I am a senior consultant thoracic Surgeon at St James' University Hospital in Leeds and at Spire Leeds Hospital.I qualified from Heraklion Medical School in Greece. I subsequently trained for eight years in the University of Stellenbosch, Cape Town completing the specialist exams in cardiothoracic surgery and an MD thesis in surgical management of tuberculosis in the paediatric population.I received further training as a qualified surgeon at the Royal Brompton Hospital in 1999 and the University of Leuven, Belgium in 2000 in lung and esophageal surgery.I was appointed as a consultant thoracic surgeon in 2001 in Leeds and have served in this position for 12 years. I developed the thoracic service in Leeds by marketing and centralising services from the West Yorkshire area. As a result of this the department has grown from a service provider of 625000 population to a regional centre serving 2.5 million citizens and receiving referrals from over 10 hospitals in the region.I co-ordinated the transfer of the department from Leeds General Infirmary to St James' University Hospital in 2005 with amalgamation of services from Bradford and Mid Yorkshire Hospitals Trust and the subsequent transfer of the service in the St. James's Institute of Oncology in 2008 offering a full range of specialist treatments for benign and malignant diseases of the chest.I engaged early and established minimally invasive treatment for benign and malignant diseases of the lung and airway, atrial fibrillation (irregular heart beat), emphysema and metastatic malignant diseases of the lung such as colorectal cancer, breast cancer and sarcomas.All treatments are offered through NICE guidelines and National and International protocols following discussions at 6 established multidisciplinary team meetings.