International Faculty

Jeffrey Koo - Program Chair
Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Dr Koo is the consultant of the Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital. He is the immediate past president of The Hong Kong Society for Surgery of The Hand.

He graduated from The University of Hong Kong in 1997 and received his Orthopaedic fellowship From the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and the Hong Kong College of Orthopaedic Surgeons in 2005. He also obtained his master degree in health service management from the University of New South Wales and master degree of science in sports medicine and health science from The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2008 and 2013, respectively.

His special interest is in hand surgery, particularly upper limb trauma and wrist arthroscopy. He has been invited to deliver over 50 lectures and free paper presentations at various local and overseas conferences. In addition, he personally has published more than ten papers and book chapters in various peer-reviewed journals and textbooks.

Jonathan Hobby - Co-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.

Anthony Berger
Melbourne, Australia

Mr Anthony Berger graduated medicine from Monash University in 1978 and became a fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in Orthopaedic Surgery in 1987.
He completed a Hand Fellowship in Louisville, Kentucky USA in 1988 and was then appointed Senior Hand Fellow/Hand Scholar in 1989. He subsequently completed further training in Hand Surgery with Professor John Stanley in Wrightington, UK, in 1990.
Currently, Mr Berger is the Head of the Hand Surgery Unit at St Vincent's Public Hospital, Melbourne and a visiting Hand Surgeon at St Vincent's Private Hospital, Fitzroy and Kew, Melbourne.
Mr Berger is a member of the Australian Orthopaedic Association, the Australian Hand Surgery Society and the Australian Medical Association and is involved in continuing medical education programmes with the Australian Orthopaedic Association.
He is the Immediate Past President of the Australian Hand Surgery Society after serving as President from 2016 – 2018.
Mr Berger is past president of the Asian Pacific Federation of Societies for Surgery of the Hand.
He is frequently invited to speak on Hand Surgery topics at National and International Scientific meetings and also heavily involved in local and overseas teaching.

Praveen Bhardwaj
Coimbatore, India

Consultant - Hand Surgery at Ganga Hospital, Coimbatore
Qualifications and Training:
MS-Ortho From KMC, Mangalore (2000-2003)
DNB Ortho
FNB- Hand & Microsurgery from Ganga Hospital (2007-2009)
European Diploma in Hand Surgery- 2011
Consultant since – 2014

Academic Achievements:
• Winner of the Indian Orthopedic Association PG National Quiz- 2002
• Winner of the Karnataka Orthopedic Association PG Quiz- 2003v • Best Paper Prize- Combined British & Indian Hand Society Meeting- Bangalore- 2009v • Best Paper Prize- Indian Hand Society Meeting- Manipal- 2011
• Xavier Medal for Best Paper in Hand Surgery- TNOA- Nagercoil- 2018
• Best Research Award- National Brachial Plexus Meeting- BRACHIALCON- Chennai-2019
• Best Presentation Award- National Paediatric Orthopedic Meeting- POSICON-2020 v • Xavier Medal for Best Paper in Hand Surgery- TNOA- Chennai- 2023
• Seven- Best Paper Prizes by the Fellows and Trainees in Indian Hand and Plastic Surgery Meetings representing our Team.
• Consultant Medal- Indian Hand Society Meeting- Chandigarh- 2023

Editor- The Journal of Hand Surgery – Asia Pacific Volume
Academics Coordinator- Indian Society for Surgery of the Hand
Scientific Committee Chair- Asia Pacific Hand Surgery Meeting- 2025
Publications- 124
Special Interests- Brachial Plexus

Dean Boyce
Swansea, UK

Dean is a Consultant Plastic, Hand & Peripheral Nerve Surgeon in South Wales, UK. He has specialist practice in children’s hand surgery, peripheral nerve & brachial plexus surgery, and upper limb spasticity. Having been Clinical Director of the Welsh Centre for Plastic Surgery & Burns for 11 years, he is now Associate Medical Director of Swansea Bay University Health Board. He has a significant research background, with over 70 peer reviewed publications, many book chapters, and co-edited the IFSSH textbook in 2022. He is Honorary Associate Professor at Swansea University and Hunterian Professor of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. He maintains a strong interest in surgical education, having been selection lead for UK interface hand fellowships, is a past BAPRAS Education Chair and is a current member of the FESSH education committee. He has been a BAPRAS Council member for 12 years. He served as President of the BSSH in 2023 and is currently the BSSH International Representative.
Dean E Boyce MB BCh FRCS FRCSEd FRCSPlast MD
Consultant Plastic, Hand & Peripheral Nerve Surgeon
The Welsh Centre for Plastic Surgery & Burns, Morriston Hospital, Swansea, UK
Associate Medical Director, Swansea University Health Board
Hunterian Professor, The Royal College of Surgeons
Honorary Associate Professor, The University of Swansea

