International Faculty

Jonathan Hobby - Course Chair
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.

Ales Fibir - Course Co-Chair
Hradec Králové, Czech Republic

Aleš Fibír, MD, PhD, is the Head of the Department of Plastic and Aesthetic Surgery and Burn Treatment at the University Hospital Hradec Králové and Chairman of the Czech Society for Surgery of the Hand. He also serves as the Head of the Department of Surgery at the Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Hradec Králové, overseeing undergraduate and postgraduate surgical education. He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague, and completed his postgraduate studies at the Faculty of Military Health Sciences, University of Defence in Hradec Králové. As a board-certified plastic surgeon, he specializes in hand surgery and plastic and reconstructive surgery, including breast and soft tissue reconstructions and aesthetic surgery in private practice. He is a member of several professional societies and their boards, and he actively participates in teaching and organizing courses in hand surgery and plastic surgery in the Czech Republic.

Andrea Atzei
Treviso, Italy

Ariane Asmus
Berlin, Germany

Dr. Ariane Asmus is a senior consultant of the Department of Hand-, Replantation- and Microsurgery of the BG Trauma Center Berlin. She studied medicine and graduated at the Charité Berlin. She is a consultant for general and trauma surgery and continued her training at the BG Trauma Center Berlin in the Department for Hand rehabilitation during which she worked on her PhD about the effect of a specialized hand rehabilitation program. In 2013 she passed the board qualification for hand surgery and her PhD exam at the University of Greifswald. In 2014-2015 she worked as senior consultant at Greifswald University Medicine, Department of Hand and functional microsurgery and after returning back to the Berlin BG Trauma Center collaborated and worked with the university on research projects which include carpal injuries, carpal kinematics, TFCC and CRPS as well as tutoring young surgeons in hands-on courses. In collaboration with the plastic department of her hospital she is part of the board for reconstruction and free flaps. In 2016 she became a fellow of EBHS and since 2019 serves as a member of the board of examiners of EBHS. She is a member of the scientific advisory board of the magazine “Hand Surgery Scan” and in 2022 achieved the expert certificate in hand surgery from the DGH (German Society for Hand Surgery).

Grainne Bourke
Leeds, UK

Gráinne Bourke FRCSI, FRCS(Plast) is a Consultant in Plastic and Reconstructive surgery at the Leeds Teaching Hospital Trust since 2004. She completed her basic surgical training in Dublin, Ireland before moving to Yorkshire to train in Plastic and Reconstructive surgery. She completed an international fellowship in children hand surgery and major nerve injuries in 2003/2004.
She has specialist interests in microsurgery in children and adult, children's hand surgery and nerve injuries in adult and children.
She has research interests in nerve repair, congenital hand anomalies and plastic surgery reconstruction. She is the Academic Supervisor of the Specialist Registrar NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow in Plastic Surgery, overseeing novel research into the role of MRI in brachial plexus injuries.

Michiel Cromheecke
Ghent, Belgium

Michiel Cromheecke is a hand and wrist surgeon at AZ Maria Middelares, Ghent, Belgium, and a consultant in hand surgery and microsurgery at the University Hospital Ghent. His clinical focus lies in minimally invasive hand and wrist surgery, with particular expertise in ultrasound-guided procedures, arthroscopy, peripheral nerve surgery, and complex wrist pathology. He also has a special interest in CMC arthroplasty and revision arthroplasty.

Dr. Cromheecke studied medicine at Ghent University, graduating magna cum laude, before completing his orthopaedic training across leading Belgian centres. He subsequently subspecialised in hand surgery, completing the Belgian Hand Surgery Certificate and earning the European Board of Hand Surgery diploma.

Multiple international fellowships and microsurgery training further shaped his expertise. He completed fellowships in Spain, France, and Belgium, where he trained with world experts such as Dr. P. del Piñal, Dr. JM Cognet, Dr. J Garret, and Dr. F. Verstreken. These experiences provided advanced exposure to microsurgery, wrist arthroscopy, complex hand trauma, and reconstructive surgery.

Dr. Cromheecke is actively engaged in teaching and education. Nationally, he delivers lectures in the Belgian Hand Surgery Certificate program and provides hands-on training in ultrasound-guided surgery and arthroscopy. Internationally, he serves as faculty at IRCAD Strasbourg and as an instructor at cadaveric and ultrasound-guided surgery courses across Belgium and Europe.

He has authored multiple peer-reviewed publications on minimally invasive techniques, ligament reconstruction, wrist and nerve pathology, and arthroplasty. As an invited speaker, he has lectured at numerous international congresses, including IFSSH, FESSH, GEM, BHG, and IRCAD, where he shares his experience on ultrasound-guided surgery, wrist pathology, and arthroplasty strategies.

