2009
Tim R C Davis
Nottingham
2008
Joe J Dias
Leicester
2007
Simon P J Kay
Leeds
2006
Peter D Burge
Oxford
2005
David Elliot
Chelmsford
David Elliot was born on 05.06.1949 in Scotland and educated at the Edinburgh Academy. In 1969, he won an Open Scholarship to read Medicine at St. John's College, Oxford and subsequently transferred to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London for clinical training. He qualified MA Physiology (Oxon) (1975) and BM, BCh (1975), subsequently passing the FRCS (England) in 1980.
From soon after qualifying he developed an interest in plastic surgery, stimulated by locums in the St. Andrew’s Centre for Plastic Surgery, Billericay and Canniesburn in the late 1970s. After training for 2 years in general surgery, his plastic surgery training included time spent in the period 1982-1989 in the St.Andrews Centre for Plastic Surgery, Essex, Canniesburn Hospital, Glasgow, Newcastle Royal Victoria Infirmary and Derbyshire Royal Infirmary. He accredited in plastic surgery in 1988. As his interest in hand surgery developed, he also visited Dr Smith and Dr May in Boston (1983), Dr Foucher in Strasbourg (1984 and 1991), Professor Tubiana and Dr Gilbert in Paris and Professor Buck-Gramcko in Hamburg (1987). (The latter two visits were sponsored by BSSH Travelling Bursaries). During his training he won the British Burns Association Prize (1984), the West of Scotland Surgical Association Prize (1984), the BAPS Kay-Kilner Prize (1985) and the BSSH Pulvertaft Prize (1987).
He was a consultant plastic and hand surgeon in the St Andrews Centre for Plastic Surgery and Southend General Hospital from 1989 to 2019. He held an NHS A(Gold) Merit Award from 2006 to 2016. He was the senior surgeon of the St Andrews hand service during this period, providing emergency hand care for the 4 million population of Essex and East London. The emergency admission service was started by Brian Sommerlad in the early 1980s and this expanded from one consultant plastic/hand surgeon and approximately 900 trauma admissions in 1989 to eight consultant plastic/hand surgeons in 2019 and approximately 4500 trauma admissions. Secondary trauma hand surgery, peripheral nerve pain surgery and surgery for rheumatoid disease of the hand were introduced early in this period. Thirty-nine UK consultant surgeons still practicing or recently retired, who have maintained involvement in upper limb/hand surgery passed through training in hand surgery in St Andrews and a further 35 fellows from outside the UK passed through this training, of whom thirteen are known to have maintained a major involvement in upper limb surgery.
He was a member of BSSH council (1994-97), Secretary (1998–2001) President (2005) and Editor of the British and European Journal of Hand Surgery (2005–2007). He was President of the British Association of Hand Therapists (1995–1998) .and a member of the Council of the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons (2001–2003). He sat on various committees of the BSSH and was a founder member of the BSSH Inter-discipline Fellow Training Programme, as part of which nine senior orthopaedic trainees passed through this post in St Andrews during the period 1993-2003: all continued in consultant hand practice. He was a member of the symposium on ‘Outcomes in Hand Surgery Movement’ held by Professor Burke (1993) and subsequently reported in JHS British. He was a co-author of ‘Awareness of Availability of Specialist Hand Surgery’, an early 2000 BSSH project to educate GPs, copies of which he provided to every GP in Essex and ‘Hand Surgery in the UK – Manpower, Resources, Standards and Training’ (2007. He was the co-opted BSSH member of the RCS England committee which published ‘Better Care for the Severely Injured’ (2000), a publication of guidelines of best practice in the management of severe surgical trauma. As assistant editor in the mid1990s, he was involved with the then editor in coordinating and revising a series of histories of the European national societies for surgery of the hand, subsequently published in the JHS British. Subsequently, as editor, he published a tribute to Professor Tubiana of Paris on his 90th birthday (2005). In his year as President of the Society 2005, the Booklet ‘Hand Surgery in the UK’ was started (published 2007), preparation of an exit examination in Hand Surgery for the UK was pursued by Professor Lees in Manchester, an International Travelling Fellowship of the Society was created and negotiations started to allow BSSH to be approved as a nominating body for National Clinical Excellence Awards. He has reviewed for the JHS British, JHS European, JPRAS, the French Hand Journal, the Indian Journal of Plastic Surgery and the South-East Asian JHS over many years and continues to review for several of these journals.
