Mr Russell Hawkins
Consultant Surgeon in Trauma & Orthopaedics
Specialist Interest in Children’s Orthopaedics
BSc, MBBS, MRCS (England), FRCS (Trauma & Orthopaedics)
After qualifying as a doctor at St Bartholomew’s and The Royal London Hospitals, Russell went on to complete his higher surgical training at The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital at Stanmore, London. Working in the specialist unit there inspired a keen interest in Children’s Orthopaedics. A subsequent fellowship in young adult hip surgery including many aspects of paediatric orthopaedic surgery such as hip dysplasia, Perthes disease and slipped epiphysis gave further experience. He then secured 2 overseas fellowships in New Zealand; the first was a 12 month trauma fellowship at Auckland City Hospital and the world renowned Starship Children’s Hospital. The second year was spent in Auckland’s North Shore Hospital where the focus was adult hip and knee replacement surgery.
Relevant academic work includes publication of several book chapters including The EFORT Textbook (European Surgical Orthopaedics and Traumatology: Paediatric Pelvic and hip Trauma) and The Stanmore Operative Guide (Paediatric Orthopaedic Surgery). He has also presented at international orthopaedic conferences and has published several papers. These experiences prepared him for life as a Consultant with a mixed paediatric and adult practice at The Royal Cornwall NHS Trust where he is the clinical lead for Children’s Orthopaedics since 2012. Russell’s paediatric practice in Cornwall is broad, encompassing assessment of normal variants, childhood hip, knee and foot conditions, deformity, sports injuries and trauma. He has forged good links with similar colleagues at Plymouth, Exeter and Bristol Children’s Hospital and is also part of the wider paediatric orthopaedic community through his membership with BSCOS (The British Society for Children’s Orthopaedic Society).
Currently, Russell is involved with optimising Paediatric Orthopaedics in Cornwall through the national GIRFT (Getting It Right First Time) Project set out by NHS England. He is also Principle Investigator in Cornwall for several national paediatric and adult research projects (BOSS, WHITE-8, NINJA, SCIENCE) and hopefully more to follow (CRAFFT, WHITE-11).