NDA Journal 2021

Dr Paleswan Joshi Lakhey is the consultant surgeon in Department of Surgical Gastroenterology doing all complex GI and HPB surgeries, upper GI and lower GI endoscopy including therapeutic ERCP with special interest in gastrointestinal and pancreatobiliary surgery. She is also the Professor and Head of the Department, teaching all levels of medical students, postgraduate residents and MCh residents at Institute of Medicine which is the premier institute in Nepal. After graduating from Fatima Jinnah Medical College for Women from Lahore, Pakistan as a medical doctor in 1996, she did her post graduation in General Surgery from Institute of Medicine, Kathmandu, Nepal. She was awarded “C P Maskey FRCS gold medal” in MS General Surgery in 2001. Then she joined Institute of Medicine as a faculty in Surgery. She also did her postmasters degree in Surgical Gastroenterology (MCh) from Institute of Medicine. She received intensive short-term training in gastrointestinal and pancreatobiliary oncosurgery from Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, South Korea in 2009. In 2018, she had the opportunity to do a short-term observership in HPB surgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre at New York as the travelling fellow of Society of Surgery for Alimentary tract (SSAT) from Developing Nation. She has the credit of being one of the first women to take up General Surgery in Nepal, and the first MCh in Surgical Gastroenterology in Nepal. She was the assistant editor for Journal of Society of Surgeons of Nepal from 2006-2008. She was the General Secretary of Society of Surgeons of Nepal from 2010 – 2012. She was also the Joint Treasurer of Nepalese Society of Gastroenterology from 2011 - 2015. She is the founding Vice President of Nepalese Association of Surgical Gastroenterology (NASG) which was established in 2013. Currently, she is the President of NASG for 2018 -2020. She has played an instrumental role in establishing the International Hepatopancreatobiliary Association (IHPBA) Nepal Chapter. She is passionate about care of digestive disease cancer patients, loves listening to music and traveling. As a mother of two daughters, she advocates encouraging and empowering girls and women in whatever field they want to excel and has been active in initiating the “Women in Surgery” campaign in Nepal to encourage, empower and promote the younger generation. Her motto in life has been “Noble effort is merit” since her school days. Scientific Session Speaker Bios Dhiraj Tripathi is a consultant hepatologist/liver transplant physician and Honorary Professor. He is also Deputy Clinical Director of Research for University Hospitals Birmingham. During the COVID19 pandemic, he played a leading role in the management and delivery of high profile nationally prioritised observational and interventional trials. University Hospitals Birminmgham is the largest recruiter for COVID-19 studies of all NHS Trusts in England. He has particular interest in clinical aspects of portal hypertension including endoscopic and radiological interventions, and was awarded a doctorate based on his clinical research in Edinburgh. He leads specialist services for patients with complications of portal hypertension and vascular liver disorders such as Budd Chiari Syndrome. He has published widely with over 75 publications and is lead author of three British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG) Cllinical Practice Guidelines on variceal bleeding, transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic stent-shunt, and liver transplantation. He has active national and international collaborations resulting in high impact publications and successful grant applications. He is Chief Investigator of the the largest ever multicentre clinical trials in portal hypertension with total funding in excess of £3.5 million from NIHR HTA. He is a committee member of NICE Interventinal Procedures Committee, and has been directly invovled with over 100 NICE guidelines. His other committee work includes membership of the BSG Liver Section, lead of the BASL Portal Hypertension Special Interest Group, and Regional Councillor of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons Glasgow. NDA UK JOURNAL, JULY 2021