Mr David van Dellen

Mr van Dellen qualified in South Africa in 1997. Since then, he has gone on to acquire over twenty-five years of experience, gaining his MD in 2005 from the University of Birmingham, and fellowship to the Royal College of Surgeons (General and Transplantation Surgery). For over twelve years, Mr van Dellen has held the position of Consultant Surgeon within the Renal and Pancreas Transplant Unit at the Manchester Royal Infirmary. He is the clinical director of the busiest Transplant Unit in the UK, focusing on innovative surgeries. He has active roles in the renal and pancreas transplantation programmes. Alongside this, Mr van Dellen is the Head of School for Surgery for NHS England North West, where he mentors and oversees training for over 700 trainees and 26 Training Programme Directors across the North West and Mersey regions.

Mr van Dellen appreciates an extensive clinical practice. In particular, however, he focuses on elective and emergency renal, pancreatic & islet transplantation, Encapsulating Peritoneal Sclerosis (EPS) services, General Surgery (including abdominal wall reconstruction and inguinal and ventral hernias), Vascular Access, and Organ Retrieval. Mr van Dellen developed the simultaneous islet and kidney programme (SIK) for the trust (performing the first transplant in the UK) as well as a tertiary referral Abdominal Wall Reconstruction (AWR) Service dealing with complex ventral hernias (with both regional and national referrals).

Mr van Dellen has been involved in many research projects and clinical trials, particularly within transplant patients. Some of these have included: ‘CFZ533 in de novo and maintenance kidney transplant patients- CIRRUS-1 study’ and ‘Physiologic indicators for prognosis in abdominal sepsis (PIPAS) study.’ He has also developed excellence in the provision of service and further clinical and research development of the EPS and Renal and β-cell replacement transplant.

As part of his position of Head of School of Surgery, Mr van Dellen is responsible for over 700 trainees and 26 Training Programme Directors. He is also on the Specialist Advisory Committee (General Surgery – 2020 to current),and was the Training Programme Director for General Surgery (Health Education North 2017 – 2023) which is the second highest performing programme in the country. Mr van Dellen is also currently an Honorary Senior Lecturer for the University of Manchester. He is dedicated to education and training and has acted as an instructor for many key skills and surgeries for leading universities and hospitals, as well as being an examiner. He has developed and acted as faculty on multiple courses, both in abdominal wall reconstruction, transplantation and education.

Mr van Dellen is well published. He has contributed to over 200 books, chapters, articles, peer reviews, and abstracts. He has also assisted in National Guidelines (BTS/NHSBT Donor after cardiac death clinical guidelines – Kidney chapter,Invited author, June 2021).

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Mr van Dellen is the clinical director for transplantation and nephrology at the Manchester Royal Infirmary. He has held several leadership positions over the course of his career, including the position of National Lead for the Organ Utilisation Scheme (Pancreas) as part of the NHS Blood and Transplant service (2021-current). He is also a College Assessor for the Royal College of Surgeons. Alongside his management roles, Mr van Dellen has also taken multiple development courses in management.

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