BOA Session
Course Description: The programme is aimed to improve the standard of teaching for those in trauma and orthopaedic (T&O) training. The underlying premise of TOTs is that if T&O trainers understand how people learn and how the T&O curriculum works, by translating that understanding into action, they should improve their teaching. Much of the work can be done at a time, place and pace convenient to participants, with attendance at live virtual meetings to supplement personal learning.
Course Lead: Alwyn Abraham
Alwyn has spent 17 years on the Trauma and Orthopaedics front line as a Consultant. The highs and lows of working in the NHS notwithstanding he remains a committed clinician, HST TPD for T&O, trainer and FRCS examiner. Clinically, he particularly enjoys the challenge of salvaging infected, traumatised, and deformed limbs in his chosen field of Limb Reconstruction. Unusually for an orthopod, he is committed to quality communication and the acceptance of human factors in medical teams. He lists an eclectic mix of influences in this regard such as Nobel Laureate, Daniel Kahneman's Masterpiece Thinking, Fast and Slow, but equally, The Perfect Puppy by Gwen Bailey. His support of the marginalised has driven his enthusiasm for several interesting projects. This has included his advocacy of CSTs as Training Programme Director, the genesis of a Trust Foundation Doctors Programme for Internationals Medical Graduates and the creation of a Trust registrar programme in Trauma and Orthopaedics culminating in CESR. Alwyn is particularly proud of his role as the co-founder of the Leicester Gondar Orthopaedic Partnership, conceived in 2017. This is a partnership between University Hospitals of Leicester, University of Leicester, and the University of Gondar (Northern Ethiopia). In collaboration with Rotary International USD 200k was raised and has led to a partnership to develop orthopaedic infrastructure in Northern Ethiopia where up to 7 million people are without the very basics of orthopaedic care.Alwyn has spent 17 years on the Trauma and Orthopaedics front line as a Consultant. The highs and lows of working in the NHS notwithstanding he remains a committed clinician, HST TPD for T&O, trainer and FRCS examiner. Clinically, he particularly enjoys the challenge of salvaging infected, traumatised, and deformed limbs in his chosen field of Limb Reconstruction. Unusually for an orthopod, he is committed to quality communication and the acceptance of human factors in medical teams. He lists an eclectic mix of influences in this regard such as Nobel Laureate, Daniel Kahneman's Masterpiece Thinking, Fast and Slow, but equally, The Perfect Puppy by Gwen Bailey. His support of the marginalised has driven his enthusiasm for several interesting projects. This has included his advocacy of CSTs as Training Programme Director, the genesis of a Trust Foundation Doctors Programme for Internationals Medical Graduates and the creation of a Trust registrar programme in Trauma and Orthopaedics culminating in CESR. Alwyn is particularly proud of his role as the co-founder of the Leicester Gondar Orthopaedic Partnership, conceived in 2017. This is a partnership between University Hospitals of Leicester, University of Leicester, and the University of Gondar (Northern Ethiopia). In collaboration with Rotary International USD 200k was raised and has led to a partnership to develop orthopaedic infrastructure in Northern Ethiopia where up to 7 million people are without the very basics of orthopaedic care.
Helen studied medicine at UCL, obtaining an intercalated BSc in Physiology and Pharmacology. She was part of the East Anglian region for her speciality orthopaedic training, gaining her FRCS in 2015.
Helen undertook her fellowship at Adelaide’s Women and Children’s Hospital. She has recently joined the Great Ormond Street team specialising in Neurodisability and clubfoot. Prior to this she was a consultant at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and the West Suffolk Hospitals. Helen has been RCS college tutor, mentoring lead and previously won trainer of the year for east of England orthopaedics. She has been on the editorial board for the Bone and Joint 360 since 2018.
