Cliff Shearman is Emeritus Professor of Vascular Surgery at the University of Southampton. Previously he was a Consultant Vascular Surgeon for 26 years, initially in Birmingham and then in Southampton and Professor of Vascular Surgery at the University of Southampton. His research interests focus on factors that lead to diabetic vascular disease and how to improve the clinical outcomes for people with diabetes. Cliff Shearman was a Clinical Service Director and Associate Medical Director in the University Hospital Southampton. During this time Vascular Services moved sites and expanded to cover the Isle of Wight, Winchester and Portsmouth as well as Southampton. At a National Level Cliff was President of the Vascular Society of Great Britain and Ireland and was one of the team that separated Vascular Surgery from General Surgery leading to a new speciality, centralisation of services and a new training programme for Vascular Surgeons. These changes have been associated with dramatic improvements in outcomes for patients. Cliff continues to work to help improve outcomes for people who have diabetes and develop complications affecting their feet, a common cause of amputation in the UK. He is a member of the National Diabetes Foot Audit Steering Group and the Specialist Vascular Clinical Reference Group for commissioning. He is currently Vice President, a member of the Council and Trustee of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and Council lead for Learning and Assessment. Patrick Chong qualified from Barts & The London School of Medicine and started his basic surgical training at the Hammersmith, Chelsea & Westminster and the Royal Brompton Hospitals. He was Clinical Research Fellow in Vascular Surgery at Imperial College London, winning the European Society of Vascular Surgery Young Investigator prize. He was awarded the Royal Society of Medicine Glaxo Travelling Fellowship for consecutive years to the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston and to the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore. He trained in multidisciplinary diabetic foot care in London at Kings College Hospital and at St Mary's Hospital where he also completed a post-CCT fellowship in Endovascular Surgery prior to his appointment as Consultant Vascular Surgeon at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust where he is Vascular Lead for the Multidisciplinary Diabetic Foot Service at Frimley Park Hospital. He serves as council member and chair of the education committee at the British Society of Endovascular Therapy (BSET) and is Director of the Tri-counties Diabetic Foot Symposium.
