Welcome to the Department of Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery at the University of Dundee.

The department is based in the Tayside Orthopaedic and Rehabilitation Technology Centre (TORT) at Ninewells Hospital and Medical School. The TORT Centre is a modern, purpose-built unit, which incorporates both a training centre for orthopaedics and the Tayside Rehabilitation Engineering Services where there is a unique blend of surgeons, bioengineers and allied healthcare professionals, providing trauma surgery and specialised clinics on the premises.

The department has a tradition of teaching and research in the field of mechanisms of disease, treatment of disorders of the musculoskeletal system and biomedical engineering and rehabilitation engineering. The founder, Professor Ian Smillie, gained a worldwide reputation in knee surgery and the role of the meniscus. His successor, Professor George Murdoch, founded and developed the Dundee Limb Fitting Centre and the Tayside Rehabilitation Engineering Services, which have acquired an international reputation for the treatment of the amputee and assessment of gait analysis. His successor, Professor David Rowley, sustained the department’s international reputation and innovation in the area of joints replacement complemented by a worldwide service in Clinical Audit Outcomes. In addition, his interest in higher surgical training and education led him to become the Director of Education at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh since 2003. The current Professor and Head of Department, Rami J Abboud, is a Biomedical and Rehabilitation Engineer with over 20 years of Biomechanics and Clinical Motion Analysis expertise. He is the founder and current Director of the Institute of Motion Analysis and Research (IMAR) and has developed a number of ground-breaking initiatives originating with the establishment of the Foot Pressure Analysis Clinic and Laboratory in 1993 and subsequently IMAR in 2003. Professor Abboud is also the Course Director of the widely acclaimed Master of Orthopaedic Surgery (MCh Orth) course and the Chairman of the College Intercalated BMSc honours degree.

In 1990 the Distance Learning Section was established and now has over 150 students from all over the world studying its programmes. Furthermore the MCh Orth Course and the Intercalated Honours Degree in Applied Orthopaedic Technology have been added to complete a comprehensive portfolio of research and taught courses designed to meet the growing demand for education in the rapidly developing field of musculoskeletal medicine, biomechanics and surgery. The Clinical Audit Services coordinate several important clinical research and audit studies, in association with various companies and health boards. The department holds major UK and European grants concerned with motion analysis and clinical audit in a range of different orthopaedic and biomechanical related pathologies.

In 2007, the department received from the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM) the Society's highest honour, the "2007 AOSSM Hall of Fame", presented posthumously to Professor Ian Smillie for his significant contributions to the speciality of Sports Medicine.

2001 RAE Grading: 4.

2008 RAE Results: to reflect the multi-disciplinary aspect of the research carried out at the Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery Department, the respective staff were returned into Unit of Assessment 25 (General Engineering - Biomedical Engineering) and Unit of Assessment 8 (Primary Care and Other Community-based Clinical Subjects) where 90% and 85% of our quality profile was deemed of international class respectively .