Andrew Chin
Singapore, Singapore

Deputy Vice Chairman, Philanthropy , Musculoskeletal Sciences Academic Program, Singapore Health Services Pte Ltd.
Director of Wrist Services, Fellowship Director, Department of Hand and Reconstructive Microsurgery, Singapore General Hospital (SGH) Pte Ltd.
Secretary General, Asia Pacific Wrist Association
Course Director, International Wrist Arthroscopy Society
Regional Educational Training Team and International Faculty, AOTrauma Supervisor, Training Centre (SGH) for International Bone Research Association

Dr Andrew Chin graduated from the National University of Singapore in 1995. He was appointed Senior Consultant in the Department of Hand Surgery in May 2012. Dr Chin did his 1-year advance fellowship training specializing in Wrist Conditions and Disorders at the Centre for Hand And Upper Limb Surgery, Wrightington Hospital in Wigan, UK and at Kaplan Institute in Barcelona, Spain under the tutelage of renown wrist surgeons: Prof John Stanley, Drs Ian Trail, Marc Garcia-Elias and Alberto Lluch. Dr Chin's sub-specialty interests include: Wrist Surgery and Minimally Invasive Hand Surgery.

Alphonsus Chong
Singapore, Singapore

Dr Alphonsus Chong Khin Sze is a tenured Associate Professor at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. After completing his Hand Surgery training in Singapore, he was awarded the A*STAR scholarship in 2004 and completed a two-year research fellowship in Stanford University. His current research interests include improving the teaching and learning of surgical skills, and pediatric hand conditions.

Beyond NUHS commitments, Dr Chong is also contributing to the wider Hand Surgery community. He is currently treasurer of the Asian Pacific Federation of Societies for Surgery of the Hand, and was previously president of the Singapore Society for Surgery of the Hand, and Vice-Chairman of the Chapter of Hand Surgeons, College of Surgeons, Singapore. He was also Chair of the Residency Advisory Committee (Hand Surgery), which oversees the training of Hand Surgeons in Singapore.

In his free time, Dr Chong enjoys reading and making things.

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.

Ilse Degreef
Leuven, Belgium

Ilse Degreef is an orthopedic surgeon specialized in hand surgery, affiliated to Leuven University Hospitals in Leuven where she is full time staff member since 2003, surgeon-in-chief and appointed full professor of orthopedics & hand surgery at Leuven University KUL, Belgium. She is board member and president elect of the Belgian Hand Group (presidency 2022-2024). She has well over 100 peer reviewed publications on hand surgery, authored many book chapters and is a frequently invited speaker on international hand surgery meetings. She is the coordinator of the Belgian Hand Surgery Certificate, which is a National Post-academic Interuniversity Training and examination on hand surgery. Since 2021, she had a national FWO Clinical Grant and is thus appointed 50% academic researcher at Leuven University, with a focus on Dupuytren disease, a translational research subject in which she graduated with PhD in 2009.

Margaret Fok
Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Dr. Margaret Fok is currently a Consultant and the Deputy Chief of Service at the Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Queen Mary Hospital, and an Honorary Clinical Associate Professor of The University of Hong Kong.

Dr. Margaret Fok had her undergraduate medical training in University of Otago, New Zealand. Upon the completion of her orthopaedic specialist training in Hong Kong, she seek further training in hand and wrist surgeries and microsurgeries by working with Professor Diego Fernandez, (Switzerland), Professor Fu-Chen Wei, (Taiwan), Professor David Chuang, (Taiwan) and Professor Yuen- Kuen Tu (Taiwan).

Dr. Margaret Fok has been an invited speaker in many international symposiums, including International Society of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology (SICOT), International Federation of Societies for Surgery of the Hand (IFSSH), International Society of Arthroscopy, Knee surgery and Orthopaedic Sports Medicine (ISAKOS), American Society for Surgery of the Hand (ASSH) Asia Pacific Orthopaedic Association (APOA), Asia Pacific Wrist Association (APWA) and World Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery (WSRM). She is active in many international hand and orthopaedic societies. She is the Education Academy Chair of International Society of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology (SICOT). She is the Deputy chair of the Education Committee of International Societies of Arthroscopy, Knees Surgery and Orthopaedic Sports Medicine (ISAKOS). She is the President of Hand and Upper Limb Society of Asia Pacific Orthopaedic Association (APOA) and the immediate past Asia Pacific Representative of the International Orthopaedic Diversity Alliance (IODA). She is currently the Honorary Treasurer of Hong Kong Society for Surgery of the Hand (HKSSH).

