Mr Phillip Thomas MB ChB LLB(hons) FRCS

Mr Phillip Thomas holds the degrees of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from the University of Manchester, and an honours degree in Law from the University of Leeds

He qualified in medicine in 1984, being awarded the Bradley Memorial Scholarship in Surgery. In 1988, he became the British Digestive Foundation Research Fellow, investigating enzyme changes associated with diseases of the pancreas ( gland associated with the development of obesity).

During this period, he was also actively involved in the development of surgical construction of a new rectum out of a pouch of small intestine following removal of the large bowel. On the basis of this work he was awarded the Gold Medal for Best Scientific Paper at the first International Conference on Pelvic Pouch Procedures, and made Honorary Visiting Professor of Surgery, University of Bologna, Italy.

Thereafter, he was appointed the Inaugural Tutor in Surgical Gastroenterology and Honorary Senior Registrar in Surgery at the University of Manchester. He was also heavily involved in the (then) relatively new field of obesity surgery - including major open gastric stapling and the initial development of the gastric balloon.

In 1991, his major surgical textbook 'Pelvic Pouches and Procedures' was published. At this time, he was also awarded the Merit Award by the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain & Ireland for his "contribution to surgical education". In addition to his textbook he has also been extensively published in scientific journals and has presented at many national and international meetings.

After surgical training, Mr Thomas left the NHS and undertook legal training. He then entered private legal practice. At this time, he also commenced private surgical practice, working within the field of weight management and body contouring surgery. Over the last decade, he has amassed a personal series of several thousand operations, including more than 2,000 large volume superficial syringe liposculptures.

Mr Thomas is an advisor on obesity to the BBC, and has appeared in many television programmes and radio broadcasts; as well as in numerous newspaper and magazine articles. He is an associate member of the British Obesity Surgery Society , and a faculty member of the organisation The International Federation for Chorionic Gonadotrophin and Obesity Research.