our team

MBChB, MD, FRCS

Consultant Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgeon

Professor of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery

University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust

Ashley is Professor of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery at the University of Leicester and a consultant HPB surgeon at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust. He graduated from Sheffield University in 1977 and was a Wellcome Research Fellow in Oxford from 1983-85. He subsequently consolidated his HPB training working in Switzerland, Paris and Germany and was appointed to his consultant post in Leicester in 1994 where he established a tertiary HPB unit.

A lifelong believer in evidence-based medicine and the value of accurate data collected after asking the correct questions, he has developed an extensive research infrastructure and collaborative programmes with units in the USA, Taiwan, Holland, Australia and Japan. He is the HPB research lead in Leicester and also the lead clinician responsible for “sense checking” initiatives for service improvement and delivery.

Ashley’s main research interests relate to the metabolism, anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties of intravenous lipid emulsions, the treatment of colorectal metastases and the early diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer. He has over 380 peer-reviewed publications, has co-authored a textbook on HPB surgery, and is a reviewer for a wide range of surgical journals and on the editorial board of HPB Surgery.

He has the largest experience of pancreatectomy combined with islet cell transplantation outside the USA and the second longest experience in the world.

Ashley also has a longstanding commitment to advancing HPB research and training and has previously been President of the Great Britain and Ireland Hepato-Pancreatico-Biliary Association, President of the Pancreatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, National lead for HPB Surgery on the Association of Upper GI Surgeons Council and mentor to the South Australian Government on TPIAT. Ashley is also chair of the East Midlands Clinical Senate and  chair of the Midlands Clinical Advisory Group.