Surgical Specialty Leads for Clinical Trials

Applications for the vacant 'Surgical Specialty Lead' role will open shortly, coordinated by RCSEngland.

Applications are now open for three Associate Surgical Specialty Leads. Click here for more information.

The BOA is delighted to continue to sponsor ‘Surgical Specialty Leads’ for trauma and orthopaedics. 

The Surgical Specialty Leads are positions coordinated through the RCSEngland and the aim is for them to act as a conduit for clinicians interested in developing trials and to provide a forum for discussion of proposals that can be processed through appropriate funding bodies. They will each chair a clinical research group to help develop new trials in their field. The three appointees will work collaborative with the BOA, with our funded clinical trials unit and with other stakeholder individuals to make progress in supporting development of research and trial.

Mr Peter Hutchinson, Director of Clinical Research at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, commented:

“The appointment of... surgical speciality leads in Orthopaedics and Trauma is a fantastic development. It provides a major opportunity to broaden the spectrum of clinical research and the surgical trial portfolio. Their research will enable  important questions to answered  and improve the treatment for patients with disorders of and injury to the musculo-skeletal system.”

These positions will cost £62,500 over three years and have been funded as a result of our research fundraising. We are really grateful to all those members, donors, fundraisers and supporters, who have so generously donated and supported this work.

Biographies for the current holders are provided below. We will be supporting them over the next three years and will provide members and donors updates on their progress and ways to get involved.

Surgical Specialty Leads

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Daniel Perry

Daniel Perry is a Professor of Children’s Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery, NIHR Research Professor and a Consultant Children's Orthopaedic Surgeon at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool. 
Dan has united surgeons throughout the UK and increasingly across the world, such that they are now working together to change the face of children’s research, with a research portfolio worth about £30m. Dan’s love is to make clinical trials accessible – both to children, parents and surgeons. He keenly integrates cartoons, animations, videos and text message communication to make trials easy for everyone! 
Dan is an Editor of the Bone and Joint Journal and is the clinical lead for hip screening within Public Health England.

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Paul Baker

Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, South Tees Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Paul trained and currently works in the North East of England. He specialises in lower limb arthroplasty with a specific interest in revision knee surgery. He is a member of the BASK revision knee working group and sits on the BASK research committee. His research interests include the delivery of occupational advice to facilitate return to work after surgery, interactive platforms to educate and support patients undergoing hip and knee replacement and the measurement of patient experience and satisfaction. During his training he was the inaugural National Joint Registry (NJR) research fellow, and also founded the North Easts trainee orthopaedic research group (CORNET).

Paul is the current Research and Innovation Director for South Tees NHS Trust. He has worked with the NIHR CRN in a number of roles leading the injuries and emergencies and orthopaedic portfolios in the North East and North Cumbria region. Since November 2019 Paul has been the Royal College of Surgeons of England speciality lead for adult orthopaedics and is involved with their MSK robotic surgery programme. He is an NIHR HTA grant holder for the OPAL study (Occupational advice for Patients undergoing Arthroplasty of the Lower limb) which was conducted in collaboration with the BOA surgical trails centre at York Clinical Trails Unit. He has published over 75 research papers predominantly focussing on registry knee replacement outcomes, patient reported outcome measures and returning to work after joint arthroplasty.

Speaker, BOA Trauma & Orthopaedic Registries Session

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Xavier Griffin

Honorary Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, The Royal London Hospital

Professor Xavier Griffin spearheads academic orthopaedics at Queen Mary and Barts Health, having joined in August 2020 as the inaugural chair of Bone and Joint Health.

Xavier’s vision is for world class excellence in research and clinical academic training; providing opportunity for the next generation of clinician scientists to realise their aspirations.

Xavier isana NIHR Clinician Scientist and has been awarded over £10m of research funding and over 80 peer reviewed publications.

He is driven by having a meaningful impact on patient care; his research is focused on the clinical and cost-effectiveness of new and existing treatments to improve bone and joint health and has been cited by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence. He has a passion for developing methodologies that harness the speed, power, and efficiency of routinely-collected data but are coupled with the great advantages of randomisation.

Speaker, ‘ More than just plates or nails – surgery, research and the National Hip Fracture Database’ – OTS Revalidation Session