Dr Mamta Shah graduated and obtained a Masters in General Surgery from Gujarat University and received her doctorate from the University of Manchester in 1993, qualifying as a Plastic Surgeon in 1998. She was awarded the prestigious Hunterian Professorship by the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1997 for her research on mechanisms of scarring. Her work has led to the discovery of a protein which reduces scarring and is currently undergoing clinical trials. She was appointed Consultant Plastic Surgeon in Manchester in 2000, specialising in the management of burn injuries in children and post-burn reconstructive surgery. She is the lead Clinician of the Regional Paediatric Burns Service in Manchester and also an Honourary Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Manchester where she leads a small group of researchers investigating the mechanisms of burn wound-healing and scarring. She lectures nationally and internationally.