During the period 1989-2019, he examined for the Diploma of the Federation of European Societies for Surgery of the Hand (FESSH) on five occasions. He chaired the Flexor Tendon Committee of the IFSSH (2001–2004 and 2005–2007) and remained a member of this committee from 2007 to 2016. He was the UK committee member of FECUM, the original committee set up to co-ordinate activities in emergency hand surgery in Europe, adopted by FESSH in the 1990s. In 1999, with Professor Landi of Modena, he co-authored the FESSH publication ‘Consensus Issues on Replantation within the Upper Limb’ which summarised a review of replantation practices in the countries in the EU at that time. He was a faculty member of the Conference on Limb Transplantation and Replantation, Bologna (1999), Chairman of the FESSH meeting on Transplantation in Bonn, Germany (1999) and an invited Speaker at the FESSH Symposium on Hand Transplantation in Amsterdam (2002). He was a member of the scientific organising committee for the FESSH Congress, Barcelona in 2000. He taught at the anatomical flap dissection course in Zurich from 2007 to 2020 and was a visiting Professor of the Orthopaedic Department of the University of Las Palmas, Gran Canaria (2012-2019). He still operates there regularly (2024).
He also lectured widely throughout the UK and abroad, being an invited FESSH lecturer on eight occasions and an IFSSH invited lecturer on four occasions. Over 30 years, he was an invited speaker in twelve European countries and a guest anatomy dissector and speaker at the Zurich hand surgery course on fourteen occasions until this meeting was interrupted by the Covid crisis. He had a particular relationship with the Italian hand surgeons which included ten guest lectures and involvement in two anatomy dissection meetings. He also lectured in the Canary Islands regularly, the Derby Hand Course occasionally and was a guest lecturer and teacher on hand surgery courses at numerous other European and other Hand Societies including the Belgian, Dutch, Finnish, Irish, Monacan, New Zealand and Spanish. He was the Foundation Speaker in Plastic Surgery of the Royal Australian College of Surgeons in 2001 and the Foundation Speaker in Hand Surgery in 2012, Kannappan Shanmuganathan Orator, Coimbatore (2001), Venkataswami Orator of the Indian Society Surgery of the Hand (2004), Visiting Professor of the South African Society for Surgery of the Hand (2005), Kleinert-Kutz Visiting Professor of Hand Surgery, Louisville, USA (2005), Godrej Lecturer of the Association of Plastic Surgeons of India (2007) and Narakas Lecture of the Swiss Society for Surgery of the Hand (2014). He is an honorary member of the Association of Plastic Surgeons of India, the Indian Society for Surgery of the Hand, the Swiss Society for Surgery of the Hand and the South African Hand Society. He was made a Pioneer of the International Federation of Societies for Surgery of the Hand (IFSSH) in 2022.
He still maintains a close link with India and has lectured at meetings of the Association of Plastic Surgeons of India, the Indian Society for Surgery of the Hand, the Indian Microsurgery Society and the South East Asian Hand Society eighteen times. This association has also led to the setting up of the BSSH Bruce Bailey Travelling Fellowship in 2001, Dr Raja Sabapathy being the invited Douglas Lamb speaker at BSSH (2005), a combined BSSH-ISSH meeting in Bangalore (2008) and many interchanges of young Indian and UK surgeons between the two countries. He has also has had a long association with Professor Tang, Nantong, China, through the IFSSH Flexor Tendon Committee and JHSE and during Covid gave video lectures to audiences of around 5-6,000 of the Chinese orthopaedic community.
