Prof. Martin Brand completed his medical degree at the University of Pretoria, worked in the Republic of Ireland and completed his MRSC degree in 2006. He returned to South Africa to commence his general surgery training culminating in his FCS(SA) and MMed (Surgery) degrees.  He was the recipient of the Carnegie PhD Scholarship and completed his PhD in 2013 before sub-specializing in Surgical Gastroenterology with an interest in Hepatopancreaticobiliary Surgery. He received his Certification in 2014. Following this he worked for one year as a liver transplant fellow at Wits Donald Gordon Medi-Clinic and thereafter for one year in Singapore on a laparoscopic hepatopancreatic biliary surgery fellowship. Currently, he is the Head of HPB surgery at the University of Pretoria and Steve Biko Academic Hospital. Apart from clinical work, Martin is heavily involved in South African academia. At the school level, he chairs the PhD committee, supervises a range of research degrees from PhD to MMed, is involved in teaching medical students from 3rd year to 6th year, trains general surgery registrars and leads the surgical gastroenterology training program. He has been the secretary of the College of Surgeons SA for the past 7 years and has been integral to the modernization of the College as well as the Surgical Gastroenterology examinations. Outside of surgery is married with two children and races in Grand Fondo gravel cycling events.