NACCS Council
The NACCS Council consists of three executive officers, six members and the immediate past president. The Council meets three times a year in central London.
President: Dr Roger Lightfoot
Shackleton Department of Anaesthetics, University Hospitals Southampton NHS Foundation Trust
I have been a Consultant in Neurocritical Care and Anaesthesia since 2004. I was appointed to Council in 2012. My areas of interest are prodominantly around neurocritical care where I am the Clinical Lead for the Wessex Neurological Centre Neurosciences Intensive Care Unit. I am currently clinical lead for Organ Donation within the Trust. For the Council I have since 2017 until May 2019 the Treasurer for NACCS. I represent NACCS at the Small and Specialist Societies Advisory Group at the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine.
It is an immense honour to be given the opportunity to be President of the Society starting in May 2019.Immediate Past-President: Dr Judith Dinsmore
Consultant in Neuroanaesthesia, St George’s Hospital NHS Trust, London
I have been a Consultant Anaesthetist at St George’s University Hospital Trust, London since 1989. My specialist interests include anaesthesia for neurosurgery and neuroradiology. I have published original articles, chapters and books on various topics in neuroanaesthesia but have a particular interest in awake craniotomy and was involved in recent guidance for management of anaesthesia during intra-arterial thrombectomy. I am currently an Examiner for both the Royal College of Anaesthetists and the Intercollegiate Speciality Board for Neurosurgery. I was appointed to council in 2012 and was previously Honorary Secretary. I represent NACCS on the SALG group and have organised several CPD Days at the AAGBI and the RCOA.
Honorary Secretary: Dr Elfyn Thomas
Department of Intensive Care Medicine, Derriford Hospital, Plymouth
I am primarily an intensive care consultant, was clinical lead at Plymouth Neuro ICU for 13 years and I also have sessions in neuroanaesthesia. I was the NACCS linkman for 3 years before being elected to council in 2011 and ran the society’s survey facility for 6 years. I am the NACCS representative to FICMTAQ and sit on the working parties looking at transfer of brain injured patients and patients with perceived devastating brain injury. I was the lead author of the NACCS joint position statement with the SBNS on transducer placement in TBI management. I have chaired a postgraduate course on subarachnoid haemorrhage for the ESICM, edited a book on head injury management and have been the Peninsula MTC clinical lead and a course director for both the ETC and ATLS courses.
Outside of work I enjoy sailing.
Honorary Treasurer: Dr Craig Carroll
Consultant Anaesthetist, Salford Royal Hospital.
Having qualified in 1993 after medical school on Manchester, I spend time in Queensland, Australia doing Emergency Medicine before returning the northwest for anaesthesia training. Following the completion of Specialist Training I sent time working at the Walton Centre, Liverpool before taking up a substantive in 2002 at Salford Royal.
I have an interest in pre-operative medicine and complex spinal surgery, in addition to neuroanaesthesia and Level 2 Neuro-critical Care. I am a member of the UK Cell Salvage Action Group and am the Chair of the North West Regional Transfusion Committee.
I joined the NACCS as a co-opted member in 2014, whilst chairing the 50th ASM Local Organising Committee for the Manchester Conference, and subsequently was elected to Council the following year.
Dr Gemma Nickols
Consultant in Anaesthesia, North Bristol NHS Trust
I have been a consultant at Southmead hospital in Bristol since 2015. My sub-specialty interests include neuroanaesthesia (predominantly emergency surgery) and vascular anaesthesia. I trained in the Severn deanery and completed advanced neuroanaesthesia training at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London. I have been the NACCS linkperson for Bristol since 2015 and wrote the local anaesthetic guideline for the use of intra-operative MRI at Southmead.
I am the audit lead for my department and an active member of the Society of Anaesthetists of the Southwestern Region (SASWR), having been a trainee committee member.
I led the organisation of the NACCS ASM in Bristol, in May 2018.
Dr Jason Wilson BA MB BS MSc FRCA GradStat
Dr Sally Wilson
Consultant in Neuroanaesthesia and Neurocritical Care, National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, London.
I have been a Consultant Anaesthetist at Queen Square since 1995 where my work is predominately anaesthesia for intracranial surgery, with a regular neurocritical care commitment. I run a general anaesthesia list for MRI and was involved in establishing the first interventional MR scanner in the UK. More recently I have jointly chaired the AAGBI working party writing ‘Safe provision of anaesthetic services in magnetic resonance units’. I set up and recruit to our clinical fellow programme for neuroanaesthesia. I have always had a strong interest in clinical governance and am currently Clinical Director for Quality and Safety at Queen Square. I am a specialist advisor for the CQC and a clinical reviewer for ACSA.
