Surgical teams Working in aFrica
Together for Safer Surgery
Surgical teams Working in aFrica
Together for Safer Surgery

Who We Are

Founder

Mark Szymankiewicz is a Consultant Colorectal and General Surgeon based at Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust in the UK.

Together with wife Kate, and their three children he lived in Muheza, Tanzania for 5 months (Nov ’18 – Apr ’19) where they worked at St Augustine’s Designated District Hospital. During that time, Mark helped develop the surgical services at the hospital including setting up a sustainable mesh hernia service. Whilst firmly committed to Muheza at that time, curiosity also led him to travel the country and briefly visit other healthcare institutions, with a view to developing a better understanding of the overall healthcare system within which he worked.

Struck by the raw need, inspired by the potential, and convinced by the plausible reality, of wider surgical development in Tanzania, he engaged with the TSA (Tanzanian Surgical Association). This relationship has led to the development of our trust to help support, fund and thus enable this work.

Trustees

The SWIFTSS trustees are a varied group of people with a diverse set of professional backgrounds who have come together to realise the promise of SWIFTSS.

  • Mr Mark Szymankiewicz, Founder (Consultant Surgeon)
  • Dr Kate Szymankiewicz (GP)
  • Richard Constant, Chairman of the Board (Legal and charities background)
  • Dr Helena Kelly, PhD (Research, project management and finance background)
  • Miss Karen Nugent (Consultant Surgeon)
  • Dr Jon Linton (Consultant Anaesthetist)
  • Mr Christian Wakefield (Consultant Surgeon, joined the board 21/03/23)

We would like to thank the following former Trustees for their invaluable skill, support and commitment during their time with us:

  • Paul Smith (IT & finance background), Founding Trustee, stepped down 17/07/23

 

SWIFTSS Research Fellows

We recognise the importance of research in our work as a tool for building and refining knowledge; understanding what we are doing; facilitating learning; assisting communication; enabling quality assurance; and an important way to develop ideas and intellectual fulfilment. Our current research fellows are:

  • Miss Louise Hendra (Wessex Surgical Trainee)
  • Dr Tim Hendra (Wessex Anaesthetic and ICU Trainee)

 

Core Clinical Faculty

To enable our work to be possible we are reliant on our excellent clinical faculty who, in addition to the Trustees and Research Fellows, provide invaluable experience for our projects to succeed. Our current core clinical faculty are:

  • Mr Mark Szymankiewicz (Consultant Surgeon)
  • Mr Christian Wakefield (Consultant Surgeon)
  • Mr Nick Carty (Consultant Surgeon)
  • Miss Lesley Hunt (Consultant Surgeon)
  • Mr Greg Wynn (Consultant Surgeon)

 

Key Collaborations

There are many people who have assisted in our work and enable what we do to happen. We are grateful to each and every person who has contributed. This list is not exhaustive, but includes:

  • AMHSI Centres – please see our centre pages for more information about where our projects are happening.
  • The Tanzania Surgical Association – Our special thanks go to former Madame President Catherin Mlelwa (Specialist Surgeon, Paediatrics) for her unrelenting enthusiasm and support for the TNMHP; to Dr Masumbuko Mwashambwa (Specialist Surgeon, Transplant) who helped enormously to broker our initial relationship with the TSA and oversaw the initial phases of the TNMHP; to Dr Kondo Chilonga (Specialist Surgeon, General Surgery) and Dr Avelina Temba for their critique and expertise in setting up a mesh hernia service in Tanzania and to Dr Mugisha Nkoronko (Specialist Surgeon, General Surgery) for his ongoing work with us.
  • The Sierra Leone Association of Surgical CHOs and Partner in Health, Kiodu Government Hospital – Particular thanks to Anthony Abbot Kamara for his vision, dedication and expertise in getting the Sierra Leone workstream established.
  • The University of Winchester Centre for Global Health – We are delighted to be partnered with the Centre for Global Health bringing further educational and research dynamics to our work. We are particularly grateful to Dr Rachel Locke [PhD] for her interest in SWIFTSS and the successful collaborative research bid to the Global Challenges Research Fund that enabled our second formal project. Mark has also been appointed as a Visiting Fellow and Lecturer at the University.
  • IT collaborations – We are very grateful to Harry Andrews at WBS in the production and maintenance of this website; and to Michael, Diogenis and Elektra (and formerly Giorgis) at ORFIUM based in Greece to push forward with the development of the AMHSI pioneering electronic registry.
  • Other key collaborations include Professor Andrew Kingsnorth of Hernia International, who very generously shared his expert knowledge and experience with us and has been a strong supporter of our work. The Tongaonkar family in India who very generously share their ‘mosquito net’ mesh with us. Mr Liam Horgan and Mr Ryan Ghita of the Northumbria / KCMC link.