Piotr Czarnecki
Poznan, Poland

Piotr Czarnecki, MD, PhD after serving as member in the FESSH HTC Committee currently he is the chair of the FESSH Congress Committee. He is working in Traumatology, Orthopaedics and Hand Surgery Department at Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poland, specialized in orthopaedics and trauma surgery. Dr Czarnecki is past President of Polish Society for Surgery of the Hand and former chief of Hand Surgery Section at Polish Orthopaedics and Traumatology Society, currently FESSH National Delegate. He is also a member of FESSH Examination Committee and passed his exam in 2010 as the best candidate. His main field of research and clinical practice is secondary post-traumatic reconstruction, congenital deformities, degenerative disorders and nerve surgery. Since many years he is devoted to improve training and scientific exchange of Polish and Eastern Europe hand surgeons organizing numerous meetings: congresses, courses, cadaver courses, summer schools and symposia. His idea is to teach and learn in a hospitable and friendly atmosphere, combining modern high quality content with socializing activities.

Nick Downing
Nottingham, UK

Nick Downing has been a Consultant Hand and Orthopaedic Surgeon at the Queen's Medical Centre, University Hospital Nottingham, and the East Midlands Major Trauma Centre, 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 former member of the Council of the British Society for Surgery of the Hand and Editorial Board of the Journal of Hand Surgery (European Volume).

Xavier Gueffier
Lyon, France

Dr. Xavier Gueffier is a hand surgeon based in Lyon, France. He received specialist training in hand surgery at the Edouard Herriot Hospital under the supervision of Professor Guillaume Herzberg. Additionally, he completed a medical doctorate thesis focusing on the functional outcomes of the first bilateral hand allograft.
Since 2008, Dr. Gueffier has been practicing at a private hospital in Bourgoin Jallieu. He successfully passed the European Board of Hand Surgery examination in 2016 and has served as an examiner since 2019. Dr. Gueffier has been pioneering the use of Ultrasound and Wide Awake Local Anesthesia No Tourniquet (WALANT) surgery in his daily practice since 2018.
In 2024, he organized and chaired the first edition of the Hand Val d'Isere course, which focused on innovation in hand surgery.

Elisabeth Haas-Lützenberger
Munich, Germany

Elisabeth Haas-Lützenberger studied human medicine at the Paracelsus Medical University (PMU) in Salzburg (Austria). In 2012 she started her professional career as a resident at the Division for Handsurgery, Plastic and Aesthetic Surgery at the University Hospital, LMU Munich. She completed her residency in 2018 and currently works as a senior consultant for Hand, Plastic and Aesthetic Surgery.

Her particular interest in Hand surgery was mainly determined in 2013 when she was awarded with the FESSH Travel Award and had the chance to visit FESSH Hand Trauma Centers in France and Italy. The Travel Award gave her the chance to get in touch with top European Hand surgeons helping her to substantiate her general interest in Education in Hand surgery.

Besides her work with students at her home university, she was co-founder in 2017 of YEHS (Young European Hand Surgeons) and worked as an executive board member until 2022 (vice-president & head of social media). On national level, Elisabeth was elected as president of the Young Forum of the DGH (German Society for Hand Surgery

Radek Kebrle
Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic

Radek Kebrle is of Czech nationality (CZ) and following training in orthopaedics and hand surgery in the Czech Republic and abroad he currently works in Hand surgery department of Klinka Dr. Pírka (CZ), training center for hand surgery. In 1999 to 2019 he worked at Hand surgery institute of Vysoké n.J. (CZ). In Klinika Dr. Pírka he and his colleagues are covering wide range of hand surgery from fingertip to the elbow including microsurgical reconstruction, arthroscopy and arthroplasty in the hand, wrist and elbow. He also works as a consultant at the Juvenile arthritis clinic – Medical Faculty of Charles University Prague. His special interest is reconstruction of complex deformities following trauma. He is a board member of the Czech Society for Surgery of the Hand. In 2009 he passed the European Board of Hand Surgery examination as best candidate.

Balazs Lenkei
Miskolc, Hungary

President of the Hungarian Hand Surgery Society, Associate Head of the Trauma and Hand Surgery Department in the BAZ County Teaching Hospital, Director of TritonLife Debrecen Private Hospital, AO Hungary National Faculty Member, Examiner in the FESSH Examination Committee, Examiner in the Hungarian National Hand Surgery training program, Examiner in the Hungarian National Traumatology training program.
I started working in 2003. Right now, I am the associate leader of a trauma and hand surgery center in Miskolc, Hungary. In everyday life this is the biggest part of my professional activity. I deal with managing the daily issues of the unit a lot and take part in the outpatient care, operative activity, and duty system as well. My interest in upper extremity injuries and disorders is accepted in our unit so I operate mainly these patients, but as a trauma surgeon sometimes I need to fix ankle or hip fractures as well. I enjoy participating in teaching of the younger colleagues, this way I got to be a national faculty member in the AO group. Since 2019. I am an examiner in the FESSH examination committee. The group of this committee consists of wonderful people. The meetings and examinations are very fruitful for me. Being the director of a private hospital is kind of new to me, but I enjoy it as it gives a lot of success experience.

