Search Results for Medical Obituaries - Narrowed by: Orthopaedic surgeon

First Title value, for Searching Chakrabarty, Ram Prasad (1918 - 2010)

2024-05-06T23:15:30Z

by Sarah Gillam
Publication Date 2019-03-04
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009500-E009599
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Ram Prasad Chakrabarty was head of the department of orthopaedics at the Maulana Azad Medical College, Delhi. He was born on 5 June 1918. In the run up to the Partition of India he was a resident medical doctor at Calcutta Medical College and gave first aid to the victims of bloody riots in the city in 1946. In 1949 he went to the UK and gained the fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1953. A year later, he returned to India and settled in Delhi, where he developed his orthopaedic practice. He was married to Ashima Chakrabarty, a Bengali born in Jammu. Ram Prasad Chakrabarty died on 20 October 2010 at the age of 92.
Resource Identifier RCS: E009579
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching King, John Beverley (1944 - 2018)

2024-05-06T23:15:30Z

by Tina Craig
Publication Date 2018-12-13 2021-11-11
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009500-E009599
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details John Beverley King studied medicine at the London Hospital Medical College and graduated MB, BS in 1967. During his orthopaedic training at the London, he was also attached to the knee unit at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital for a time. Later he obtained a fellowship to study in France with one of the then foremost knee surgeons in the world, Professor Albert Trillat of Lyon. He passed the fellowship of the college in 1973 and in 1977 was appointed senior lecturer ir orthopaedic and trauma surgery to the London Hospital Medical College and honorary consultant in orthopaedic and trauma surgery to the London Hospital and Newham Health District. A pioneer in the field, he founded the diploma course in sports medicine in 1981 and eventually the department evolved into the Centre of Sport and Exercise Medicine at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry. For many years it was the only place to offer a course on that specific topic. During his time there John introduced many innovative techniques such as, in 1987, carrying out the first arthroscopy of the ankle with his former PhD student. He continued in post until 2001 and was given an honorary professorship of the Centre in 2011. A leading member of the British Association of Sport and Exercise Medicine, he was awarded the Sir Roger Bannister Medal for Lifetime Services to Sports and Exercise Medicine. He was a fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and a member of the International Knee Society. After retiring to Thurlestone, near Kingsbridge in Devon, he died from complications following aortic aneurism surgery on 6 October 2018 aged 74. He was survived by his wife Deidre, children Polly and Toby and grandchildren, Tom, Jessie, Ben, Jamie and Sam.
Resource Identifier RCS: E009550
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Attara, George Antoine (1945 - 2018)

2024-05-06T23:15:30Z

by Hiro Tanaka
Publication Date 2019-01-15 2019-07-03
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009500-E009599
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon Trauma surgeon Hand surgeon
Details George Attara was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Gwynedd Hospital in Bangor, Wales. He was born in Cairo, Egypt on 29 December 1945 to an Egyptian father, Antoine Karim Attara, a merchant, and a Greek mother, Anastasia Attara née Mazarakis. This background gave him a deep appreciation of different cultures and the ability to speak multiple languages, including Arabic, Greek and French. He had an identical twin, Karim, also an orthopaedic surgeon, who is working in Dubai and is a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. He and his brother were educated at the French Collège des Pères Jésuites Primary School and the Collège De La Salle in Cairo. They entered Cairo University to study medicine together in 1964 and graduated in 1970. During his university years, George was an avid music player, playing the guitar, keyboard and accordion. It was at during time that The Beatles were changing popular music globally and their band, Magic Fingers, was inspired by their style. Their favourite opening number was ‘Help’. George was also a competitive cyclist and won several trophies during that time. George completed his internship at Cairo University and moved to the UK in 1972. His first post in the UK was at the Royal South Hants Hospital in Southampton with James Stokes Ellis and it was here that he developed his interest in hand surgery. Having completed his FRCS and his orthopaedic training in County Durham, George spent the first decade of his career in the Middle East as a consultant orthopaedic surgeon in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. From 1990 to 1991, working at the Northern Armed Forces Hospital in Saudi Arabia, he was part of the support effort for Desert Storm. He was subsequently appointed as chief of orthopaedic surgery at the King Abdulaziz University Hospital in Jeddah. In 1993, he returned back to UK when he was offered a post at the Princess Alexandra Royal Air Force Hospital in Wroughton. His military experience in Saudi Arabia and RAF Wroughton gave him specialist expertise in the management of polytrauma and war injuries. Throughout his career, he was always a passionate teacher and trainer. His unique, supportive style of training was ahead of his time and was inspirational to all those who trained with him. After the closure of RAF Wroughton, George moved to Gwynedd Hospital in 1996 and trained many generations of Welsh trainees until his retirement in 2007. He is remembered by those fortunate enough to learn from him as ‘Boss’ and lives on in their hearts and minds. I feel privileged to have been one those surgeons who were inspired by him and to this day, I still maintain the three principles of practice he told me on my first day as his registrar: ‘Be kind to your patients, be kind to your trainees and enjoy life.’ I have never seen so many patients admire and trust their surgeon in the way they did with George. George died peacefully at his home on 23 September 2018 aged 72. He was survived by his wife Judy, his brother, Karim, and his sister, Mary.
Resource Identifier RCS: E009556
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Ransford, Andrew Oliver (1940 - 2021)

