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Jonathan Rees

MB BS, FRCS (Eng), MD, FRCS (Tr & Orth)


Head of Department - NDORMS

  • INSTITUTE DIRECTOR - BOTNAR INSTITUTE FOR MUSCULOSKELETAL SCIENCES
  • Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Musculoskeletal Science
  • NIHR Senior Investigator
  • Past President - British Elbow and Shoulder Society (BESS)
  • Surgeon Scientist.
  • Honorary Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon - Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre
  • Governing Body Fellow of Pembroke College.
  • NICE Fellow 2019-2022

Professor Jonathan Rees graduated from St Mary's Hospital Medical School, London, in 1992. He trained in orthopaedics in Oxford and has Specialist Fellowship training in routine and complex shoulder and elbow surgery. He was appointed Clinical Lecturer to the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences (NDORMS) in 2004 and then University Lecturer and Consultant Orthopaedic Shoulder and Elbow Surgeon in 2005. In 2014 he became Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Musculoskeletal Science. In 2021 he became an NIHR Senior Investigator and was appointed as Director of the Botnar Institute for Musculoskeletal Sciences at the University of Oxford. In 2022 he was appointed as Head of Department to NDORMS.

Besides his busy university and national work, he continues to work as a Consultant Orthopaedic Shoulder Surgeon at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre (NOC).

He has a number of national roles and advises a several national organisations. Professor Rees is a Past President of the British Elbow and Shoulder Society (BESS). He has held a past fellowship with NICE, promoting healthcare guidelines and standardisation of patient care. He has authored many national guidelines and works closely with the National Joint Register (NJR), NIHR, British Orthopaedic Association, the MHRA, and the NHSI Getting it Right First Time Programme (GIRFT).

Clinical Programme

Professor Rees treats elective shoulder conditions at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre and has trained postgraduate orthopaedic surgical trainees and Fellowship surgeons since 2004. 

Research Programme

Professor Rees sits on national society, research and outcome committees. He  has a research programme with an overall aim of ‘Improving Orthopaedic Patient Outcomes and Treatment Delivery’. This is achieved through research themes that overlap and provide a broad range of collaboration opportunities with a number of national and international academic clinicians and scientists.

Some of his research involves working closely with patients to improve patient experience and patient information. In 2015 after raising funds from national societies and NIHR, he led and completed a James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership for 'Surgery for Common Shoulder Problems'. This 18 month process brought together patients, carers and clinicians to set the top 10 UK research priorities for shoulder surgery.

Responding to these wishes of patients and clinicians, Professor Rees is now running a research programme to help address these priorities in shoulder surgery including national surgical trials and analysis of large observational data cohorts from national registries.

Education and Training

In his previous roles in NDORMS, Professor Rees developed the education structure of the department including setting up the Clinical Academic Training Programme. He has also Directed the Trauma, Orthopaedic, Rheumatology and Emergency Medicine Programme for the University of Oxford undergraduate medical students. He now mainly teaches on orthopaedic skills courses and lectures at national and international meetings, but as Head of Department he has overall responsibility for all the departments teaching and training activities.

Key publications

Recent publications

More publications