Teaching and Research

Teaching

Mr Dalal takes a keen interest in teaching budding doctors and Plastic Surgeons.

He has been in charge of the Training Programme in Plastic Surgery in the North West of England as Chair of the Training Committee till 2009. Mr Dalal is a member of the Surgical Advisory Committee in Plastic Surgery that is based at the Royal College of Surgeons, London. This committee decides the standards of training in Plastic Surgery and advises the various Plastic Surgery training programmes in the country regarding training Plastic Surgeons. Mr Dalal is an examiner for the FRCS (Plast) examinations conducted by the Royal College of Surgeons. This is an exit exam for Plastic Surgeons without which they cannot practice independently.

Mr Dalal is the Clinical Director of Plastic Surgery at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust which is the tertiary referral centre for Plastic Surgery and is based at Preston. The Plastic Surgery Department looks after patients from Preston, Chorley, Blackpool, Lytham St Annes, Poulton le Flyde, Thorton Cleveleys, Kirkham, Lancaster, Kendal, South Cumbria, Garstang, Blackburn, Accrington, East Lancashire, and they also receive referrals from Wigan and Southport.

The Plastic Surgery Department has a large contingent of trainee Plastic Surgeons, and Mr Dalal teaches these trainee Plastic Surgeons the art and craft of Plastic Surgery.

Mr Dalal is a member of the Core Surgical Training Committee based at the Royal College of Surgeons, London that sets standards for training of junior surgical trainee doctors in all the surgical specialties in the country, and advises the various Core Surgical Training Programmes regarding training these trainee surgeons.

Mr Dalal teaches medical students from the University of Manchester, and supervises clinical projects in Plastic Surgery conducted by medical students.

Mr Dalal runs the Micrsurgical course to teach Plastic Surgeons the skills required of a Plastic Surgeon to do delicate and complicated operations under a microscope.

Research

Mr Dalal supervises students conducting research and pursuing a Master’s degree at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN). The most recent research projects involved laboratory research looking into scar tissue (capsular contracture) around breast implants. This involved growing the scar tissue cells in the laboratory and studying the effects of medicines on the scar tissue. The research project is designed to try improve the treatments available for capsular contracture seen in some patients after breast implant surgery, either after breast augmentation (enlargement), or after breast reconstruction for breast cancer. Another research project involved developing computer models for blood flow within microscopic blood vessels after they have been rejoined. This research project is designed to understand the flow characteristics of rejoined microscopic vessels, and to try to develop a device to help rejoin these blood vessels so as to improve outcomes in Plastic Surgery reconstructions using microvascular free tissue transfer. These techniques of microvascular free tissue transfer are commonly used for reconstruction after mastectomy for breast cancer, and after large resections for head & neck and skin cancers. Mr Dalal has published and presented over 40 scientific articles in National and International scientific meetings. These include the Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgery (JPRAS) which is the premier British Plastic Surgery journal published by the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgeons (BAPRAS) based at the Royal College of Surgeons, London, and the Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery Journal which is the premier US Plastic Surgery journal published by the American Plastic Surgery Association. Mr Dalal is regularly requested to review scientific articles submitted to the Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgery (JPRAS) to determine whether the articles submitted are suitable for publication.