2024-05-06T23:15:30Z

by Michael Edgar
Publication Date 2021-03-18
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009900-E009999
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/384449384449
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon Spinal surgeon
Details Andrew Ransford, known to friends and colleagues as ‘Andy’, was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at University College Hospital (UCH), London and at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore, who specialised in spinal surgery. He was born in Kenya, where his father, Oliver Ransford, was a doctor in the Colonial Service and an established author on African colonial history. His mother was Irene Ransford née Galloway. The family settled in Southern Rhodesia, where Andrew attended Milton Junior School and then Michaelhouse School in South Africa. There he excelled academically and learnt to play rugby. After a year at the University of Cape Town, he went to the UK to study medicine supported by a scholarship from the Rhodesian government, first at Emmanuel College, Cambridge (from 1959 to 1962) and then at University College Hospital medical school, London (from 1962 to 1965). He played rugby for his Cambridge college in the first XV team, which won cuppers, the intercollegiate competition. At UCH, he became captain of rugby and in later years was the club’s president. Andrew qualified in medicine in 1965, completing his preregistration house jobs at UCH. Andrew passed the primary FRCS exam in 1967 whilst demonstrating in anatomy at Cambridge attached to Emmanuel. He was appointed to the UCH general surgical registrar rotation, gaining experience at Barnet General, Edgware General, Great Ormond Street and Watford General hospitals, achieving the FRCS diploma in 1970. Also in 1970 Andrew joined the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital training programme. With a growing interest in spinal surgery, he reviewed the use of halo-pelvic traction in the preoperative correction of severe scoliosis, publishing his classic study in 1975 with Charles Manning as co-author (‘Complication of halo-pelvic distraction for scoliosis.’ *J Bone Joint Surg Br*. 1975 May;57[2]:131-7). His paper showed the technique achieved no structural correction beyond the existing spinal mobility and was not without complications. In 1975 Andrew obtained a fellowship at the University of Southern California attached to Rancho Los Amigos Hospital, Los Angeles. Among his spinal research projects, he investigated patients with failed low back surgery, usefully establishing that patients’ pain patterns, on the ‘Ransford pain drawing’, correlated to the patients’ psychological profile and were predictive of surgical outcomes. In 1977 Andrew was appointed as a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at University College Hospital, London and in 1980 he was granted additional sessions in the scoliosis unit at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Stanmore. Working with Michael Edgar and other colleagues, he helped to develop implants, which provided more stable surgical fixation. As new surgical techniques led to more rigorous scoliosis correction, spinal cord monitoring became a required safety net and a preferred alternative to the ‘wake up test’. A refined and reliable sensory monitoring procedure was developed over several years at Stanmore in collaboration with Stephen Jones, the neurophysiologist from the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery. This sensory monitoring technique became accepted worldwide, later to be combined with motor tract monitoring. Following NHS changes in 1991, Andrew decided to become a maximum part-time consultant at Stanmore, retaining his private practice at 107 Harley Street. At this time, he was elected to the Court