At the annual National Plastic Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgery (NPRAS) meeting, we had the great pleasure of giving George Filobbos the Mercian Travelling Award.

Held at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, the NPRAS meeting was a fantastic opportunity to exchange current thinking on all aspects of plastic surgery.

Currently working at the University Hospital in Birmingham as a plastic surgery registrar, George attended the meeting, having already applied for the Mercian Travelling Award in the hope of visiting French University Hospital Amiens (CHU Amiens Picardie).

Shooting to fame in 2005 for completing the world’s first successful face transplant on a living human, Amiens is world-renowned for its innovative and complex reconstructive surgery.

Not only is it famous for its surgery, it's also the biggest university hospital in France and will provide George with a wealth of opportunity to develop his current skills.

When applying for the prize, George commented that he chose Amiens because they perform several aspects of reconstruction that UK trainees have limited access to.

With this in mind, George was selected from a range of applicants in the hope that he will gain further insight into abdominal wall reconstruction and skin cancer treatment, all of which will be useful for his practice in the UK.

We wish him the best of luck in France and bon voyage!

If you'd like to know more about applying for next year's Mercian Travelling Award, please feel free to contact us.