Prestigious new orthopaedic fellowship goes to Newcastle trainee surgeon
The first, brand new orthopaedic fellowship from leading medical research charity the Arthritis Research Campaign has been awarded to a young trainee surgeon from Newcastle.
Lynette Spalding, aged 28, will be based at the University of Newcastle carrying out orthopaedic research within the Musculoskeletal Research Group. She took up her £205,600 three-year orthopaedic clinical research fellowship this month.
She will be investigating ways of improving the longevity and fixation of implants including the durability of joint replacement surgery by strengthening the interface between a patient’s bone and the implant. Specifically she will be looking in detail at how bone cells are stimulated to form bone and then integrate with the implant.
Miss Spalding, who will also continue to carry out surgical sessions at the Newcastle General Hospital during her three years of academic study, said she was delighted to be the first recipient of the prestigious fellowship. “It’s a really exciting time to be involved in orthopaedic research as there are some promising new developments on the horizon which could make a big difference to people with arthritis in the future,” she added. “I hope my work can be part of that.”
The Arthritis Research Campaign set up the fellowship scheme in a bid to attract more orthopaedic surgeons into academic research. The aim is to make progress in improving current joint replacement surgery, and to develop exciting new types of less invasive surgery and treatment in younger patients to meet rising demand and public expectations.
Because of the rise in the number of people over the age of 60 in the next few decades – nearly 20 million people, or 30 per cent of the population by 2031 – the numbers seeking joint replacement surgery will increase accordingly. Already more than 60,000 hip and 60,000 knee replacement operations are performed every year in the UK. And the quest for longer-lasting, more durable implants will become ever-more urgent.
Miss Spalding’s research forms part of a bigger picture. The research will be supervised by Professor Andrew McCaskie and Dr Mark Birch who lead orthopaedic research within the Musculoskeletal Research Group at Newcastle University. The group is involved in developing new processes which are expected to lead to exciting forms of regenerative surgery in the future, where disease and damaged tissue can be replaced without the need for full joint replacement.