Shai Luria
Jerusalem, Israel

Shai Luria is the head of the Hand and Microvascular Surgery Service at the Department of Orthopedics at the Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center in Jerusalem, Israel. He trained in orthopedics at Hadassah MC and hand surgery at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA, USA. Today he is the fellowship director of the Hand and Microvascular Surgery Fellowship at Hadassah, a member of the Hebrew University School of Occupational Therapy Board of Education and manager of the weekly resident teaching program of the Orthopedic Surgery Division, Ein Kerem Campus of the Hadassah MC. Shai specializes in upper extremity trauma reconstruction and the treatment of upper extremity neuromuscular and congenital disorders. His research interests include the study of wrist biomechanics and the epidemiology of hand and upper extremity trauma and is an Associate Professor at the Hebrew University. He is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Hand Surgery (European Volume). Shai is the past president of the Israeli Society for Surgery of the Hand.

Kai Megerle
Munich, Germany

Kai Megerle is a professor of plastic surgery at the Technical University of Munich and chair of the Center for Hand Surgery, Microsurgery and Plastic Surgery at Schoen Clinic Munich Harlaching in Munich, Germany. He has served in several FESSH committees and is a board member of the German Society for Surgery of the Hand. He is one of the editors in chief for "Handchirurgie, Mikrochirurgie und Plastische Chirurgie", the German journal of hand surgery. His main research interests are carpal biomechanics, reconstructive microsurgery, peripheral nerve surgery as well as medical data science and machine learning. He is cofounder of an interdisciplinary treatment unit for professional musicians at the Technical University of Munich and still hasn't fully given up the idea of pursuing a career as a rockstar.

Alessia Pagnotta
Rome, Italy

Plastic and Orthopaedic Surgeon specialized in Hand Surgery, with a PhD in Applied Medical-Surgical Sciences. From 2014 to 2025, she served as Head of the Hand Surgery and Microsurgery Unit at the Jewish Hospital in Rome, Italy. She is currently working in the Plastic Surgery Department at Sapienza University of Rome, where she also holds a professorship in Hand Surgery within the Department of Orthopaedics. She is the President-Elect of the Italian Society for Microsurgery for the 2025–2027 term and serves as a member of the FESSH Examination Committee. Her main areas of expertise include reconstructive microsurgery of the hand, vascularized bone grafts, and tumors of the hand and wrist.

Ole Reigstad
Oslo, Norway

Ole Reigstad (1969) is working as hand surgery consultant and is head of Hand and Foot department at Martina Hansens Hospital in Oslo, Norway. He is MD (1998), specialist in orthopedic surgery (2006), and defended his PhD "Wrist arthroplasty: bone fixation, clinical development and mid- to long term results" in 2013. He has the Norwegian Diploma in Hand surgery (2011) and is a fellow of the European Board of Hand Surgery (EBHS) from 2017. His research interest includes a variety of orthopedic and hand surgery subjects, with a special interest in carpal injuries, scaphoid non-union, wrist and hand arthrosis, small joint arthroplasties and biomaterials. He is tutoring medical students and specialist candidates in hand surgery and teaches at specialist courses in orthopedic and hand surgery in Norway and Sweden and on international courses including FESSH academy courses. He has published more than 35 peer reviewed papers as well as book chapters. In 2011 he was part of the organizing committee for FESSH (Oslo) and is a member of the scientific committee for FESSH 2024 (Rotterdam). He is Norwegian delegate and vice president to the Scandinavian Society for Surgery of the Hand (SSSH).

David Shewring
Cardiff, UK

David Shewring is a Consultant Hand Surgeon appointed in Cardiff (UK) in 1994. He trained in Orthopaedic and Hand Surgery in Southampton, Cambridge, Cardiff and Oxford. He has served in numerous roles for BSSH and was BSSH president for 2018. He was Chairman of the Committee of Management of the Journal of Hand Surgery (European Volume) and Chair of the Training Interface Group in Hand Surgery. He led the successful BSSH bid to host the 2022 Joint IFSSH/IFSHT/FESSH Congress in London and was then Chair of the organising committee for that congress. He served on FESSH Council as Chairman of the Education and Training Committee. He conceived and set up the successful FESSH Academy, which continues to run. He is currently a member of the Executive committee of IFSSH. His main interest within hand surgery is management of hand fractures, upon which he has published widely. Outside medicine, his interests include the cultivation of citrus, oenology and, now that he can't play anymore, watching his sons play rugby.

