CURRENT COMMITTEE
President- George Bethell
George Bethell is an NIHR doctoral fellow and is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Southampton. His doctoral fellowship is titled “Improving understanding of indications for and timing of surgery in infants with Necrotising Enterocolitis”. He is an honorary specialty registrar in paediatric surgery at University Hospitals Southampton and is the current president of the PSTRN.
He has been actively involved with the PSTRN for a number of years and has extensive experience with RedCap and database management along with study methodology and design. During the COVID-19 pandemic he ran the day to day management of the CASCADE study which investigated the impact of the pandemic on management and outcomes of paediatric appendicitis in the UK and Ireland. This multicentre collaboration recruited 74 general surgery and specialist paediatric surgery sites and over 2000 children.
George is committed to the ongoing delivery of high quality collaborative research as part of the PSTRN and is keen to ensure that the network is as approachable and open as possible so that all grades of trainees from medical student to post CCT fellows can become actively involved in this trainee collaborative.
Vice President- Patrice Eastwood
Patrice is a paediatric surgery trainee in Belfast. She graduated from Edinburgh medical school in 2009. Between core surgical training and getting her training number she completed a PhD in congenital diaphragmatic hernia supervised by Professor Jan Deprest in Leuven, Belgium. She also spent research time in Barcelona (Professor E Gratacos) and Manitoba (Professor R Keijzer). Her interests are fetal intervention, congenital diaphragmatic hernia and translation research.
Past President - Rachel Harwood
Rachel is a senior trainee in paediatric surgery, and past president of PSTRN.
She studied medicine at Newcastle University and, after a brief hiatus as a paediatric trainee, followed a career in paediatric surgery. She has completed a PhD looking at regenerative medicine therapies for acute and chronic kidney disease at the University of Liverpool. Alongside this Rachel is involved in studies being run by Alder Hey Children’s Hospital looking at long term patient reported outcome measures for Hirschsprung’s disease and anorectal malformations, the incidence of vesicle-ureteric reflux disease in children with anorectal malformation and the impact of COVID-19 in children.
She has undertaken a collaborative Delphi consensus process for the management of paediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome (PIMS-TS) and helped to write consensus guidance for the recovery of children’s surgical services from the COVID-19 pandemic for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. Outside of work Rachel enjoys chasing after her two little girls and going for walks in the countryside (often accompanied by complaints from the girls!)
Secretary- Felicity Arthur
Felicity is a paediatric surgery trainee in Glasgow, having completed her core surgery and the first 18 months of her training number in Alder Hey Children's Hospital, Liverpool before the pipes called her home! She graduated in Glasgow in 2013, having previously gained a BSC Hons in Anatomy from the same University. She has an interest in epidemiological health care and in colorectal surgery. She lead on the PSTRN publication "Lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic: impact on infants with pyloric stenosis". She is passionate about teaching and runs the local HST programme in Glasgow. She is also passionate about the role of women in surgery, equality and diversity . Outside of the hospital, Flic enjoys exploring Scotland's lochs by paddleboard with her fellow water enthusiast pals and slightly less enthusiastic husband and dog!
Social Media Coordinator- Chloe Milton
Chloe is a medical student in her 4th year at Anglia Ruskin University. She ultimately hopes to pursue a career in academic paediatric surgery. She is passionate about child health and research. At present she is working with the North Thames Cleft Lip and Palate Service on research relating to cleft lip and palate surgery. She is very excited to be working with the PSTRN!