of Examiners of the Royal College of Surgeons, a role which he valued with its traditional and thorough exam system. He disapproved when multiple choice question papers were introduced. Andrew was instigator of an international trial, which established the successful use of artificial bone substitute in spinal fusions, published in 1997. With Alan Crockard, the neurosurgeon, Andrew founded the British Cervical Spine Society in 1981, which developed close links with the European Cervical Spine Research Society. The widely used ‘Ransford loop’, which comprises a 4mm steel loop attachable by wires or screws to the skull base was developed for occipitocervical surgical stabilisation in complex cases, which include trauma, rheumatoid disease and tumour excision. A less common use is in the stabilisation of the instability associated with occipitocervical malformation in Morquio-Brailsford syndrome and other MPS (mucopolysaccharide) dwarfing conditions in which Andrew developed expertise. Andrew felt strongly that spinal surgery should be multidisciplinary, eventually becoming a single specialty involving the whole spine. This was partially resolved when he simultaneously became president of the British Scoliosis Society and of the Cervical Spine Society in 1995. He suggested that the separate spinal societies should combine to form the British Association of Spinal Surgeons. Interdisciplinary conferences under ‘Britspine’ were set up. In 1994, Andrew and Alan Crockard were involved in establishing the Danny Hill surgical skills laboratory at the Royal College of Surgeons, set up to train surgeons of all specialties using simulation techniques and cadaveric specimens. During his orthopaedic career, Andrew authored or co-authored 34 papers and wrote a number of chapters in spinal and mainstream surgical textbooks. In 1993, health issues (atrial fibrillation and heart block requiring a pacemaker) reduced his stamina for spinal surgery, leading to his retirement from the NHS in 1997. However, his spinal experience kept him in demand as an international medico-legal expert until 2013. To add to his entrepreneurial skills, Andrew helped to start a short-lived biotech company in 1997, which was taken over by Nanoco, but not before several products were patented. Andy was a gentle giant with a sharp mind, balanced by a convivial manner and an infectious sense of humour. He was a sociable being, belonging to several luncheon and dining bodies. One of them, Ernie’s Club, in deference to Ernie Kirwan (a distinguished spinal surgeon), was formed from the earlier Westminster orthopaedic rotation and based at the Athenaeum. Andrew travelled widely both professionally and for leisure. With Penny and his family (Philippa, Mark, Christopher and Helen) he enjoyed skiing holidays (including the Orthopaedic Study Group or Ski Club in Zürs) and trips to southern Africa to visit family. Andrew and Penny also went on several Royal College of Surgeons tours – including to China (in 2007) and to Dubai and India (in 2010). Over the years, Andrew found time for game shooting, collecting antique silhouette miniatures, contributing to a stock market investment club and even warily crewing for colleagues who sailed. Later he and Penny took up salmon fishing, sculpturing and the luxury of Swan Hellenic Cruises. Even in his debilitating last illness due to leukaemia, Andrew never lost his wide interest in life, combined with a jovial outlook and cautious, questioning mind. He undoubtedly lived up to his reputation as the ‘The thinking person’s orthopaedic surgeon’. He died on 24 January 2021 at the age of 80.
Resource Identifier RCS: E009936
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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First Title value, for Searching Marx, Dame Clare Lucy (1954 - 2022)