Dr. Margaret Fok has published book chapters and articles in esteemed orthopaedic journals. She is a reviewer in many indexed journals and is the section editor of Hand and wrist in Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (American). She is the course director of the elbow course and wrist course in IRCAD (Taiwan). She is a regular faculty in different wrist arthroscopy workshops around the world including different parts of China, Singapore and Strasbourg, France.

Leila Harhaus
Berlin, Germany

Prof. Dr. Leila Harhaus is the Chair of the Dpt. for Hand-, Replantation- and Microsurgery BG Klinikum Unfallkrankenhaus Berlin as well as Chair of Hand-, Replantation- and Microsurgery at Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin. She studied medicine in Mainz and Freiburg and started her residency at the Department for Trauma Surgery, Orthopedics and Plastic Surgery at University Hospital Göttingen, Germany. After three years, she moved to BG Trauma Center Ludwigshafen, where she obtained her board qualification for plastic surgery and two years later for hand surgery. She passed the European FESSH exam in 2019 as "best candidate" and also completed her studies of health economics. During her one-year microsurgical fellowship at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taipei, Taiwan, she began her intensive work in the field of peripheral nerve surgery, which she has since than continued as her clinical and scientific focus. In 2021 she became chief of the Dpt. for Handsurgery, Peripheral Nervesurgery and Rehabilitation of BG Trauma Center Ludwigshafen and the Chair of the Section Upper Extremity of Heidelberg University. She is leading a large research group working on almost all topics of hand surgery. As a member of numerous societies, she is involved in committee work, leads the guideline work and translational research topics.

Mohd Hanifah Jusoh
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Mohd Hanifah Jusoh currently works at the Hand & Microsurgery Unit, Department of Orthopaedics, Universiti Sains Malaysia, as an Orthopaedic, Hand, and upper Limb Microsurgeon and medical lecturer for the undergraduate and postgraduate medical school. He does research in general orthopedic, hand, upper limb, and microsurgery. He has received subspecialty training in hand, upper limb, and microsurgery from Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia, Ganga Hospital in India, Uppsala University Hospital, Sweden, and International Wrist Centre in Yeniyuzyil University Hospital, Istanbul, Turkiye. He also received the Ganga Hospital & Carl Zeiss Fellowship in Hand & Trauma Reconstructive Surgery award in 2020, the IFSSH 2022 UK Traveling Fellowship award in 2022, and the AO Trauma Fellowship award in 2024. He is interested in general orthopedic & trauma, especially hand & upper limb trauma, adult brachial plexus injury and obstetric brachial plexus birth palsy, congenital hand, a tendon transfer operation, common hand & upper limb flap, and traumatic limb vascular injury (vascular exploration and repair), and WALANT surgery.

Wee Lam
Singapore, Singapore

I graduated from the University of Edinburgh and did my basic surgical training in Leeds. Thereafter I completed my Plastic Surgery training in Manchester, followed by a microsurgery fellowship at Chang Gong Memorial hospital, Taiwan, a hand fellowship in Sheffield, UK and a congenital hand fellowship at Great Ormond Street, London. I was a Consultant Plastic and Hand Surgeon at the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People, Edinburgh and St John's Hospital, Livingston until 2023 when i returned to Singapore for a post as Senior Consultant at Singapore General Hospital. My interest is in both adult and paediatric hand surgery, particularly nerve-related injuries including the management of stroke and spasticity disorders. I have a keen interest in research and am currently the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Hand Surgery (European volume).

Nick Riley
Oxford, UK

Nicholas Riley was born in the UK and qualified from St. Barts and the Royal London School of Medicine in 2001. He undertook his early post-graduate training in London, before completing his senior Orthopaedic training in Oxford. He was subsequently awarded the Oxford Hand Surgery Fellowship and obtained the British Diploma in Hand Surgery in 2016. Following visiting fellowships at the Mayo Clinic and the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York he was appointed as a Consultant Hand and Wrist Surgeon in Oxford. He has a tertiary referral hand and wrist surgery practice with a subspecialty interest in complex fracture treatment, scaphoid non-union, complex hand and wrist infection and the management of degenerative change in the hand and wrist.

