General Surgery Bureau

Paul Ridgway

President of the Division
Chairperson of the Examination Committee

MD, BCh, BAO, MMedSc, FEBS, FRCSI
Paul Ridgway is a Consultant in General, UGI and HPB Surgery and an Associate Professor in Trinity College Dublin.
His research interest are Surgical performance and Education.

He is fellowship trained in Surgical Oncology with previous postings in St Mary’s Hospital/ Imperial College London (UK) and in the University Health Network Surgical Oncology and Thoracic services in Toronto and the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada.

He has well over 100 peer reviewed publications, invited lectures and book chapters. He has supervised PhD and Masters students in the areas of surgical education, oncology and technology. He was part of the early working group and founding executive of NASCE. He is the National Clinical Advisor for General Surgery to the NCPS in Ireland. He is the President and Chair of Examinations of the Division of General Surgery (UEMS) and an elected Member of Council of Royal College of Surgeons Ireland.

Arthur Godfrey Felice

Vice-President of the Division
Chairperson of the Board of General Surgery

MD, MSc, FEBS, FRCS Ed.
Arthur G. Felice is a General Surgeon with a special interest in clinical methodology, Postgraduate Surgical Training and Assessment, Urology and Paediatric Surgery.

He had his undergraduate training at the University of Malta, while he received his Postgraduate Surgical Training at St Luke’s Hospital Malta, Aberdeen Grampian Health Board, Inverness Highland Health Board and St George’s Group, of Hospitals in London. Arthur G. Felice was awarded his Fellowship from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1976.
He is still practicing clinically in, but with a lower intensity than formerly. He is presently a Senior Lecturer at the University of Malta, having a strong teaching commitment. He formerly served as Head of the Department of Surgery at the University of Malta, as Head of Surgery in the Malta NHS and as Head of the Malta Postgraduate Medical Training Programme. Until quite recently he was ESSQ Tutor in Surgical Sciences through a University of Edinburgh/ Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh collaboration.
Within the UEMS he served in various positions since 2008 and is presently involved in fifteen different UEMS bodies and initiatives, which include President of the European Board of Surgery, Vice-President of the UEMS Division of General Surgery, President of the Division of General Surgery Board and Chairperson of several Focus Groups. He is also the main author of the European Training Requirements (ETR) for the Specialty of General Surgery (co-author Ms Veronique Laloe). He has consistently served as an Examiner in the UEMS EBSQ General Surgery Examination since 2010 and was Chairperson of the Examination Board for this Examination between 2014 and 2018. He is a member of the Bureau of the UEMS Surgery Section and Board and the UEMS Division of General Surgery Bureau. Arthur Felice has served as a UEMS-CESMA Appraisal Officer for five different EBSQ Specialty Exit Examinations.
He has published more than 60 publications and presentations, including a single-author book: Tackling the Surgical Maze, which is an introduction to Clinical Methodology. Arthur G. Felice was involved in Commissioned Work on various topics which include, postgraduate training, waiting lists, projecting medical student intake, academic audit, implementation of the Bologna Process, adopting the European Working Time Directive and drafting and implementing MOUs for Bilateral Agreements between countries and between universities.

Joseph Weerts

Honorary Secretary of the Division of General Surgery

MD, FRCS Eng ad eundem, FEBS GenSurg
Joseph Weerts is consultant in General, HBP and UpperGI Surgery since 1980, working in the same entity of CHC- Liege in Belgium.

During the years, he has been President of the Royal Belgian Society of Surgery, of the Belgian Society of Surgical Oncology and of the Section of Surgery of the UEMS. Presently he is still President of the Belgian French-speaking Chamber of Recognition in Surgery.

He has been pioneering in the field of laparoscopic surgery, particularly in the supra-mesocolic field (Nissen fundoplication, distal pancreatic resection, …). He has been publishing over 90 peer reviewed articles and book chapters.
He is starting a “new” career in the coming months with the “Doctors without Borders” as he has been accepted within the pool of Surgeons of MSF
He is still involved in the Examination Committee for the EBSQ in General Surgery.

Paul Ziprin

Treasurer of the Division of General Surgery

Paul Ziprin is a Consultant General and Colorectal Surgeon undertaking laparosocpic and robotic surgery.

Paul Ziprin is a Consultant General and Colorectal Surgeon undertaking laparosocpic and robotic surgery.

He has an interest in undergraduate and postgraduate education and is currently a Training Programme Director for Core Surgical Training in London, UK. He runs many skills courses for junior and senior surgical trainees. His is currently Chair of the Clinical Reference Group for General Surgery in NW London.

He retains a strong academic interest with over 140 peer reviewed publications.

Raghvinder Pal Singh Gambhir

Chair of the Eligibility Committee of the Division of General Surgery

MS, DNB, FRCSEd, FFSTEd, FRCS, FACS, FEBS GenSurg
Raghvinder Gambhir is a Consultant Vascular Surgeon & Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer
at King’s College Hospital, London.

Véronique Laloë

Chair of the CME Committee of the Division of General Surgery

MD, FEBS GenSurg
Véronique Laloë is consultant in Gastro-intestinal and General Surgery in the Centre Hospitalier de l’Ouest Guyanais in French Guyana.

She is currently the Head of the Operating Theatre Council, in charge of quality control for the operating theatre.
Véronique has an extensive filed experience with Médecins Sans Frontières in Africa and Asia from 1985 to 2004.
Within the UEMS, from 2018 to 2022, she served as Chair of the Eligibility Committee for the EBSQ Exams for the Division of General Surgery. She is also one of the authors, with Arthur Felice, of the European Training Requirements (ETR) for the Specialty of General Surgery.
She has published many publications on surgical education, unscheduled surgical care, burns, traumatic brain injury, surgery in isolated situations.

