selection lead for the UK ATP Fellowships in Hand Surgery. He is a Council Member of the British Society for Surgery of the Hand, and Chair of Education & Training for the British Society of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons.

Maurizio Calcagni
Zürich, Switzerland

Mr Calcagni is a specialist in Hand Surgery, FMH, and a specialist in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, FMH. He is presently Vice-Chairman Div. of Plastic Surgery and Hand Surgery, University Hospital Zurich, Secretary General of the FESSH (2017-2020) and next-President of the Swiss Society for Hand Surgery (2020-2022). He has 100 publications in indexed journals, 30 non indexed journals and 23 book chapters. He is teaching at University of Milan, University of Zurich, he is chairman of the Handflaps Course and Tendon Suture Course (Zurich) and is frequently invited speaker at many national and international Courses

Hywel Dafydd
Swansea, UK

Mr Dafydd is a Consultant Plastic, Hand and Peripheral Nerve Surgeon based at the Welsh Centre for Burns & Plastic Surgery in Swansea, UK. He qualified from Cambridge in 2001, then worked in plastic surgery units in the Midlands, Swansea and New Zealand.

He is an alumnus of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital's Microsurgical Fellowship Programme, having spent over a year in Taipei 2012-2013. He also undertook a year of fellowship training in Orthopaedic Hand and Wrist Surgery at the Auckland Hand Unit at Middlemore Hospital, New Zealand. Further subspecialist training was gained from a visiting fellowship in peripheral nerve surgery with Susan Mackinnon in St. Louis, MO.

Mr Dafydd is now heavily involved with teaching and training the next generation of surgeons on the Welsh Plastic Surgery Training Scheme. He is an author of Key Notes on Plastic Surgery and sits on the Education and Training Committee of BSSH.

Nick Downing
Nottingham, UK

Nick Downing has been Consultant Hand and Orthopaedic Surgeon at the Queen's Medical Centre, University Hospital Nottingham, and the East Midlands Major Trauma Centre, UK since 2002. He trained in hand surgery in Nottingham and Derby in the UK and in Sydney, Australia. He has a broad hand surgery trauma and elective practice with particular interests in distal radius and carpal injuries. He is a member of the Council of the British Society for Surgery of the Hand and has served on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Hand Surgery (European Volume) since 2012.

Mireia Esplugas
Barcelona, Spain

Mireia Esplugas MD is co-director of Institut Kaplan in Barcelona, Spain. She specialized in orthopaedic surgery in 1995. Mireia Esplugas received the European Board Hand Surgery Examination Diploma in 2005 and was awarded with the Kaplan Award for Excellence in Anatomy in 2015. She was the president of the Spanish Society Congress in 2019. She was co-director of the Spanish Hand Surgery Society Reviews (Revista Iberoamericana de Cirurgía de la Mano (RICMA)) from 2016 to 2019. She has been member of the International Wrist Investigation Workshop (IWIW) since 2018. Her main field of research is carpal biomechanics. She is an active member and international faculty of the International Wrist Arthroscopy Society (IWAS) and became part of the IWAS board in 2019 as coordinator of European IWAS courses. She is also an active member of the FESSH Social Media Committee since 2017 and contributes to the work of FESSH Relationship Committee since 2021.

Grey Giddins
Bath, UK

I trained in Oxford and at the RNOH. I have since worked as an Orthopaedic and Hand surgeon in Bath since 1995. I am privileged to work in a very supportive team of three hand surgeons and four hand therapists with a wide range of practice including a full range of elbow, wrist and hand trauma and elective conditions. I have particular interests in the management of common hand injuries, the mechanism and outcome of falls on the wrist, and minimal access surgery for many common elective hand conditions such as finger ganglia, corrective osteotomies and closed fusions. I run a specialist practice in obstetric brachial plexus injuries, wrist and DRUJ pathology, and rheumatoid arthritis. I have an interest in surgical error and its avoidance.

I am a visiting professor in the Mechanical Engineering department at the University of Bath, where I run a research programme looking at tendon injuries, mechanisms of falling and joint replacement failures. I have recently been awarded an NIHR grant to develop a novel drill guide system. I have developed a novel jig to measure DRUJ instability and am developing jigs to measure instability in other joints.

I was honoured to be President of the British Society for Surgery of the Hand in 2017 and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Hand Surgery (European) from 2012-2016.

I am married with two daughters in their 20's, a son who has just left school and a cat and dog. When not at work I enjoy playing tennis, golf, skiing and swimming. I cycle most places to work, not least as parking is increasingly difficult.

Daniel B. Herren
Zurich, Switzerland

As a board-certified orthopaedic and hand surgeon, he has been the head of the hand surgery department at the Schulthess Clinic in Zurich since 2009 and more recently, became its chief medical officer 2018.

After medical certification, he completed further education with postdoctoral studies focusing on the investigation of biocompatible materials at the ETH Zurich as well as a Master of Health Administration at the University of Berne.

Dr. med. Daniel B. Herren has authored more than 90 scientific publications, which focus primarily on quality management and joint replacement techniques of the hand.

From 2010 to 2014, he was a board member of the National Federation of Medical Doctors in Switzerland (FMH), and was responsible for the association's quality management. In addition, he acted as President of the Swiss Society for Surgery of the Hand between 2010 and 2013. Currently, he is the secretary general of the Federation of European Societies for Surgery of the Hand (FESSH) and in conjunction with this role.

With his long-standing experience and activities in the field of hand surgery and orthopaedics, Dr. med. Daniel B. Herren has a vast national and international professional network. Teaching and education is the major pillar to develop hand surgery in Europe. It makes therefore sense to invest in this regard for the future generation of hand surgeons.