2024-05-06T23:15:30Z

by Sir Norman Williams
Publication Date 2022-12-09
JPEG Image
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E010000-E010999/E010100-E010199
URL for Files https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/search/asset/386255386255
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Clare Marx was a pioneer in British surgery and medicine in general, breaking through the glass ceiling in a variety of places. She was one of the first consultant female orthopaedic surgeons in the country, the first female president of the British Orthopaedic Association (BOA) and of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and likewise the first female chair of the General Medical Council (GMC). Despite never overtly wishing to be defined by her gender, she acted as a beacon and inspiration for generations of women wishing to pursue a medical career and particularly one in surgery. Clare was born in Coventry on 15 March 1954, the daughter of Brenda Marx née Johnston, a Cumbrian teacher and magistrate, and her husband Francis Marx, a German-Jewish industrial chemist whose family had fled the Nazis in 1933. Not surprisingly she was brought up to oppose any form of discrimination and this was an underlying tenet of her philosophy on life. She went to school in Warwick and subsequently Switzerland, where she became fluent in French as well as developing a love for the mountains, returning to England to finish her schooling at Cheltenham Ladies’ College. She trained in medicine at University College Hospital, London and after qualification rapidly ascended the orthopaedic surgical ladder. As part of her training she did a fellowship in hip and knee arthroplasty at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, USA, before being appointed to her first consultant post at St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington in 1990. She married Andrew Fane in 1989, who amongst other interests was a farmer in Suffolk, and decided in 1993 to seek a consultant post in Ipswich. After duly being appointed as the first woman surgical consultant in that hospital, within a year she became clinical director for orthopaedics, trauma and rheumatology, displaying her extraordinary leadership abilities. She recounted on numerous occasions her experience of sexism in the profession both overt and covert. However she met these head on with a mixture of humour and barbed repartee, which often disarmed the perpetrators. She had a deep interest in surgical training throughout her career, serving on the education committee of the BOA and subsequently was appointed chair of the Speciality Advisory Committee on Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery. She was elected to the council of the BOA and subsequently the presidency (2008 to 2009). It was therefore not surprising that she was elected to the council of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 2009. Amongst her various council roles she was a most effective chair of the Invited Review Mechanism. In 2014 she was elected as president of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, becoming the first woman in its history to achieve this honour. She fulfilled this role with distinction. One of her most important legacies will be the re-building of the College. Against a certain degree of opposition, she drove this forward from design phase to completion with great enthusiasm and determination. The new building, much appreciated by fellows and staff, will stand as a monument to Clare’s extraordinary commitment to making the Royal College of Surgeons of England fit for the modern age. A key theme throughout her career was the need to improve the standard of poorly performing units and surgeons, which by necessity did not always make her popular. But as ever she was driven by what she felt was right, despite the negative criticism. She emphasised the need for collaborative working to ensure safe surgery and the best possible patient care. This was the theme of the document *Good surgical practice*, published during her time as president of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, and a principle now regarded as pivotal to surgical professionalism. The pressures on the president of the College in the present era are considerable, particularly in dealing with the media. Clare was extremely effective in her communication style, getting over her points concisely and lucidly, so they were well understood by the public and politicians alike. Following her three years as president she went on to chair the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management from 2017 to 2018 and then was appointed as chair of the GMC in 2019 at a time of considerable criticism of that body by the medical profession. It had been accused of being too heavy-handed, particularly following the notorious handling of a trainee paediatrician who had unfortunately fallen foul of the law on gross negligence manslaughter. Clare’s task was to help repair the damage and restore faith in the GMC. She was on this journey when she was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer and stepped down from her GMC role. She bore the disease with considerable fortitude, undergoing experimental chemotherapy, which naturally left her drained. However, despite this devastating diagnosis and therapy, she maintained an outwardly positive attitude. Only a matter of six months before her death she dug the first shovel of earth for the Dame Clare Marx building, a multimillion-pound orthopaedic centre in Colchester that will open in 2024. For her significant contributions to the profession she was awarded a CBE in 2007 and was appointed a DBE in 2018. Throughout her life she approached all she did with enthusiasm, application and determination, which encompassed her various outside interests including opera, skiing and walking, particularly in the Highlands and Alps, and her duties as Deputy Lieutenant of Suffolk, to which she was appointed in 2008. Clare will be remembered by all her colleagues as an excellent and gifted orthopaedic surgeon who showed tremendous leadership skills particularly in improving the prospects of women in surgery and left the profession in a far better place than when she entered it. However, it is more than likely that she would prefer to be fondly remembered as a compassionate and deeply caring doctor by all the many patients she looked after.
Resource Identifier RCS: E010186
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
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First Title value, for Searching Dykes, Robert Gordon (1925 - 2020)

