Professor Simon Peter Jabir KayOBEis a British consultantplastic surgeon,born in Kuwait and educated inGuernsey,Channel Islands,[1]and then at Shrewsbury School. Kay qualified in medicine at theUniversity of Oxfordin 1976, and trained in plastic surgery in the UK inWexham,Birmingham,andManchester,with secondments for specialist training inAdelaide,Australia andLouisville,Kentucky,United States. In 2024 he announced his candidacy in the2024 University of Oxford Chancellor election,described byThe Timesas an outside bet for the role.[2]
Career
editKay's decision to become a surgeon, particularly areconstructive surgeon,came about due to his own childhood having badly burnt his finger on a smallelectric firewhen he was five. He had to endure many operations, which he states were unnecessary and led him to want to become a surgeon, but also someone who would always ask "what is in the best interests of the patient?”[3]
He specialised in Children's Hand Surgery as Consultant Plastic Surgeon in atLeeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trustfrom 1987, later becoming Professor of Hand Surgery at theUniversity of Leeds.[4]There Kay developed nationally renowned services for children's hand surgery and for major nerve injury, and led the appreciation of the role psychology should play in children's surgery, arguing that the consequences of childhood trauma extend far beyond the child itself. Kay carried out the UK's firsthand transplantoperation in 2013[5]and went on to develop a national centrally funded service for Hand Transplantation in the UK. Among many innovations in this development Kay identified the psychological vulnerability of transplant recipients, and showed that a state-funded service would thrive in contrast to many services where funding is haphazard and ad hoc.
In his academic career Kay has authored many peer-reviewed papers, and was one of three editors of an award-winning textbook of children's hand surgery,[6]later being editor in chief of another major textbook[7]In 2002 he took over as Editor in Chief of the British Journal of Plastic Surgery, and soon rebranded and reformed it to becomeJournal of Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgery(JPRAS) which is now a leading international journal for the specialty with animpact factorof 2.7.[8]
He has been President of two surgical specialty organisations, theBritish Society for Surgery of the Hand,and theBritish Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons.[9]He has served on the Board of theThackray Museum of Medicine(Leeds) and on an advisory committee of theRoyal Armouries Museumreflecting his broad interest in history in general.
Awards
editKay has lectured by invitation as a keynote speaker in many European countries, theUSA,Australia,JapanandSouth Africa.He was awarded a DSc from theUniversity of Bradford(2015), and an honorary fellowship ad hominem of theRoyal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh(2001), (already being a Fellow of theRoyal College of Surgeons of Englandsince 1981).
He was appointed anOfficer of the Order of the British Empire(OBE) in the2019 New Year Honoursfor services to Complex Reconstructive Hand Surgery.[10]
In November 2001,The Timesnamed Kay as one of the top doctors employed in Britain at that time.[11]In 2013 he was declared theHealth Service Journal's “Clinical Leader of the Year”[12]
References
edit- ^"Guernsey-born professor is UK's first double hand transplant surgeon".Bailiwick Express.22 January 2019.Retrieved6 February2019.
- ^Lambert, Georgia (30 August 2024)."Oxford's outside bets for chancellor: from anti-woke clergyman to hand surgeon".www.thetimes.com.Retrieved30 August2024.
- ^McPhee, Rod (8 February 2012)."Meet the Leeds surgeon with life in his hands".Yorkshire Evening Post.Retrieved6 February2019.
- ^"Prof Simon Kay".Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
- ^"Simon Kay: 'It's not a one-man show... I have never wanted people to say it's all about me'".The Yorkshire Post.1 February 2013.Retrieved6 January2016.
- ^"(PDF) The Growing Hand: Diagnosis and management of the upper extremity in children".
- ^"Oxford Textbook of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery".Oxford University Press. 1 August 2021 – via academic.oup.com.
- ^"Home Page: Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgery".
- ^"Home | BAPRAS".www.bapras.org.uk.
- ^"Double hand transplant surgeon gets OBE".BBC News.28 December 2018.Retrieved6 February2019.
- ^"Aesthetics Journal".aesthetics journal.com.20 November 2001.Retrieved6 February2019.
- ^"HSJ Awards 2013 winners announced".Health Service Journal.