Sumedh Talwalkar
Wrightington, UK

Sumedh qualified from the University of Bombay and from the KEM Hospital in Mumbai. He completed his Orthopaedic training in the Northwest of England, having worked as a Senior Fellow in Upper Limb Surgery at Wrightington Hospital prior to taking up his Consultant post in 2009.
Sumedh is currently the Divisional Medical Director of Specialist Services for the trust and was recently elected to the council of the British Society for Surgery of the Hand.
He manages the highly successful FRCS Hand Course, which is held three times a year. He has a strong interest in research and undertook a year out of training at the University of Manchester investigating the role of fibroblasts in the healing of intra-synovial tendon injuries. He has presented at many national and international meetings and has published more than 20 papers and contributed to textbooks. He continues to maintain strong links with the Universities of Manchester and Salford and is an Honorary Senior Lecturer at Edge Hill University. Sumedh's main interest lies in upper limb joint arthroplasty, including replacements of the small joints of the hand, wrist and elbow. In addition to this he is involved in the management of upper limb trauma, at Wigan, where in addition to local referrals, he manages a tertiary referral service for complex injuries from other regions.
Speciality Areas:

• Hand and Wrist Surgery : Rheumatoid Hand,
• Joint Replacements, 1st CMC joint Arthroscopy,
• Wrist Arthroscopy, Tendon and Nerve Surgery, Dupuytrens, Ganglions, Carpal Tunnel, Fractures/Non Unions/Mal Unions
• Elbow Surgery: Elbow Arthroscopy, Elbow and Radial Head Replacements, Trauma, Tennis and Golfers Elbow
• Shoulder Surgery: Shoulder Trauma, Shoulder Arthroscopy, Shoulder Replacements.

Mirjam Thielen
Straubing, Germany

Mirjam Thielen is the head of the Department of Hand Surgery at St. Elisabeth Hospital in Straubing. She is board-certified in Orthopedic and Trauma Surgery, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and Hand Surgery and was trained at Heidelberg University Hospital and the BG Trauma Center in Ludwigshafen. She is actively involved in training younger colleagues in Hand Surgery, as well as students at her home university in Orthopedic, Trauma, and Hand Surgery.
In 2023, she had the great opportunity to be one of the FESSH/SICM traveling fellows in Italy and visited different centers in Milan and Torino. This fellowship was an exceptional experience, expanding her perspectives, enriching her horizon, and substantially increasing her general interest in education in Hand Surgery.
Her research interests focus on 3D movement analysis of the upper limb, including the hand, as well as diagnostics and outcome measures for patients with a spastic upper limb.

Pierluigi Tos
Milan, Italy

Pierluigi Tos is Director of the Department of Hand Surgery and Microsurgery of the Orthopaedic Institute Gaetano Pini-CTO in Milan, Italy. Is specialized in both Orthopaedic and Plastic/Reconstructive surgery with a PhD in Neuroscience. He has a special interest in microsurgery and research on nerve regeneration and education. Former president of the Italian Society for Microsurgery and actual President of the European Federation for Microsurgery is in charge for the Education committee of these societies. He has been chair of the Hand Trauma Committee and council member of FESSH from 2017 to 2023, now responsible for the Micro&Hand subgroup inside the FESSH. He is scientifically responsible for the microsurgery advanced diploma of the Italian Society for Microsurgery (SIM) and Surgery of the Hand (SICM). He has 132 publications in Medline, 4 books, 40 book chapters. Experimental research area: nerve repair and regeneration, teaching methodology, 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, European Delegate for the Italian Society for Microsurgery at the EFSM President of the Italian Editorial Committee 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) - the official journal of SICM (Italian Society for Surgery of the Hand), former President of the Education Committee of Italian Society for Surgery of the Hand.

Emily West
Bristol, UK

Emily West is a Consultant Plastic and Hand Surgeon working at Southmead Hospital, Bristol and Bristol Royal Hospital for Children.
Following undergraduate medicine in Cambridge and Oxford and surgical training in London, her Plastics training was in the Oxfordshire region. She completed an interface orthopaedic Hand fellowship in Norwich and a microsurgery fellowship in Bristol, gaining the European Diploma in Hand Surgery in 2015, and was appointed as Consultant in 2015.
She is Clinical lead for Hand and Children’s Plastic Surgery in Bristol and undertakes a broad range of hand and upper limb surgery, however her main interests are upper limb trauma/ soft tissue reconstruction, Children’s Hand surgery and management of nerve injuries.
She is passionate about education, and has been faculty for the AO Hand trauma course for 10 years, teaches on the BSSH instructional courses, multiple regional and local courses and is involved in PULPe. She is an examiner for the FESSH exam, and delighted to be part of this FESSH course.