Alexia Karantana 

Chair 2023 - 2026

Alexia Karantana is Clinical Associate Professor of Hand Surgery at the University of Nottingham and an Honorary Consultant Orthopaedic Hand Surgeon at Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham.

Her research focuses on applied clinical research in hand surgery, including multicentre randomised controlled trials, research prioritisation, core outcome sets and evidence synthesis in common hand conditions. She has led and contributed to several NIHR-funded studies, with a particular interest in generating high-quality, practice-relevant evidence to inform patient care.

Sam Gidwani

Committee Member 2023 - 2025 (ext 2027)

Sam has been based at Guy’s & St Thomas’ Hospitals since 2009. He was head of the orthopaedic department between 2014 and 2017. His practice is focused solely on hand and wrist surgery.

His research interests include the treatment of wrist and hand fractures, and the management of osteoarthritis of the hand and wrist, including joint replacement.

Suzanne Thomson

Committee Member 2024 - 2026

Gus McGrouther

Committee Member 2025-2027

Conrad Harrison

Committee Member 2025-2027

Conrad is an NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer in plastic surgery at the University of Oxford, and an Honorary Specialist Registrar in plastic surgery. His research focuses on surgical outcome measurement, including the application of AI in this area.

In addition to his role at the BSSH, Conrad sits on the NIHR Health Technology Assessment committee and the NICE Interventional Procedures Advisory Committee.

Ben Dean

Committee Member 2026-2028

Ben is a consultant orthopaedic hand surgeon at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust and a senior research fellow at the University of Oxford. 

His research interests include carpal trauma, hand osteoarthritis, implementation and collaborative projects.  

Hannah James

Committee Member 2026-2028

Robin Horton

PPI Representative

Retired IT Consultant, 4D relational database expert, large scale project manager for public and private sector, performance monitoring expert; Former Charity trustee; Former Chairperson of the Somerset Standards Committee; Former member of the British Computer Society; Former member of the Institute of Management Services; Member of the Somerset Constitution & Standards committee. Co-Opted member of Somerset County Council. Member of Neighbourhood Planning committee.

Emma Reay

RCS Surgical Specialty Lead (Hand Surgery)

Daniel Ceh

BAHT Representative 

Daniel Ceh is a London-based hand therapist and Pre-Doctoral Clinical Academic Fellow at Queen Mary University of London and the Royal London Hospital. He has extensive NHS and private sector experience in upper limb rehabilitation and a research focus on complex and violence-related hand trauma. As the BAHT representative, he aims to ensure a strong therapy voice within collaborative BSSH research.