International Faculty
Jonathan Hobby - Course 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.
Balazs Lenkei - Course Co-Chair
Miskolc, Hungary
President of the Hungarian Hand Surgery Society,
Associate Head of the Trauma and Hand Surgery Department in the BAZ County Teaching Hospital, Director of TritonLife Debrecen Private Hospital, AO Hungary National Faculty Member, Examiner in the FESSH Examination Committee, Examiner in the Hungarian National Hand Surgery training program, Examiner in the Hungarian National Traumatology training programI started working in 2003. Right now, I am the associate leader of a trauma and hand surgery center in Miskolc, Hungary. In everyday life this is the biggest part of my professional activity. I deal with managing the daily issues of the unit a lot and take part in the outpatient care, operative activity, and duty system as well. My interest in upper extremity injuries and disorders is accepted in our unit so I operate mainly these patients, but as a trauma surgeon sometimes I need to fix ankle or hip fractures as well. I enjoy participating in teaching of the younger colleagues, this way I got to be a national faculty member in the AO group. Since 2019. I am an examiner in the FESSH examination committee. The group of this committee consists of wonderful people. The meetings and examinations are very fruitful for me. Being the director of a private hospital is kind of new to me, but I enjoy it as it gives a lot of success experience.
Inga Besmens
Zurich, Switzerland
Inga Besmens is a fellow of both the European Board of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery as well as the European Board of Hand Surgery.She has a Master's Degree in Reconstructive Microsurgery and is head of hand surgery in the department of plastic surgery and hand surgery at the university hospital Zurich. Her clinical and research interest focus on reconstructive hand surgery, including peripheral nerve surgery as well as outcome research.
In 2017 she co-founded YEHS- Young European Handsurgeons, the young group of the FESSH and soon after became the groups first elected president until 2020. She has been active in organizing conferences and educational course on a national as well as international level.
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.
Nick Downing
Nottingham, UK
Nick Downing has been a Consultant Hand and Orthopaedic Surgeon at the Queen's Medical Centre, University Hospital Nottingham, and the East Midlands Major Trauma Centre, since 2002. He trained in hand surgery in Nottingham and Derby in the UK and in Sydney, Australia. He has a broad hand surgery trauma and elective practice with particular interests in distal radius and carpal injuries. He is a former member of the Council of the British Society for Surgery of the Hand and Editorial Board of the Journal of Hand Surgery (European Volume).
Camillo Fulchignoni
Rome, Italy
Camillo Fulchignoni is a consultant in the Hand Surgery Department at Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli, IRCSS in Rome. He has an Orthopedic training, but spent most of his training in the Hand Department of this hospital. During his training he also spent 6 months as a fellow in Paris at Institut de la Main, and spent his last year visiting Dr Battiston in Torino and Dr Felici in Rome as winner of the Italian Society for Hand Surgery (SICM) fellowship program, specializing in Microsurgery and Orthoplastic Surgery. Moreover, he is actually a PhD student in Oncological Sciences. He is actually YEHS (Young European Hand Surgeons) President and past Secretary, co-chair of FESSH Education Committee, and he is EJD (European Junior Doctors) representative at UEMS (European Union of Medical Specialists) for Hand Surgery.
Leila Harhaus
Ludwigshafen, Germany
Prof. Dr. Leila Harhaus is the Chair of the Department for Handsurgery, Peripheral Nervesurgery and Rehabilitation of BG Trauma Center Ludwigshafen and the Chair of the Section Upper Extremity of Heidelberg University. 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. 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.
Judit Hetthessy
Budapest, Hungary
Judit Hetthessy, MD PhD, is a Member of the FESSH Research Committee. She worked as a specialist trained Senior Consultant of Hand Surgery, and Assistant Professor at the Department of Orthopedics, Semmelweis University in Hungary. She now works in her own private practice, handling a wide range of elective cases with a focus on secondary reconstruction, rhemuatoid hand, tumors and congenital deformities. She holds a FESSH diploma since 2016. Dr. Hetthessy is currently also a Member of the Board of the Hungarian Society for Surgery of the Hand and works as an Assistant Professor at the Science Management Workgroup of the Doctoral School of Semmelweis University, and is an active PhD mentor, while pursuing research projects herself.
