Dr Andrew Hall has been a BASEM member since 2021. Since joining, Dr Hall has been successful in receiving the BASEM Research Bursary and Travelling Fellowship. In this blog, Dr Hall discusses the benefits of continued active membership with the association and commends the BASEM Awards to any would-be applicants.
Who is Dr Andrew Hall?
I’m a postdoctoral Clinical Lecturer at the University of St Andrews on the Scottish Research Development Excellence Scheme, and a Specialty Registrar in Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgery in South-east Scotland. Somewhat unusually, I’m also pursuing formal dual-qualification as a Sport & Exercise Medicine (SEM) physician via the CESR/Portfolio pathway. It’s at this interface that I feel most effective, aligning with the principles – shared by BASEM and FSEM – of unifying the disciplines of musculoskeletal medicine, physical activity for health, and performance sports medicine.
Tell us about the projects BASEM Awards have supported?
The 2024 BASEM Research Bursary was awarded in support of The SPORT-EMPOWER Project – Supporting People with Osteoarthritis Requiring Treatment with Arthroplasty: Evaluating Mechanisms for Promoting Health Optimisation With Exercise Recommendations & Non-surgical Interventions. The aim of SPORT-EMPOWER was to bring together the multiple clinical specialties responsible for managing patients with osteoarthritis (OA) of the hip or knee, and to investigate approaches to improve their health and experience leading up to, and immediately after, joint replacement surgery.
The fertile research environment at the expanding Golden Jubilee University National Hospital (GJUNH) – which funded and supported my PhD in Trauma & Orthopaedics – made for rapid early progress, and the single-centre SPORT-EMPOWER Project expanded to form The Nationwide WAIT DATA Study: What Are the Implications To Delayed Access To Arthroplasty? In facilitating this expansion, the Research Bursary helped us build the foundations of a new collaborative research group by bringing together the national orthopaedic treatment centres at the GJUNH and Fife Orthopaedics, along with the Universities of St Andrews and Strathclyde, to form the SCOTTISH Network: Scottish Centres for Orthopaedic Treatment & Innovation in Surgery & Healthcare.
In autumn I was awarded the 2024 BASEM Travelling Fellowship in support of a year-long programme of education in high-performance sports medicine and orthopaedics – The STRIKERS International Fellowship: Surgical Treatment & Rehabilitation of Injuries in Kicking, Explosive & Running Sports. This fellowship was constructed with the assistance of colleagues at the International Olympic Committee Medical Research Centre at the Universities of Edinburgh and Bath (UKCCIIS) to involves visits to world-leading institutions including: Aspetar (Qatar); UPMC Sport Surgery Clinic (Ireland); R&A and DP World Tour golf events (Scotland & UAE); Up & Running Sports Medicine Centre (UAE), and Sports Medicine Ultrasound Group (UK).
How has receiving the BASEM Awards supported you?
So far, the Travelling Fellowship has stimulated unprecedented growth in my SEM career. It has permitted my attendance at superb conferences in London (SMUG x Arsenal Sports Medicine Conference 2024) and Doha (Aspetar International Rehabilitation Conference 2024), and as a Clinical Observer at Aspetar. The fellowship also facilitated my participation on The R&A / DP World Tour Emerging Scholar Programme, with the support of medical leaders from Team GB, Formula 1 and the European Tour, which led directly to my formal engagement as a Research Fellow with the European Tour Performance Institute. My new knowledge and skills have already influenced the care I provide to professional footballers at Heart of Midlothian Football Club, and I aim to translate the conditioning and rehabilitation principles used in elite sport to a general population context.
The BASEM Awards have undoubtedly produced an inflection point in my career. Their financial, practical, and reputational impact has stimulated high-quality nationwide research, and facilitated an international programme of clinical education that will provide a firm platform to kick on in my professional development. As a clinician in two different specialties, I have a number of memberships and subscriptions, but my experience with BASEM clearly demonstrates how organisations can lead the field by investing in education, research, and development opportunities for clinicians.
Author
Dr Andrew Hall, BMedSci(Hons), MBChB, PhD, PgCert(Clin Ed), MRCS(Ed), MFST(Ed), MFSEM(UK)
BASEM Travelling Fellow (2024-25) & BASEM Research Scholar (2024-25)
Twitter/X: @andrewhallortho
