I am a forty-seven year old Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon based at the University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Trust. I was born in Fareham, Hampshire and my father was an Engineer in the Royal Navy, stimulating my interest in all things mechanical.

I qualified from Charing Cross Hospital Medical School in London in 1982 and followed my father and brother into the Royal Navy. During the first three years I was attached to the Royal Marines serving in Norway and Belize after completing the Green Beret Commando Course.

My orthopaedic training took place mainly through the Royal Navy and also in Oxford at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, and my specialist training in knee surgery and arthroscopic surgery was completed during a year’s fellowship in Toronto, Canada at the Orthopaedic and Arthritic Hospital. I took up a Consultant post at Royal Hospital Haslar, Gosport, in 1995, developing my special interest in knee surgery while looking after service personnel at home and abroad in the Gulf, Bosnia and Kosovo.

After five years as a Consultant I left the Royal Navy to join the Orthopaedic Team in Coventry and Rugby as specialist knee surgeon, in addition to undertaking emergency care for trauma patients at Coventry.

My interests cover the range of knee surgery including arthroscopic anterior and posterior cruciate ligament reconstruction for the unstable knee, meniscal surgery and reconstruction for the torn footballer’s cartilage, surgery for patello-femoral problems, articular cartilage repair and autologous chondrocyte transplantation for joint articular surface damage, through to osteotomy and joint replacement for the worn knee. More recent interests include meniscus transplantation.

Outside of the hospital my interests lie with my family - my wife Alison, my daughter Madeleine aged 11 and my twins Harry and Phoebe aged 5. Sailing is my main hobby and I am currently competing in a Beneteau Racing keelboat based in the Solent. In 2006 we won the Beneteau Cup and also Class 3 in Cowes Week, so we are hoping for continued success in 2007. I am also the Chief Medical Advisor to the Volvo Ocean Race after advising on medical aspects for its predecessor, the Whitbread Round the World Race over the last ten years.