Raja Sabapathy
Coimbatore, India

Dr. S. Raja Sabapathy is currently the Chairman, Division of Plastic, Hand & Reconstructive Microsurgery, Ganga Hospital, Coimbatore, India. It is a 650-bed tertiary referral centre for Plastic Surgery and Orthopaedics.

He had a brilliant academic career passing out as the Best Outgoing Student from Stanley Medical College, Madras standing first in Medicine and Surgery in the Madras University. Subsequently he trained in Chennai, UK and USA. The efforts of the Plastic and Orthopaedic Departments of Ganga Hospital in the management of major trauma revolutionized trauma care in the country and has been followed as a model in many countries. This has led to many invitations for eponymous lectures and has delivered 44 orations, chief among them being the Douglas Lamb lecture at the Royal College of Surgeons, Boonzaire lecture at the South African Hand Society, Sushruta Guha Professorship of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh, Pioneer Lecture of the British Society for Surgery of the Hand, International Guest lecture at the ASSH and Harold Kleinert Professorship of the University of Louisville and has 110 academic and distinguished awards, 400 international presentations and 500 national presentations.

He was conferred the Honorary Fellowship (Hon FACS) of the American College of Surgeons, Honorary Fellowship of Royal College of Surgeons and Physicians of Glasgow, Royal College of Surgeons of England (Hon FRCS Eng) and Hon DSc from Dr MGR Educational and Research Institute., Chennai, and Honorary Membership of British, South African Hand Societies and Serbian Microsurgery Society.

He has been the Visiting Professor in Mayo Clinic, Yale University, Michigan University, Washington University, Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. He has co-authored a Microsurgery Practice Manual, edited 2 books and has published 207 papers and 59 book chapters. The Microsurgery training lab is considered as one of the best in the world. 3100 surgeons from 78 countries have visited the unit . At present he is the President of the International Federation of Societies for Surgery of the Hand (IFSSH).

He has held the presidencies of the Association of Plastic Surgeons of India, Indian Society for Surgery of the Hand, Indian Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery and Brachial Plexus Surgery Group of India. He has been the Organizing Chairman of the Triennial Congress of the International Hand Surgery congress (2013) and the World Microsurgery congress (2015). He served as the Editor of the Indian Journal of Plastic Surgery and the Editor-in- Chief of The Journal of Hand Surgery (Asian Pacific).

Currently he is the President of the National Academy of Burns and Vice President of Diabetic Foot Society of India.

He has been the architect of many outreach programs in partnership with Rotary International for making quality surgery accessible to poor people – Save the Working Hand, Help for the Hands in Need for Hand surgery and the project Hope after Fire, which provides free reconstructive surgery to correct burn deformities. It is considered as the Signature Project of Rotary in the region. 1352 surgeries in 776 patients have been performed with a project value of US $ 1.2 million, making it as the largest burn care project by a single unit in this part of the world.

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.

David Warwick
Southampton, UK

David Warwick is Consultant Hand Surgeon at University Hospital Southampton since 1998 as well as visiting Hand Surgeon to the States of Jersey and Bailiwick of Guernsey. He is involved daily in the clinical management of complex hand and wrist problems with a particular interest in the DRUJ, Dupuytren's, joint replacement and orthopaedic hand trauma. His teaching, research, and administrative contributions were rewarded by the University of Southampton with an Honorary Professorship in 2013. His NHS contribution has been rewarded with a Bronze Clinical Excellence award in 2012 renewed in 2016. He was awarded the Gold Medal in the European Diploma of Hand Surgery in 2004 and was awarded the Hunterian Professorship in 1998 for his work on Orthopaedic Thrombosis. He has been President of the British Association of Hand Therapists, Visiting Professor to the Australian Orthopaedic Association, South African Society for Surgery of the Hand, Polish Hand Society and Finnish Hand Society. He is BSSH President Elect for 2020, he sits on the Executive Committee of the IFSSH. He has recently finished as Secretary of the BSSH and Executive Committee Member of the FESSH. He reviews about 40 papers per year, David serves on the Editorial Boards of the European Journal of Hand Surgery and the Bone and Joint Journal. David has published over 80 papers in peer reviewed journals with an H index of 23. He has written over 20 book chapters and is Editor of the Oxford Handbook of Hand Surgery (2009, 2018), the European Textbook of Dupuytren's Disease (2015) and Apley & Solomon's System of Orthopaedics and Trauma (2001, 2010, 2017). He is currently Principle Investigator on 5 studies and leads the Clinical Orthopaedic Research Group in Southampton. He has lectured in the UK and abroad on many occasions as invited speaker on various topics.