He has written over 130 basic research and clinical (mainly) papers on plastic and hand surgery 125 of which were peer-reviewed. These include co-authorship of a paper awarded the Emanuel Kaplan Award for Anatomical Excellence of the New York Society for Surgery of the Hand and the American Society for Surgery of the Hand. His research interest in the management of peripheral nerve pain, including experience of over 400 operative procedures, are recorded in nine peer-reviewed research papers, two journal reviews and numerous book chapters.
2004
Michael D Brennen
Belfast
2003
Murray H Matthewson
Cambridge
2002
Geoffrey Hooper
Fife
Geoffrey Hooper was born in Lancashire in 1946 and qualified MB, ChB from the University of St Andrews in 1970. After house jobs in Dundee he spent two years in the Department of Anatomy at the University of Dundee, teaching and carrying out a research project on the hepatocyte that led to a master’s degree in medical science by thesis. After a period at Birmingham Accident Hospital, he received further basic surgical training and then training in orthopaedic surgery in Edinburgh, with a fellowship in hand and paediatric surgery in Hong Kong (1980). He was appointed Senior Lecturer in orthopaedic surgery in the University of Edinburgh in 1982, with honorary posts as consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the Royal Infirmary, Princess Margaret Rose Orthopaedic Hospital and Bangour General Hospital. In 1987 he was appointed as an NHS consultant in Edinburgh, specializing in hand surgery, and continued as an honorary senior lecturer in the university.
The building of the new Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh meant that the old Royal Infirmary and the Princess Margaret Orthopaedic Hospital would be closed, with the loss of beds and clinics. At the same time the newly built St John’s Hospital at Livingston had spare capacity and was the base for the Regional Plastic Surgery Unit. GH was appointed as consultant orthopaedic hand surgeon in the Plastic Surgery Unit in 1995, meaning that plastic and orthopaedic expertise was available on the same site.
He was editor of the Journal of Hand Surgery (British and later European volume) from 1996-99, and again from 2008 (to present). He was an examiner for the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and the Intercollegiate Specialty Board in Orthopaedic Surgery and was heavily involved in the establishment of the Diploma in Hand Surgery awarded by the University of Manchester and the British Society for Surgery of the Hand. He greatly enjoyed organizing the annual hand surgery course in Edinburgh from 1983 until he retired in 2006 and was proud of the fact that it had encouraged many trainee surgeons to develop an interest in the specialty. After retirement he worked as an advisor to several national bodies such as the General Medical Council and the Care Quality Commission, taught basic surgical skills on courses run by the RCSEd, and continued to write and edit. In 2011 he was awarded the degree of MD from the University of St Andrews for his collected publications on hand surgery. He was president of the British Society for Surgery of the Hand in 2002. In 2019 he was awarded the title of Pioneer in Hand Surgery by the IFSSH.
2001
Robert E Page
Sheffield
Biography for Robert Page, President of the British Society for Surgery of the Hand 2001
Consultant Plastic Surgeon The Northern General Hospital Sheffield and Sheffield Childrens Hospital
Robert Page, a respected and accomplished figure in the field of Hand Surgery, was born in the small Berkshire town of Didcot in 1946. He qualified with Honours from Leeds University School of Medicine in 1970 and then joined surgical rotations in General Surgery at Manchester Royal Infirmary and Leeds General Infirmary, proceeding to FRCS London in 1974. Intrigued by the precision and artistry involved, he commenced training in Plastic Surgery in Leeds and East Grinstead, taking up Fellowships in Winnipeg and Louisville before the award of a Ch.M ( Leeds) in 1982. Page became a Consultant Plastic Surgeon and Honorary Lecturer in Surgery in Sheffield in 1983, taking over from Douglas Campbell Reid who had already established an emphasis on Hand Surgery in the post. From the out set Page harboured a particular interest in education both locally and nationally, contributing numerous chapters in multi author books and publishing widely in peer reviewed Journals. Forging close ties with the University he became involved in the medical undergraduate course and was appointed Undergraduate Dean 1993-2007. Involvement with BSSH was inevitable, contributing to Meetings , serving on Council and participating in numerous Committees lead to his appointment of Secretary for the Society in 1992-1994 and then President in 2001. Whilst chairman of the SAC in Plastic Surgery (2001-2004), as part of the Interface Group, it was possible to promote specific Units, recognised for their excellence in the speciality, which could be called upon to create programmes for advanced trainees in Hand Surgery. Later backed by an Examination this development considerably enhanced the reputation and profile of BSSH. Serving the patients of South Yorkshire and beyond has been a priority for Page, who was in at the beginning of the expansion and coordination of services leading eventually to a stand alone integrated Hand Unit in the Northern General Hospital. His commitment to the surgical field was recognised by the award of FRCS ad hominem by the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh in 2007, the same year in which, elected by the membership, he became President of BAPS/BAPRAS. Throughout his Consultant career Page was a member of the European Plastic Surgery Workshop which served to foster cooperation and the exchange of clinical experiences between a group of European surgeons.
