29 October 2012

Pioneering Tayside surgeon to be remembered

The University of Dundee will this week hold a public lecture celebrating the work of local medical hero Ian Smillie.

The lecture takes place at the D'Arcy Thompson Lecture Theatre at 6pm on Wednesday, 31st October and is being held as part of the events programme to accompany the exhibition, 'Human Race: Inside the History of Sports Medicine'.

Professor Smillie (1907-1992) was one of the first orthopaedic surgeons in Scotland. At the start of World War II he became Surgeon in Charge at the Emergency Medical Service Hospital at Larbert, where he developed specialist teams for the care of patients, including nurses, orthotists and physiotherapists.

When the NHS was formed in 1948, he was appointed Surgeon in charge of the new Orthopaedic Service for Eastern Scotland. He was initially based at Bridge of Earn Hospital, and later established orthopaedic clinics in Dundee. He also lectured in orthopaedics at Dundee's Medical School, later becoming the university's first Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery.

"Smillie became a world authority on the surgery of the knee and enjoyed a reputation as a brilliant technical surgeon and surgical innovator," explained Matthew Jarron, Curator of Museum Services at the University of Dundee.

"The meniscectomy knives which he designed came to be used throughout the world, and his books on Injuries of the Knee Joint and Diseases of the Knee Joint became international classics, translated into several languages. However his contributions and interests went far beyond knee surgery and orthopaedics, and these and his many other extraordinary achievements will be discussed during the lecture."

The talk will be delivered by William Hadden, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at Perth Royal Infirmary, who has followed in Professor Smillie's footsteps as a specialist in knee surgery and sporting injuries.

Entry is free, and open to all.

For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
MOBILE: 07854 953277