Ma Rainey taught Bessie how to take care of herself as a young Black woman in the male-dominated entertainment industry. The famous blues singer Ma Rainey heard Bessie sing and invited Bessie to join her on the road. New opportunities seemed to pop up each time Bessie performed. In 1912, Bessie’s brother Clarence invited her to join him as a member of a musical troupe. But Bessie knew she had talent and refused to quit. Bessie’s older sister did not think performing was a respectable job, and often punished Bessie for singing in public. Bessie sang and Andrew played the guitar. Both of her parents died when she was young.īessie and her brother Andrew made money for the family working as street performers. HERNIA SURGERY - Inguinal, umbilical, femoral and epigastric.Bessie Smith was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 1894 or 1895.

GALLSTONE SURGERY - laparoscopic cholecystectomy ( keyhole), laparoscopic bile duct exploration He is the Training, Education and Research Lead of the Association of Upper Gastrointestinal Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland and is also the Education Lead for the Great Britain and Ireland Hepatopancreatobiliary Association Areas of interest He is President Elect of the Pancreas Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Mr Smith is also a committee member of the Specialist Advisory Committee in General Surgery and is the liaison member for Northern Ireland. He is very much involved in research, some of his publications can be found on Pubmed and he features in The Daily Mail's Good Doctors Guide. He has co-supervised several postgraduate fellows working towards PhDs and MDs. He is also an examiner for the Royal College of Surgeons. He is also an Associate Clinical Professor at Leeds University. Mr Smith has a special interest in daycare laparoscopic cholecystectomy, performing more than 200 laparoscopic cholecystectomies and 60 major pancreas operations every year, including laparoscopic left pancreatectomy, Whipple procedures and surgery for chronic pancreatitis. At St James’s Hospital he is the Clinical Lead for emergency general surgery. St James's Hospital pancreaticobiliary Unit is one of the busiest in the UK. Alongside his private practice, Mr Smith is a consultant pancreaticobiliary surgeon based at St James's University Hospital. Mr Smith graduated from Imperial College, London and subsequently trained in Leicester, Nottingham and at the Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, USA. His areas of expertise include gallbladder surgery, gallstones, laparoscopic surgery, hernia surgery, pancreaticobiliary surgery, pancreas surgery, pancreatic cancer and pancreatitis. Mr Andrew Smith is a highly experienced consultant pancreaticobiliary surgeon and general surgeon with private clinics at Spire Leeds Hospital and Nuffield Health Leeds Hospital.

UNIT by Andrew Smith