2000
Ian J Leslie
Bristol
Ian Leslie was born in Brisbane, Australia. He graduated in Medicine form the University of Queensland in 1968. As a medical student he was called up for compulsory two years of National Military Service, deferred until graduation and Registration. He was posted to the Republic of Vietnam on Active Service for 12 months at the height of the Vietnam War.
On discharge, he travelled to England and was successful in the Primary FRCS after attending the Nuffield College Course at the Royal College of Surgeons. He then returned to Brisbane to undertake General Surgery training. Having been offered a post at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, Oxford by Professor RB Duthie, he returned to England where he undertook his orthopaedic training in Oxford and completed training in Liverpool where he obtained his MChOrth degree. He was appointed Senior lecturer at the University of Liverpool under Professor George Bentley.
His interest in Hand Surgery was stimulated by John Cockin in Oxford and subsequently by Geoffrey Osborne in Liverpool. In 1981 he was appointed Consultant in Trauma and Orthopaedics at the Bristol Royal Infirmary where he undertook general orthopaedics and trauma with an interest in hands, spines and microsurgery. He developed a major interest in scaphoid fractures and wrist instability which carried on for the remainder of his career. He had a close association with the Rheumatology Department undertaking joint clinics at all three hospitals in Bristol. His interest in research led to his being on the Council and subsequently Treasurer of the British Orthopaedic Research Society.
In Bristol he brought together the Occupational Therapists and the Physiotherapists to establish the Bristol Hand Rehabilitation Centre at the Infirmary. He was subsequently honoured to serve as President of the British Association of Hand Therapists. He travelled to the Mayo Clinic on a Zimmer Travelling Fellowship to study wrist disorders under Jim Dobyns and Ron Linscheid and rheumatoid hand problems under Al Swanson and Adrian Flatt. A BSSH travelling Fellowship took him to Raoul Tubiana in Paris and Hanno Millessi in Vienna. Using his microsurgical skills he provided a peripheral nerve and brachial plexus injury service to the South West of England and South Wales.
He served on Council of BSSH 1986-88. He was a member of the panel of examiners for the first Intercollegiate Speciality Examination in Orthopaedic Surgery held in Edinburgh in 1990. Under Graham Stack’s influence he became a keen supporter of the Journal of Hand Surgery serving initially on the Editorial Board and then as Chairman of the Board of Management when it was a sister journal with the American volume. He remains a member of the Editorial Board. He was honoured to be elected President of the BSSH in 2000. He worked towards the development of the speciality of Hand Surgery as Chairman of the Interface Committee in Hand Surgery for the Royal College of Surgeons. He was a member of the Orthopaedic Speciality Advisory Committee of the Royal College of Surgeon and took a great interest in hand surgery training within the speciality of Trauma and Orthopaedics.
He served as the National Delegate to the International Orthopaedic Association (SICOT) for ten years and continues to maintain a close association with SICOT which is based in Belgium. He was honoured to be elected President of the British Orthopaedic Association in 2005-6.