Honorary Fellows

Graeme Groom CMG MA FRCS, is an orthopaedic surgeon at King’s College Hospital. He came to medicine late, and the Army funded his studies. Perhaps with some embarrassment, he found he enjoyed it so much that he stayed for nearly 19 years, with higher training in Nottingham and in the Army.

An interest in trauma was almost inevitable as he has been involved in the care of the wounded from 15 wars or civil disasters. He set up a Limb Reconstruction Service at Queen Elizabeth Military Hospital, joined the fledgling Circular Frame Users Group, and was a founder member of the BLRS.

The service moved with him to King’s in 1993 and has developed to incorporate excellent colleagues who have far surpassed the founder, together with a specialised team, and ready access to both mental health and Citizens Advice support, funded by the Rebuild charity. It plugs the many gaps in NHS provision.

Graeme joined the charity IDEALS (the International Disaster & Emergency Aid with Long-term Support) in 2009, when it first began working in Gaza, and is now Co-Chair. The focus there has been principally on Limb Reconstruction. The consistent objectives, with brilliant NHS colleagues, were treatment, training, building capacity, and delivering equipment. The team has been thoroughly embedded in the excellent local service. The project was to end, ‘job done’, in October 2023. The subsequent humanitarian catastrophe has involved 14 missions from IDEALS; Graeme has been on four of these and denied once.

Graeme was appointed Companion in the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the New Year Honours 2025.

Ian Leslie MChOrth FRCSEd FRCS, graduated from the University of Queensland and served in the Vietnam War for a year during National Service. He moved to London to obtain the Primary FRCS, worked as an SHO in Oxford’s Accident Service, and trained in general surgery in Brisbane. Returning to Oxford for orthopaedic training, he completed it in Liverpool, earning the MChOrth and becoming a Senior Lecturer under Professor George Bentley. He organised the MChOrth course and examination and later served as an External Examiner.

In 1981, Ian became Consultant in Trauma and Orthopaedics at Bristol Royal Infirmary, where he directed the Accident Service for ten years and was later Clinical Director of Surgery.

Following a period of general surgery, he specialised in hand, wrist, elbow, and microneural surgery, including brachial plexus repair. He served as President of the British Society of Hand Therapists and was elected President of the British Society for Surgery of the Hand, subsequently becoming an Honorary Member.

Ian served on the Editorial Board of the JBJS and the Journal of Hand Surgery of which he was Chairman of the Board of Management and remains on the JHS Editorial Board. He also served as Honorary Treasurer of the British Orthopaedic Research Society and co-founded Current Orthopaedics (now Journal of Orthopaedics and Trauma).

His Royal College roles included serving on the Specialist Advisory Committee, being External Examiner for the first orthopaedic specialty examinations in the UK at RCSEd, and UK National Delegate to SICOT for 14 years.

Within the BOA, Ian held multiple key roles and, as Honorary Secretary, drafted the documents that changed the BOA from a Charitable Society to a Charitable Company, and had a founding role in the creation of the Joint Action research fund. He was elected President for 2005-06. n

Professor Ian Stockley MB ChB MD FRCS, retired from clinical practice in 2021, having spent 30 years as a consultant orthopaedic surgeon, specialising in lower limb arthroplasty surgery at the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Professor Stockley was born in Manchester and studied medicine at Sheffield University, qualifying in 1979. His orthopaedic training was primarily in Manchester, Sheffield and Toronto, with additional fellowships undertaken in Vienna and Hamburg.

As an orthopaedic trainee in the 1980s, he observed the many challenges associated with joint and lower limb reconstruction, following failed arthroplasty surgery and peri-prosthetic joint infection. His consultant career has been devoted to trying to resolve these issues by championing multidisciplinary practice, primarily with microbiology, through research, education and training.

He established the Cavendish Hip Fellowship in 2000, which was a significant milestone in offering fellowship level training in the UK for complex hip arthroplasty surgery.

In 2009, he was appointed Honorary Professor in the Faculty of Health and Wellbeing at Sheffield Hallam University.

He has served as Programme Director for the North Trent Orthopaedic Training Programme, Specialist Advisory Committee member and Regional Speciality Advisor for the Royal College of Surgeons. In 2000, he was voted BOTA Trainer of the year. He completed two terms as an Examiner for the Intercollegiate Board. He played an active role within the Orthopaedic Device Evaluation Panel and Beyond Compliance for many years.

Elected Treasurer of the British Hip Society (2001-2006) and then President (2009-2010), he was subsequently invited to join the International Hip Society in 2009. He has been actively involved in many instructional meetings around the world, along with visiting professorships in India and China.