Steven Hovius
Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Steven Hovius is currently a part time staff member at Radboud University, Medical Centre Nijmegen and Xpert Clinics, Hand and Wrist Centre Rotterdam.
He was formerly the Professor and Head of the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and Hand Surgery at the ErasmusMC University Medical Centre Rotterdam, The Netherlands (1996-2016).He is board-certified plastic and reconstructive surgeon.
He has strong interest in hand and wrist surgery, more specific congenital hand differences, peripheral nerve pathology, tendon transfers, Dupuytren's Disease.
He is (Co-)Author of 352 international publications (pubmed), 34 chapters in international books and 7 chapters in national books. He is editor of 3 books, 15 national publications in Journals, promotor of 72 PhD theses, having more than 150 international invitations to present lectures.
Reviewer at many international journals (including Lancet, JHSE and JHSA, PRS, JBJS, THUES, etc), and organizer of many national and international meetings.
He is one of the past secretary generals of FESSH (1999 – 2002).
Radek Kebrle
Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic
Radek Kebrle is of Czech nationality (CZ) and following training in orthopaedics and hand surgery in the Czech Republic and abroad he currently works in Hand surgery department of Klinka Dr. Pírka (CZ), training center for hand surgery. In 1999 to 2019 he worked at Hand surgery institute of Vysoké n.J. (CZ). In Klinika Dr. Pírka he and his colleagues are covering wide range of hand surgery from fingertip to the elbow including microsurgical reconstruction, arthroscopy and arthroplasty in the hand, wrist and elbow. He also works as a consultant at the Juvenile arthritis clinic – Medical Faculty of Charles University Prague. His special interest is reconstruction of complex deformities following trauma. He is a board member of the Czech Society for Surgery of the Hand. In 2009 he passed the European Board of Hand Surgery examination as best candidate.
Kai Megerle
Munich, Germany
Kai Megerle is a professor of plastic surgery at the Technical University of Munich and chair of the Center for Hand Surgery, Microsurgery and Plastic Surgery at Schoen Clinic Munich Harlaching in Munich, Germany. He has served in several FESSH committees and is a board member of the German Society for Surgery of the Hand. He is one of the editors in chief for "Handchirurgie, Mikrochirurgie und Plastische Chirurgie", the German journal of hand surgery.His main research interests are carpal biomechanics, reconstructive microsurgery, peripheral nerve surgery as well as medical data science and machine learning. He is cofounder of an interdisciplinary treatment unit for professional musicians at the Technical University of Munich and still hasn't fully given up the idea of pursuing a career as a rockstar.
Alex Lluch
Barcelona, Spain
Dr. Àlex Lluch is a hand surgeon from Barcelona, Spain. He is the co-director of Institut Kaplan and head of the Hand & Wrist Unit in Vall d'Hebron University Hospital in his hometown. Fascinated by hand surgery since his years of Medical School, he still has the need for learning and sharing knowledge with frequent visits around the world. He has special interest in the treatment of arthrosis and carpal instabilities, reason why he has contributed to create the Barcelona Wrist Biomechanics Study Group.Àlex joined the Relation Committee of FESSH in 2017, and continued serving as Elected Treasurer in 2020. He is now in his second term as Treasurer and Chair of the Finance Committee.
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.