Jonathan Hobby
Basingstoke, UK

Mr Jonathan Hobby is a consultant Hand & Orthopaedic Surgeon at the Hampshire Hospitals NHS FT. He is the honorary secretary of the British Society for Surgery of the Hand. He graduated from St. Thomas's Hospital in 1989 and did his postgraduate training on the St Bartholomew's surgical rotation and Cambridge Orthopaedic rotation. He completed an MD thesis on the clinical effectiveness of MRI of the wrist and was awarded a Hunterian Professorship by the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 2001. He was awarded the Graham Stack travelling fellowship in 2009 and was an ASSH international travelling fellow in 2010. He has served on the BSSH council, chaired the BSSH research and audit committee, and was chair of the BSSH Instructional courses for series seven. His research interests include wrist imaging, hand outcome measures, small joint arthroplasty and the influence of psychological factors on hand surgery.

Steven Hovius
Rotterdam, Netherlands

Steven Hovius is currently a part time staff member at Radboud University, Medical Centre Nijmegen and Xpert Clinic, Hand and Wrist Centre Rotterdam. He was formerly the Professor and Head of the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and Hand Surgery at the ErasmusMC University Medical Centre Rotterdam, The Netherlands. He is board-certified plastic and reconstructive surgeon and general surgeon. He has strong interest in hand and wrist surgery, more specific congenital hand differences, peripheral nerve pathology, tendon transfers, Dupuytren's Disease He is (Co)Author of 281 international publications (pubmed), 35 other publications, 32 chapters in international books and 7 chapters in national books. He is editor of 3 books, 15 national publications in Journals, promotor of 56 PhD theses, having 130 international invitations to present lectures. reviewer at many international journals (including Lancet, Hand journals, PRS, etc), and organizer of many national and international meetings. He is one of the past secretary generals of FESSH (1999 – 2002).

Wee Lam
Edinburgh, UK

Mr Wee Lam is a consultant Plastic and Hand Surgeon in Edinburgh. He was council member of the British Society for Surgery of the Hand and immediate past president of the British Foundation of International Reconstructive Surgery and Training (BFIRST), the official outreach arm of the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons (BAPRAS). He graduated from Edinburgh University and did his postgraduate training in Leeds and Manchester, with fellowships in Taiwan, Sheffield and Great Ormond Street. He has won the BSSH Journal of Hand Surgery prize, the Pulvertaft Essay prize and was awarded the ASSH international travelling fellowship in 2012, and the Graham Stack travelling fellowship in 2020. He was also awarded the Sonic Hedgehog prize for best paper at the World Congenital Hand Symposium in 2015. He is a current editor for the Journal of Hand Surgery (European). His research interests include collaborative work between congenital hand surgery and developmental biology, spasticity and surgical education.

Alex Lluch
Barcelona, Spain

Dr. Àlex Lluch was born in Barcelona in 1970. Decided to dedicate to Hand Surgery since attending a tendon and nerve reconstruction surgery as a first year medical student. After his Residence period in Orthopaedic Surgery & Trauma in Vall d'Hebron University Hospital (Barcelona), trained in Hand & Wrist Surgery with his mentors Alberto Lluch and Marc Garcia-Elias in Institut Kaplan (Barcelona) combined with frequent formation visits around the world. Currently he is the Chief of the Hand. Wrist & Peripheral Nerve Unit in Vall d'Hebron University Hospital and co-director of Institut Kaplan. He has special interest in the painful wrist and carpal instabilities, reason why he has contributed to create the International Wrist Biomechanics Study Group. He is member of the Relationship Committee of FESSH.

Dai Newington
Swansea, UK

Consultant Hand Surgeon in Swansea, UK. I am a member of BSSH and the current President of our Society (2019). I have a strong interest in undergraduate & postgraduate teaching and have lectured at many national & international conferences on a wide variety of subjects relating to Hand & Wrist surgery. I chaired the advanced training post/fellowship group for the JCST/RCS (2014-17). I am a current member of the BSSH Education & Training committee. I am a dedicated member of FESSH & BSSH delegate to the Society 2015-18. I am delighted to be a faculty member of the FESSH Academy.

David Shewring
Cardiff, UK

David Shewring is a Consultant Hand Surgeon appointed in Cardiff in 1994. He trained in Orthopaedic and Hand Surgery in Southampton, Cambridge, Cardiff and Oxford. He serves on FESSH Council as Chairman of the Education and Training Committee. He is currently Chairman of the Committee of Management of the Journal of Hand Surgery (European Volume) and led the successful BSSH bid to host the 2022 Joint IFSSH/IFSHT Congress in London, which will be its first time in the UK. He was president of the British Society for Surgery of the Hand for 2018. Outside medicine, his interests include the cultivation of citrus, oenology and, now that he can't play anymore, watching his sons play rugby.

Pierluigi Tos
Milan, Italy

Specialized in Orthopaedic Surgery and Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery
Head of the Hand Surgery and Reconstructive Microsurgery Unit, Orthopaedic Institute Gaetano Pini-CTO di Milan, Italy
Chairman of FESSH Hand Trauma Commettee since 2017
Former President of the Italian Society for Microsurgery
President of the Italian Group of Microsurgery and Limbs Reconstruction of the Italian Society of Orthopaedics
Contract Professor of the University of Milan School of Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery
International Delegate for the Italian Society for Surgery of the Hand (SICM) at IFSSH
European Delegate for the Italian Society for Microsurgery at the EFSM
President of the Italian Editorial Commission of the Italian Society for Hand Surgery
Deputy Director and Scientific Board of the Italian Journal of Hand Surgery (Rivista Italiana di Chirurgia della Mano) - official journal of SICM (Italian Society for Surgery of the Hand)
Former President of the Teaching Commission for the Italian Society for Microsurgery and Hand Surgery