2024-05-06T23:15:30Z

by Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date 2021-05-04
Asset Path Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009900-E009999
Occupation Orthopaedic surgeon
Details Two references written in1956 for the young Robert Dykes, after he had worked for a year as a Surgical Registrar at Tilbury hospital in London, aptly described him. Mr W. H. Hamer, Consultant Surgeon, wrote - “Mr Dykes...has without any question been the best Registrar we have ever had.” The other, by Mr Alan Small, a Harley Street London surgeon stated: “… a quiet unassuming young man of very pleasant personality … It would not be possible for me to speak too highly of Dykes, who, in a short time after his appointment, was regarded with affection and respect by everyone in the hospital. Both in character and judgement he was completely to be relied upon, and we were all more than sorry when his year came to an end.” These appropriately described Bob, who retained these characteristics alongside kindness, empathy and a keen sense of humour throughout his life, during which he set up an orthopaedic service for Southland. Born in Nelson in 1925 to James Gordon Dykes, bank manager, and Adelaide Platt, homemaker, Robert (widely known as Bob throughout his life) was the second of four boys in the family, with brothers Harold, Peter (who also followed a medical career) and John. Bob was a young boy when the family moved to Dunedin, where he attended Musselburgh Primary School and subsequently Otago Boys High School. At high school he achieved well academically, and played cricket, captaining the 2nd eleven, and rugby. Holidays were spent at Taieri Mouth, and when older working on a farm at Saddle Hill. Loving this he wanted to be a farmer, but his father said this was not a good time to go into it, suggesting a medical career would be more secure financially! Bob commenced at Otago University in 1943 gaining entry to Medical School the following year. Living at home he daily cycled the four kilometres across the city to and from Medical School. With a good level of fitness, he was a keen harrier during this period. Despite not being a trained musician, he enjoyed being a member of the Capping Band for a couple of years and he graduated in 1948. He then worked as a house surgeon in Dunedin where he spent time with Professor Norman Nesbit, an influential orthopaedic leader at that time. In 1953 Bob travelled to England to pursue a career in surgery. His arrival in London coincided with the coronation of Queen Elizabeth and, living initially at New Zealand House, he obtained tickets to stand right opposite the door entering Westminster Abbey. Besides an obviously successful year at Tilbury Hospital during which he gained his FRCS, Bob secured orthopaedic positions at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in London and at Oswestry. In 1956, through family connections, he met Olwyn Fraser, a New Zealand artist living in London and they married six months later. Bob returned to New Zealand with Olwyn in 1958 to take up an appointment at Kew Hospital in Invercargill, becoming the first locally resident orthopaedic surgeon. This was a half-time appointment, with the balance given to private practice. The birth of Susan in 1959 and Campbell in 1963 completed the family, who remember weekends, nights and even holidays being often interrupted as Bob headed back to the hospital to provide a thinly staffed acute service. He remained the sole local orthopaedic surgeon for 10 years until joined by Paul Wilson in 1968. He also became FRACS at this time. The appointment of Murray Fosbender in 1981 finally created a service offering a one-in-three roster. In his time in Southland he established the Orthopaedic Department and gave it momentum to develop. Bob served on the New Zealand Orthopaedic Association Executive, the Education Committee (seven years), the Manpower Subcommittee and as Vice-President of the Association 1983-1986. He retired from hospital service in 1991. In the community Bob served as President of the Crippled Children’s Society and President of the Southland branch of the New Zealand Medical association. His Christian faith was very important to him throughout his life and he served as an Elder at the First Presbyterian Church and as an Elder and Session Clerk of St Paul’s Presbyterian Church. Bob was also a member of the Council of the Presbyterian Support Services Southland. With a life-long love of the outdoors, Bob took the family on many trips into the mountains and forests, sharing his considerable knowledge of plant names and habitats. Family holidays were often spent in Queenstown and Stewart Island. Participation in golf and regular dinner parties with friends and family provided the opportunity to unwind and relax. Always curious about the world around him, in retirement Bob devoted enthusiasm and increasing time to geology, flora and fauna. He spent two years studying and successfully completing examinations in geology and with the associated field trips throughout Otago and Southland the time spent in the outdoors was a highlight. Wood carving, pottery, gardening, including award-winning Chrysanthemums, and golf were all important activities. He became a respected judge of Chrysanthemums and was still actively judging at flower shows at age 90 years. During 2010 Bob and Olwyn moved to Alexandra to live. Bob Dykes a thoughtful, kind, caring, supportive, and wise father, friend and colleague is survived by his wife of 64 years, Olwyn, children, Sue, a Clinical Psychologist, and Cam, a Chartered Accountant and five grandchildren. This obituary is based upon a short one prepared by the New Zealand Orthopaedic Association and developed further by Bob’s daughter, Sue.
Resource Identifier RCS: E009954
Collection Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format Obituary
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