Mr. Wissam Abou-Chedid is a Consultant Urological Surgeon at the Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust and an Assistant Professor at the University of Surrey.
He completed his medical degree at the University of Saint Joseph in Beirut followed by specialist training in urology at Henry Mondor University Hospital in Paris.
He subsequently undertook fellowships in minimally invasive and robotic surgery at Saint Augustin Clinic in Bordeaux and at the Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust in Guildford.
He is a high-volume robotic prostate surgeon, having performed more than 750 robotic procedures in the last three years, placing him among the highest-volume robotic prostate surgeons in the UK. Mr Abou-Chedid is particularly recognised for his expertise in Retzius-sparing robotic prostatectomy and is regarded as one of the highest-volume surgeons performing this technique in Europe.
In parallel with his clinical practice, Mr Abou-Chedid has a strong academic profile with multiple peer-reviewed publications and numerous international presentations and is actively involved in surgical education as a Robotic and Minimally Invasive Surgery Trainer at IRCAD.
His research and innovation interests focus on redefining peri-operative pathways, including day-case robotic prostatectomy, patient-led self-removal of urinary catheters, high-intensity theatre lists, and the adoption of innovative technologies such as the Histolog device for real-time intra-operative margin assessment.
Dr. Fernando Gómez-Sancha, MD, is the Head of the Department of Urology and Robotic Surgery at ICUA – Clinica CEMTRO in Madrid - Spain, and also works at the Hill Clinic (Sofia, Bulgaria).
He is a urologist highly specialized in laser prostatectomy for the treatment of BPH, and robotic surgery. He has described the En-bloc GreenLEP procedure and the En-bloc HoLEP with early apical release technique. He combines clinical work with academic and teaching activities, actively uploading YouTube surgical videos, lecturing and training other urologists worldwide.
Professional and Academic background:
Mr. Sanjeev Kotwal is a Consultant Urological Surgeon and (Hon.) Senior Lecturer based at St James’ University Hospital in Leeds. He obtained his primary medical qualification and post-graduate surgical training in New Delhi, India. After moving to the UK in 2003, he pursued training in urology as a field of his surgical passion and developed his research interest in bladder and prostate cancer. He obtained research degree (MD) from the University of Leeds and has a strong research portfolio with over a dozen published papers.
He obtained his specialist urology and robotic surgery training in Leeds and to further his robotic skills, he undertook clinical visits to following robotic surgery centres of excellence in the United States and Europe.
1) USC Institute of Urology, Los Angeles, USA 2) Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, USA
3) Virginia Mason Medical Centre, Seattle, USA 4) Martini Klinic, Hamburg, Germany
In 2015, he was appointed as Consultant Urologist with sub-specialist interest in Pelvic Oncology (Prostate and Bladder Cancer) at The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS trust. He is currently the Clinical Lead for Bladder Cancer Multi Disciplinary Team for Leeds.
He performs Robotic Radical Prostatectomy for prostate cancer patients with extended nerve preservation (High Anterior Release or Veil of Aphrodite technique) in suitable patients which improves post-operative sexual function and urinary continence.
Mr. Kotwal has successfully established the Robotic Cystectomy programme for bladder cancer patients at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. The introduction of Robotic Cystectomy with construction of Robotic Intra-corporeal Urinary Diversion has allowed significant reduction in post-operative hospital stay, blood transfusion rates, complication rates and overall recovery time for bladder cancer patients.
Besides cancer treatment, Mr. Kotwal has an interest in the diagnosis of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), prostate problems and Haematuria (Blood in Pee). He is committed to ensure the delivery of a quality service. He was also the clinical audit lead for the urology department at SJUH. He regularly audits his surgical outcomes to ensure that his results remain world-class.
Areas of interest
Specialist Area(s): Robotic Surgery, Prostate cancer, Bladder cancer, Haematuria (Blood in pee), Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms, Bladder Outflow Surgery, Circumcisions and Scrotal surgery
Clinical interests: Management of Bladder & Prostate Cancer, Robotic-assisted Radical Prostatectomy, Robotic-assisted Radical Cystectomy, Robotic Intra-corporeal Urinary Diversion, Haematuria diagnostics and management, Male and Female LUTS - diagnostics and management, Day-case surgery - Circumcisions, Hydrocele repair, Epididymal Cyst excision. Botox injections or Storage LUTS
Prof. Dr. med. Christian Schwentner is a professor of urology and urological oncology and head of the Department of Urology in Stuttgart, Germany. He completed his specialist training at the Department of Urology at the Medical University of Innsbruck and then worked as a specialist in urology in Innsbruck. Dr. Schwentner was head of the Department of Pediatric Urology and Kidney Transplantation at Charité, Berlin, and deputy chair of the Department of Urology. He was program director for minimally invasive urological surgery and robotics in Tübingen and coordinator of the comprehensive cancer center. Dr. Schwentner is also an adjunct professor at the University of Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur and at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China. His research interests focus on prostate and bladder cancer and the further development of minimally invasive surgical techniques.
Dr. Schwentner is the author of more than 210 original articles in international journals and more than 250 conference abstracts, as well as numerous book chapters in urology textbooks. He is a Fellow of the European Board of Urology (FEBU) and a member of the European Urological Association, the European Society for Pediatric Urology, and the German Society of Urology. Dr. Schwentner is a reviewer for numerous journals, including The Journal of Urology, European Urology, and Pediatrics. He is also co-editor of the Central European Journal of Urology, the Journal of Nephrology, BioMed Research International, and PLOSOne.
Director Robotic Urology Dept, St Antonius Hospital Gronau
Director of undergraduate Medical Student Programme
Founding member and board member of the German Society of Robot-assisted Urology (DGRU),
Head of the Working Group on Education and Training of the European Urology Section of Robotic Urology (ERUS),
Full Board Member of ERUS
Former Board Member of European Urology Scholarship Programme (EUSP)
Active Member of the Working Group on Laparoscopy and Robotics of the German Urology Society (DGU)
Member of European Association of Urology EAU, American Urology Society (AUA), Society of Endourology, German Urology Society (DGU), German Cancer Society (DKG), German Society of Male Health, German Society for Digital Health,
Fellow of the European Board of Urology (FEBU).
Dr. Wagner´s research interest includes clinical studies in robotic urologic surgery, with another focus on training and simulation, and artificial intelligence and machine learning. Besides numerous publications he has written and edited several book chapters on the topic of robotic urologic prostate and kidney surgery, and produced numerous educational videos presented at various conferences.
Dr. Wagner serves as Chief and Head of Robotic Urology at one of Europe´s largest robotic urology centers (at Prostate Center Gronau PCG / St. Antonius Hospital in Gronau, Germany), which performs about 1,800 robotic urologic surgeries per year and that has performed ca. 24,000 RARP so far.
He is furthermore the medical director of the training center “European Robotic Institute”.