David Shewring
Cardiff, UK
David Shewring is a Consultant Hand Surgeon appointed in Cardiff (UK) in 1994. He trained in Orthopaedic and Hand Surgery in Southampton, Cambridge, Cardiff and Oxford.He has served in numerous roles for BSSH and was BSSH president for 2018. He was Chairman of the Committee of Management of the Journal of Hand Surgery (European Volume) and Chair of the Training Interface Group in Hand Surgery. He led the successful BSSH bid to host the 2022 Joint IFSSH/IFSHT/FESSH Congress in London and was then Chair of the organising committee for that congress. He served on FESSH Council as Chairman of the Education and Training Committee. He conceived and set up the successful FESSH Academy, which continues to run. He is currently a member of the Executive committee of IFSSH. His main interest within hand surgery is management of hand fractures, upon which he has published widely.
Outside medicine, his interests include the cultivation of citrus, oenology and, now that he can't play anymore, watching his sons play rugby.
Francisco Soldado
Barcelona, Spain
Pediatric hand and nerve surgeon from Barcelona. Eternally grateful with my mentors Scott Kozin from Philadelphia and Jayme Bertelly from Brazil. I enjoy developing new techniques for children with congenital differences, nerve injuries, cerebral palsy, and post-traumatic deformities, such were vascularized periosteal flaps, shoulder nerve transfers in Erb´s palsy,endoscopic Woodward procedure for Sprengels deformity, volar intermetacarpal flap for syndactyly, and many others. Scientific activity allowed for more than 130 published peer reviewed papers. Since anatomy is the most important basic science for a surgeon, I host multiple instructional courses in cadavers in Barcelona and Cali-Colombia. I also love cooperation, thus I travel extensively through 6-7 surgical mission per year.
Pierluigi Tos
Milan, Italy
Pierluigi Tos is Director of the Department of Hand Surgery and Microsurgery of the Orthopaedic Institute Gaetano Pini-CTO in Milan, Italy. Is specialized in both Orthopaedic and Plastic/Reconstructive surgery with a PhD in Neuroscience. He has a special interest in microsurgery and research on nerve regeneration and education. Former president of the Italian Society for Microsurgery and actual President of the European Federation for Microsurgery is in charge for the Education committee of these societies.He has been chair of the Hand Trauma Committee and council member of FESSH from 2017 to 2023, now responsible for the Micro&Hand subgroup inside the FESSH. He is scientifically responsible for the microsurgery advanced diploma of the Italian Society for Microsurgery (SIM) and Surgery of the Hand (SICM). He has 132 publications in Medline, 4 books, 40 book chapters. Experimental research area: nerve repair and regeneration, teaching methodology, microsurgery. President of the Italian Group of Microsurgery and Limbs Reconstruction of the Italian Society of Orthopaedics, Contract Professor of the University of Milan School of Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery, European Delegate for the Italian Society for Microsurgery at the EFSM President of the Italian Editorial Committee of the Italian Society for Hand Surgery, Deputy Director and Scientific Board of the Italian Journal of Hand Surgery (Rivista Italiana di Chirurgia della Mano) - the official journal of SICM (Italian Society for Surgery of the Hand), former President of the Education Committee of Italian Society for Surgery of the Hand.
Brigitte van der Heijden
's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands
Brigitte van der Heijden is plastic surgeon, specialized in Hand and Wrist Surgery and her field of interest is treatment of arthrosis and trauma. She is acting chairman of the FESSH Congress Committee, and she was the president of the Dutch Society for Surgery of the Hand (2018). She works in the Jeroen Bosch Hospital in 's-Hertogenbosch.Currently, she is the secretary general of the Federation of European Societies for Surgery of the Hand (FESSH).
Erik Walbeehm
Oosterbeek, The Netherlands
Erik Walbeehm trained in the Erasmusmc in Rotterdam and with a subsequent fellowship in Manchester, UK. He defended his PhD thesis in peripheral nerve regeneration in 2004. He worked as a consultant Plastic - and Hand surgeon at the Erasmusmc and the Radboudumc. Since 2022 he works in the Lange Land and HAGA hospitals and the Xpert Clinic. His main focus remains peripheral nerve surgery, both clinically as well as scientifically.