Dr Constantina (Tina) Chrysochou is a consultant nephrologist at Salford Royal and Honorary Senior Lecturer at The University of Manchester. She is a past President of the Royal Society of Medicine’s Nephrology Section Council. Following her PhD in functional MRI imaging in predicting outcome in atheromatous renovascular disease, she has maintained clinical and research interests in this area. She is a key opinion leader on fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) with international collaborations and runs the national FMD clinic which contains the largest cohort of FMD patients in the UK; is PI for the multi-site UKFMD study and RADAR FMD specialist interest group.

Dr Chrysochou set up the Health Services Journal award-winning renal Young Adults Clinic at Salford Royal Hospital. She was national lead on the Transition section of the Renal Services Transformation Programme 2024 and North West Kidney Network joint lead culminating in a unified regional policy and educational modules. Dr Chrysochou developed and led the NCA Freedom to Speak up Team for nine years. The model was rolled out to seven large care organisations and the team were finalists in the 2020 Health Services Journal FTSU Organisation of the year.

Other clinical interests include glomerulonephritis, dialysis and transition medicine.

Miss Karabatsou has been a Consultant Neurosurgeon at Salford Royal Hospital since 2007 having graduated from Athens, Greece, and trained in UK and Canada. She has been the lead clinician for the neuro-oncology service in Greater Manchester since 2009 and led the team in being awarded the prestigious status of designated Centre of Excellence by the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission. She is also the lead clinician for cranial neurofibromatosis type 1, as part of one of the two UK centrally commissioned multidisciplinary services.

She has held roles in the Society of British Neurosurgeons as well at the European Society and the World Federation of Neurological surgeons giving her the opportunity to contribute to educational activities and help design and promote policies and guidelines to improve neurosurgery and neuro-oncology across the world. She has been appointed as Joint Clinical Lead for Northwest Neurosurgery Specialized Services Clinical Network.

Her other passion is training and education and is the training specialty lead in meurosurgery as well as a clinical tutor for Locally Employed Doctors at NCA. She is research active, leading on clinical projects and contributing to translational and basic science projects as well as PI and co-PI of neuro-oncology related trials. Her publication record includes more than 50 peer-reviewed studies and she has been an invited speaker at several national and international courses and conferences.

Miss Karabatsou firmly believes that patients and their families must be the focus of service and brain tumour research and has also organized several well-attended patients support and information days.

Mr Kanna Gnanalingham is a clinical academic neurosurgeon with subspecialty expertise in pituitary and spinal surgery. A leader in minimally invasive techniques, he introduced endoscopic pituitary surgery in Manchester in 2005, transforming outcomes with shorter hospital stays and significantly improved cure rates in acromegaly and Cushing’s disease. Under his leadership, Manchester has become the UK’s largest pituitary centre, with outcomes comparable to the best worldwide.

An active clinical academic, he has authored more than 120 publications (h-index 34), and helped established biobanks in 2006 for pituitary tumours and intervertebral disc tissue in Manchester, providing a vital platform for collaborative research.

In pituitary research, he has led and collaborated on studies of tumour biology, microbiology, and the endocrine consequences of brain injury, with landmark publications shaping national and international guidelines. His group’s pioneering work on acromegaly has influenced global practice by validating early postoperative testing and selective re-exploration.

In spine research, his studies have identified biomarkers and novel imaging markers of disc degeneration, alongside the development of minimally invasive surgical techniques such as day case discectomy and spinal instrumentation.

Dedicated to training, he has supervised PhD, MD, and MSc students, hosted international fellows, and led instructional courses across Europe and Asia. His contributions extend globally through visiting professorships and voluntary surgical missions in India. Recognised for excellence in service, research, and teaching, he has developed a national and international reputation as a leading neurosurgeon in pituitary and spine surgery.