Dr Jonathan Coles
Consultant in Neuroanaesthesia and Critical Care, Cambridge
In 2006 I was appointed as an Academic Consultant working within the Neurosciences Critical Care Unit (NCCU) and providing neuroanaesthesia at Cambridge University Hospitals. I am also the co-lead for critical care, Comprehensive Research Network (CRN) Eastern, National Institute for Health Research (UK) and examiner for the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine, Royal College of Anaesthetists, UK.
I completed my training in Anaesthesia & Intensive Care Medicine in the Eastern region, and during my time in Cambridge was awarded a clinical research training fellowship from the Wellcome Trust in 1999. My PhD was in the field of neuro-imaging following clinical head injury and based within the NCCU and Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre (WBIC) in Cambridge. The WBIC provides Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Magnetic Resonance (MR) Imaging and Spectroscopy for clinical research. I was awarded a Clinician Scientist fellowship from the Academy of Medical Sciences/Health Foundation in 2004. This fellowship has allowed me to establish a programme of research that examines mechanisms responsible for secondary neuronal injury, their temporal profile, and implications for eventual neurocognitive recovery. In 2009 I was appointed University Lecturer & Honorary Consultant, and since that time have established a collaborative research network with funding obtained from the Wellcome Trust, Medical Research Council (UK), European Union, and National Institute of Academic Anaesthesia. I have published extensively within the field of neurosciences & critical care and am a reviewer for relevant specialist medical journals and national/international grant awarding bodies.
Dr Steve Phillips
ST6 Anaesthesia, Wessex Deanery
I graduated in 2008 and following foundation training spent a year living and working in Christchurch, New Zealand around the time of the February 2011 earthquake. Following my return to the UK I began speciality training in Wessex deanery in 2013 and developed an interest in Neuroanaesthesia whilst completing my Intermediate level training at University Hospital Southampton in 2016. I return to UHS in August 2019 to complete Advanced level training in Neuroanaesthesia. I was fortunate enough to be appointed to the role of NACCS trainee representative in January 2019 and am keen to continue to develop the regional trainee network to enhance communication between the council and trainees.
Dr Lara Prisco
Consultant in Neuroanaesthesia and Critical Care, Oxford
In 2012, after I completed my specialist training Anaesthesia, Intensive Care and Hyperbaric Medicine in Italy (Trieste) and moved to the UK where I started working as Clinical Fellow in Intensive Care at the General Intensive Care Unit of the University College Hospital in London and lately subspecialized in Neuroanaesthesia and Neurointensive Care Medicine at both the Neurosurgical Intensive Care Unit (National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, UCLH London) and Neurosciences Critical Care Unit (Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge) where I was later appointed as Clinical Lecturer at the University Department of Anaesthesia in Cambridge to further my research interests. In 2013 I obtained a Master in Science in Pediatric Intensive Care Medicine at Catholic University in Rome (Italy) and since May 2016 I work as Consultant in Neuroanaesthesia and Critical Care at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. Since March 2018, I am a part-time Academic Clinician, and was appointed Senior Clinical Research Fellow at the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences with a Research leadership role in Neurocritical care.
Dr Simon Young
Consultant in Adult and Paediatric Neuroanaesthesia and Neurocritical Care, Glasgow
I have been a consultant neuroanaesthetist since 2008, training in Glasgow, Nottingham and Liverpool (Alder-Hey). My super-specialist interest is anaesthesia for paediatric neuro- and craniofacial surgery. I also practice in all aspects of adult neuroanaesthesia and neurocritical care, including neuro- trauma/oncology/vascular surgery, interventional neuroradiology, complex spinal surgery and management of patients in the National Spinal Injuries Unit for Scotland. Our unit is the tertiary OMFS referral centre, and I frequently manage the ‘difficult airway’, both in children and adults. I have driven the introduction of cell salvage and TEG within our paediatric service, and am a member of the regional transfusion committee. I started as NACCS linkman in 2010, and was elected to council in 2019 with responsibilities including surveys, meetings and paediatric liaison. In my spare time I study Astrophysics and am working on my jazz piano skills.
