Surgeons
Dr Ian Lorimer
Ian is a general surgeon with broad interests in gastroenterology, oncology and laparoscopic surgery. He is based at Vincent Pallotti Hospital, but also consults and operates at Kingsbury Hospital.
Ian graduated MB ChB at the University of Zimbabwe in 1990 and started his surgical training at Mpilo Hospital in Bulawayo. He completed his surgical training at Groote Schuur Hospital and in 1999 was awarded the Lennox-Gordon Prize for the most distinguished publication by a registrar in training.
Ian obtained the Fellowship of the College of Surgeons of South Africa in 2001 and followed this with further post-fellowship training in Transplantation Surgery, Endocrine Surgery and Surgical Oncology before taking up his first consultant appointment in 2003.
Ian was most recently the Senior Specialist and Head of the Department of Surgery at Victoria Hospital having previously been the Head of Department at Eersterivier Hospital.
Ian is married to Cheryl and has 3 children.
He has very wide interests and is a distinguished sportsman having played cricket for the Zimbabwe A team in 1992. At the same time he played the violin for the National Symphony Orchestra. He continues to be involved in amateur theatre and enjoys hiking and an occasional game of tennis and golf. He is very active as a Church Elder at Stellenberg Community Church in Pinelands.
Dr Bernie Maree
Bernie grew up in Bloemfontein and matriculated at Sentraal High School with full colours. He completed his undergraduate training at the University of the Free State in 2002 and did his internship at Edendale Complex in Pietermaritzburg. He did his community service at Frere Hospital, East London. Following community service he spent two years in the UK doing surgery, emergency medicine and several courses to broaden his medical experience.
Bernie obtained his Fellowship of the College of Surgeons at Stellenbosch University in October 2011. He was awarded the Sanofi-Aventis prize for his Masters and was invited to present at the international congress, Society of Academic Research Surgery (SARS), in the UK in 2011. He held an appointment as a Consultant Surgeon at Tygerberg Hospital during 2012.
Bernie has a specific interest in surgical gastroenterology which includes gastric and colorectal surgery. He is involved in weekly academic colorectal meetings at Groote Schuur Hospital.
He is a proctor for hernia surgery and has lectured on laparoscopic hernia repair. He joined the word class laparoscopic skills lab at Red Cross Children’s Hospital, where he leads workshops on laparoscopic suturing.
He is a keen sportsman, and was presented with provincial and national colours at university. He enjoys being outdoors, particularly mountain biking.
He is happily married to Nicky Brice, a paediatric rheumatologist, and has three children, James, Ella and Sarah.
Dr Anna Coccia
Anna grew up in Pretoria and obtained her undergraduate degree at the University of Pretoria in 2007. She completed her internship training at Groote Schuur Hospital where her interest in surgery was sparked and in 2010 Anna moved to Rob Ferreira Hospital in Nelspruit where she worked as a Medical Officer in the Department of Surgery for almost 3 years. Despite her love for the lowveld, her surgical interests led her to seek broader experience and she moved to London where she worked in the Acute Care Surgery Unit at Kings College Hospital.
Anna commenced her formal General Surgical training at Groote Schuur Hospital in 2014, in 2018 she completed the Fellowship of the College of Surgeons of South Africa exam, and obtained her MMed in Surgery from the University of Cape Town. In her final year of training Anna was awarded the Swann-Morton Prize for best registrar. Throughout her training period and alongside her MMed Anna developed an interest in colorectal surgery and has been involved in endoscopic outreach to the west coast and Northern Cape.
Upon leaving Groote Schuur Hospital, Anna took up the post of consultant general surgeon at New Somerset Hospital. Here she has developed advanced laparoscopic skills in abdominal and hernia surgery. Maintaining her academic ties, Anna was involved in re-introducing and expanding the postgraduate teaching and training of surgical registrars on the UCT program and she often participates in local and national surgical conferences.