Marie Morris

Head of medical assessment of the Examination Committee of the Division of General Surgery

Dr Marie Morris is student-focused cross health-professionals’ educator with thirty-five years’ experience in healthcare provision and healthcare education.

Following 20 years of critical care nursing in the UK she continued her studies at the School of Medicine Trinity College Dublin, she holds a PhD in Surgical Education, an MSc in Clinical Medicine focusing on communication skills teaching and assessment and a Postgraduate Diploma in Higher Education.
Her core motivation is to facilitate students to move beyond academic theory and towards becoming skilled practitioners. Her teaching has a strong interdisciplinary component with an ethos of collaborative intentionality. Within this, students learn with, from and about other disciplines to deliver holistic patient-centered care. Her unique and innovative approach to education has been recognized by students locally and nationally and she is the recipients of Trinity College Dublin “Provost’s Award for Teaching Excellence” and Irelands Teaching and Learning Forums “National Teaching Hero Award”. Her teaching is strongly informed by evidence-based research including novel approaches to education and assessment. She has been awarded Trinity College Dublin “Dean’s Award” for innovation in teaching and assessment for three consecutive years. She is also in receipt of RCSI Dublins “Award for Education Innovation” and a “Student Champion Award”.
Dr Morris’ body of work includes 35 peer-reviewed publications and numerous conference presentations with a focus on assessment. She is the National Representative for EACH (European Association of Communication Skills in Healthcare). She is the Head of Assessment for the Fellowship of the European Board of General Surgery Examinations (UEMS FEBS).

Muhammad Umair

Webmaster and Director of Communications of the Division of General Surgery

MCh, MRCPS, Dip.MIS, Pg.Cert HCM, FCPS, FEBS
Muhammad Umair is consultant in General and Colorectal Surgeon
Department of Surgery, Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore in Ireland.

He is an academic consultant surgeon with a specialist interest in Colorectal Surgery with focus on organ preservation for early rectal cancers. He trained in Pakistan, Ireland, and the UK.
His research interests’ centre on the professional attributes of surgical decision-making, frailty, and surgical outcomes as well as surgical education.
He has published over 10 peer reviewed publications, multiple research presentations and invited lectures.
Within the UEMS, he is also member of the court of examiners of the EBSQ Exams in General Surgery.

Vinod Kumar Singhal

Vice Chairperson of the Board of General Surgery, Member Eligibility Committee & Examiner for EBSQ

FRCS Glasgow, FRCS England, FRCS Ireland, FACS, Fellow Advanced Laparoscopic Surgery (Robotic & Colorectal),
European Board Certified in General Surgery (FEBS), FAIS, FMAS, FIAGES, FICS in GI Surgery
University Diplomate- Laparoscopic Surgery, France
Post-Doctoral in Surgical Gastroenterology from India.

Court of Examiner- Royal College of Surgeons (Ireland, Glasgow, England)
Member Foundation committee (European Board Qualification for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery)
Member- Accreditation & Review Board- NASCE.

Current Appointment- Consultant General Surgeon- Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Ex Chair- General Surgery
Ex Chair- Care of Patients committee
Vice Chair- Drug & Therapeutic committee Member- Morbidity & Mortality committee Member- Privileging & Credentialing committee
Member- Assessment of Patient committee

Has authored many original articles in international peer reviewed journals.

Faris Alaswad

Member

Dr. Faris Dawood Abdul Razaq Alaswad is a specialist/ consultant general surgeon who has over 25 years of experience in the field of surgery and has worked as a specialist surgeon in many countries.

He practices the breadth of general surgeries ranging from all kinds of open and laparoscopic surgeries using the most up-to-date techniques
He is a Fellow of The Royal College of Surgeons (Glasgow, England, Ireland), Fellow of the European Board of Surgery, Fellow of the Iraqi Committee of Medical Specialties (general surgery) and Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.
Dr. Faris was also the Vice Chairman of the European Board of Surgery, Board member of the European Society of Surgery and an examiner in the European Board of Surgery and a Member of the Scientific Surgical Committee of American Society of Abdominal Surgery. Now, he is the chairperson of the CME –preparatory course committee, member–at–large of the UEMS Division of General Surgery.
He has published many scientific papers in international journals and has trained at many international surgical centres.
Dr. Faris is well versed in English and Arabic.

Vice-Chairperson of the Board of General Surgery
Vinod SINGHAL
Eligibility Committee of the UEMS Division of General Surgery
Raghvinder GAMBHIR (Chairperson) Mr Faris AlAswad (UAE) Mohammed Hanif SHIWANI (UK) Vinod SINGHAL (UAE) M. Yasser Kayyal (Ireland) Dr Ahmad Oyais (Germany)
Examination Committee of the UEMS Division of General Surgery
Marie Morris (Medical Educationalist – Head of Medical Assessment) List to be finalised by the Chairperson of the Examination Committee
Credentials Committee of the Division of General Surgery
Joseph WEERTS(Chairperson) Luc MICHEL Paul RIDGWAY Frantisek ANTOS Michel DAHER Véronique LALOË Marie MORRIS
ESS (European Society of Surgery) Executive Representative
Antoni SZCZEPANIK
Examination Liaison (Hosting) Officers by Examination session
Guido GASPARI (2010) Wojciech NOWAK (2011) Marjut LEIDENIUS (2012) Arthur FELICE (2013) Ghassan RAMADAN (2014) George ZOGRAFOS (2015) Vassilios PAPALOIS (2016) Antoni SZCZEPANIK (2017) Arthur FELICE (2018) Paul RIDGWAY (2019) Paul RIDGWAY (2021) Paul ZIPRIN (2022)