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Two orthopaedic surgeons were recognised in the New Year's Honours 2016, announced at the end of last year.

Professor Keith Willet

Professor Keith Willett, Professor of Orthopaedic Trauma Surgery, Fellow of Wolfson College and Director for Acute Care at NHS England, has been appointed CBE for services to the NHS.

Speaking on his CBE, he said ‘I have been enormously privileged to build a career with so many dedicated individuals and friends who are our NHS.’

An NHS consultant surgeon for 24 years, Professor Willett has a particular research interest in the care of the multiply injured patient, acetabular and pelvic fractures, fractures in the elderly, limb fracture surgery, fracture biomechanics, accident prevention and clinical outcome studies of orthopaedic trauma surgery techniques.

In 2003 he established the Oxford Trauma Research Group and founded the Kadoorie Centre for Critical Care Research and Education, which focuses on the treatment of critically ill and injured patients.

In 2009 he was appointed the first National Clinical Director for Trauma Care at the Department of Health and was charged with developing and implementing government policy across the NHS to radically improve the care of older people with fragility hip fractures and with establishing Regional Trauma Networks and Major Trauma Centres.

As Director of Acute Care for NHS England, he now has the national medical oversight of acute NHS services ranging from pre-hospital and ambulance services, emergency departments, urgent surgery, acute medicine, children’s and maternity, armed forces, and health and justice services and national major incidents. 

Professor Christopher Bulstrode

Professor Christopher Bulstrode, Emeritus Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Emeritus Fellow of Green Templeton College, has been appointed CBE for services to humanitarian medicine.

He said: 'Getting involved in humanitarian aid work is the dream for many of us doctors and nurses. It has been an honour to be invited to join the teams set up by Doctors of the World and to contribute what I can. Certainly helping those less well off than ourselves, especially when war or disaster has struck, feels like one of the most useful thing that we can do. I do hope this award will stand as a recognition of the work of those teams, not of an individual. Sometimes the work can be dangerous. I don’t have any solutions to that. Luckily there is usually very little time to think of the risks, and it seems to me that if a job has to be done and all possible precautions have been taken, then the sooner you get on with it and finish the job, the better.'

Professor Bulstrode, who was Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University and a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the John Radcliffe Hospital and the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre from 1982 until his retirement in 2010, was honoured for his work with Doctors of the World. The charity provides medical care to people affected by war, natural disasters, disease, hunger, poverty or exclusion around the world. Professor Bulstrode has worked with the organisation in a number of countries, including Afghanistan, Haiti, Nepal, Palestine, Sierra Leone and Ukraine. 

In the future he is hoping to work with Doctors of the World to develop a service to revalidate doctors and nurses who do humanitarian work all over the world. At the moment this can prove very tricky, and causes unnecessary problems and distress.