Volume 03 / Issue 03 / September 2015
boa.ac.uk
Page 04
JTO News and Updates
The BOA honours outstanding members
The BOA is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2015 Honorary Fellowship and Presidential Merit Awards, which will be presented at the Annual Congress in Liverpool.
Michael Benson – Honorary Fellowship
A last minute change of heart led Michael Benson to study medicine at St Mary’s Hospital rather than history. After specialist training at St Mary’s, The Middlesex, the RNOH and UCLA he was consultant at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre from 1977-2010. With a main interest in children’s orthopaedics, he co-edited several children’s orthopaedic textbooks. He is past-President of the BOA, the British and the European Children’s Societies and Chairman of the Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery. Happily married to Glyn; one son is a barrister and the other a plastic surgeon.
Malcolm Macnicol – Honorary Fellowship
Malcolm Macnicol graduated in 1969 in Edinburgh and, following surgical training in the USA,
Australia and Switzerland settled at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children (RHSC) in Edinburgh as a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon and a Senior Lecturer. Malcolm became President of the BOA in 2001/2 and Lead Clinician in Surgery and Oncology at RHSC between 2005 and 2007. He’s published 152 papers, six books (11 editions) and 26 chapters. Malcolm is also patron of the Scottish Post-Polio Network.
Prof Keith Willett – Honorary Fellowship
Guy’s and Westminster Hospitals. He returned to South Africa to complete his Orthopaedic training at the Groote Schuur Hospital. He was an ABC travelling fellow in 1982. He was appointed to the Pieter Moll and Nuffield Chair of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Cape Town in 1990 before being appointed as Professor and Head of the Department of Orthopaedic surgery at the University of Bristol in 1994. Amongst others he served on the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and of the BOA.
Professor Willett is the Director for Acute Episodes of Care to NHS England. He came from his role as the first National Clinical Director for Trauma Care to the Department of Health. He has extensive experience of trauma care, service redesign and healthcare management and is Professor of Orthopaedic Trauma Surgery at the University of Oxford.
J Keith Tucker – Honorary Fellowship
Keith Tucker is a consultant orthopaedic surgeon in Norwich. His contributions to British orthopaedics include, Chairman of ODEP and the Beyond Compliance Advisory Group, Honorary Secretary and President of the BHS, member of the steering committee NJR where he has also set up and chaired the implant Performance Committee. He has been a member of Council of the BOA and a BOTA Trainer of the year. He established the Gwen Fish Orthopaedic Trust to fund Orthopaedic research. Keith has a small farm where his wife, Jill, and he keep sheep. He has three grown up sons and two grandchildren.
In his current role, he has the national medical leadership roles for acute NHS commissioned services ranging from out-of-hours general practice, pre-hospital and ambulance services, emergency departments, acute and elective surgery, acute medicine, children’s and maternity services and is the lead for a transformation of the national urgent and emergency care services.
Geoffrey Walker – Presidential Merit Award
Geoffrey Walker began his orthopaedic career at the RNOH where Herbert Seddon encouraged him to spend time in Nigeria. He spent time in Kano, followed by a year as an Assistant Lecturer at Ibadan. During his 23 years of NHS work, Geoffrey was able to continue his interest in the Orthopaedics of Low and Middle Income Countries (LMIC’s) firstly helping to establish a training scheme in Bangladesh shortly after their war of independence and then teaching in various other LMIC’s.
Prof Ian Learmonth – Presidential Merit Award
Prof Learmonth qualified MBChB at the University of Stellenbosch then did his general surgical training at
Since retirement, Geoffrey has worked for the British Council as Visiting Professor and Head of the Orthopaedic Department at the Black Lion University Hospital in Addis Ababa. He was also involved with establishing World Orthopaedic Concern UK.