Paper title: 

Outcomes of microsurgical free tissue transfer performed on international surgical collaborations in low-income and middle-income countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Authors: 

Henry T de Berker, Urška Cebron, Daniel Bradley, Vinod Patel, Meklit Berhane, Fernando Almas, Gary Walton, Mekonen Eshete, Mark McGurk, Dominique Martin, Calum Honeyman  

Host & Panelists:

Host: Miss Ailbhe Kiely - BFIRST Events Coordinator and Plastic Surgery trainee

Panelists:

Mr Adam Reid, Academic Consultant Plastic surgeon, Manchester Foundation Trust

Miss Kathryn Dickson, BFIRST Trainee committee immediate Past President

Guest Panelists:

Mr Henry De Berker, First author and Plastic Surgery trainee

Professor Mekonen Eshete, Senior author and Consultant Plastic Surgeon at Yekatit-12 Hospital, Ethiopia; Associate Professor at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia 

For today’s episode we have sat down with Dr Shilu Shrestha. Just 7 years ago, Dr Shilu became the first female orthopaedic surgeon in Nepal. She continues to be an incredible pioneering Nepalese surgeon with a special interest in Hand and Reconstructive Surgery currently working at the National Trauma Centre in Kathmandu.

In the first of this two part podcast we find out more about Dr Shilu’s career, from medical student and trainee to now being an leading hand surgeon spearheading the introduction and use of microsurgery in Nepal, plus an advocate for female surgeons in resource-limited settings. We talk about being a woman in surgery, - the highs, the lows and just how valuable mentorship and collaboration is, even if it is occurring across continents.

GlobalSurgTalk is a podcast brought to you by BFIRST - the British Foundation for International Reconstructive Surgery & Training. Here, where we take a behind the scenes look at the experiences, challenges and triumphs of visiting and local surgeons involved in global surgery. For today's episode, we sit down with Ms Barbara Jemec, a consultant plastic surgeon at the Royal Free Hospital in London and the founding chairman of BFIRST. In anticipation of Ms Jemec’s talk on November 20th (details on Instragram @BFIRSTMSC) we look back at the origins of BFIRST, the move towards recognising the importance of surgery within global health and the need to focus charitable work overseas on local surgical education programmes - with an emphasis on sustainability, collaboration and unified standards. Plus as a pioneering and innovative surgeon we talk with Ms Jemec about her journey and the importance of female role models. Join in on the conversation @bfirstmsc and use the hashtag #globalsurgtalk on Twitter + Instagram! You can find out more about our projects at www.bfirst.org.uk