Orthopaedic Research Staff

Professor George A. Murrell

MD (UNSW), PhD (Oxon)
Director

Professor George Murrell was appointed Director of the Orthopaedic Research Institute at St George Hospital and Associate Professor at the UNSW in September 1995. He graduated from Adelaide University and was the 1984 South Australian Rhodes Scholar. At Oxford he completed a DPhil (PhD) thesis on "Dupuytren's Contracture" and was awarded the Royal College of Surgeons Arris and Gale medal for this work.

Professor Murrell completed his orthopaedic training at Duke University, USA where he also established a research program on tendon healing and was supported by the Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation. He then completed a two year fellowship in sports medicine, shoulder surgery and research at the Hospital for Special Surgery, New York. During this time he gained a National Institutes of Health First Award, an American Orthopaedic Association North American Travelling Fellowship.

Professor Murrell specialises in shoulder surgery and has a special interest in arthroscopic methods to repair and restore damaged ligaments and tendons. His basic research interests include the role of free radicals, especially nitric oxide in the musculoskeletal system.

T: +61 2 9113-2827
W: georgemurrellshoulders.com.au
Awards
E: murrell.g[at]ori.org.au
Publications

Associate Professor Judie R Walton

BSc, PhD
Director of Clinical Outcomes Research

Professor Judie Walton was appointed as Director of Clinical Outcomes Research in September 1998. She also holds an appointment as Conjoint Associate Professor with the University of New South Wales. Professor Walton obtained her PhD in Experimental Pathology in 1975 from the John Curtin School of Medical Research at the Australian National University and then conducted post-doctoral research at the University of California at Berkeley.

She has held biomedical research positions at the US National Institutes of Health (Gerontology Research Center) and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (US Department of Energy) in California. After coming to Australia, she worked at Sydney University and then at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) at Prospect, NSW. She served as President, and then Vice-President of the International Federation for Cell Biology from 1992-2000.

As well as providing statistical help for members of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and associated research groups, Professor Walton's career and consultancies have also focussed on research into ageing and age-related diseases.

Here at the Orthopaedic Research Institute, her current interest in biomedical research concerns cell changes underlying connective tissue ageing and disease mechanisms. Her clinical research interests, involving biostatistics and clinical epidemiology, are currently directed towards improving the diagnosis of orthopaedic conditions, for example rotator cuff tears. (Murrell GAC and Walton JR. The clinical diagnosis of rotator cuff tears, The Lancet 357:769-770, 2001).

Publications

Dr Patrick Lam

BE, MEngSc, PhD (UNSW), MIEAust, MIEEE
Director of Biomechanics

Patrick joined the Orthopaedic Research Institute as the Director of Biomechanics in July 2007. Patrick completed a PhD in surgery at the University of New South Wales, having completed a Master of Engineering Science (Biomedical Engineering) and a Bachelor of Engineering (Telecommunications) from the same institution.

His major research interests include mechanical properties of bone and soft tissue, with special interest in biomechanical factors relating to arthroscopic surgery. Other interests include wireless data acquisition of joints and gait analysis as well as prototyping testing devices, rehabilitation devices and clinical study designs.

He has experience in biomechanical testing systems, data acquisition, wireless network and sensors, computer aided design (CAD) and computer programming (MatLab etc) as well as biostatistics.

Currently, Patrick is developing devices to aid tendon healing after surgery. He is also working on several test jigs for biomechanical evaluation on tendons and bones.

Patrick is a member of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.), Engineering in Medicine and Biology society and Signal Processing Society. He is also a member of Engineers Australia.

T: +61 2 9113-4062
patlam.ori[at]gmail.com

Dr Ashish Diwan

MBBS, DipNB (Ortho), PhD(UNSW)
Director, Bone Biology

Dr Ashish Diwan is the director of Bone Biology at the Orthopaedic Research Institute, St George Hospital. Following his basic orthopaedic surgical training at St George Hospital he received training in advanced spinal surgery at the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) at Cornell University in New York City, the oldest and largest orthopaedic hospital in the USA. During his stay at HSS, Dr Diwan was awarded the Philip D. Wilson Award and the National Orthopaedic Surgery Fellows Foundation Award for outstanding achievements in the field of orthopaedic surgery. He was subsequently awarded the Merrill Lynch Innovation Award in 2000.

Dr Diwan specialises in surgery for degenerative disorders of the spine and in spinal deformities (scoliosis & kyphosis). His expertise includes minimally invasive intradiscal treatments, microscopic spinal decompression, spinal stabilisation using computer-aided-guidance, anterior and posterior surgery for adult spinal deformity.

Dr Diwan's research interests include the molecular regulation of fracture repair and intervertebral disc regeneration. For patient related enquiries:

Suite 16, Level 5, St George Private Hospital
1 South Street Kogarah
T:(02) 8566 7166
F: (02) 85667177
E: info@spine-service.org
Publications

Dr Robert Molnar

MBBS BSc (Med) FRACS (Orth)

Dr Molnar is an Orthopaedic Surgeon, specialising in hip, knee and trauma surgery. After completing his orthopaedic training in Sydney, he underwent fellowship training in both joint replacement surgery and trauma. Following a fellowship in lower extremity reconstructive surgery and hip and knee arthroplasty surgery and arthroscopy, he worked as a trauma fellow at Harborview Medical Centre in Seattle, USA. Dr Molnar went on to work as a consultant trauma surgeon at Harborview for a further 6 months before returning to Sydney to begin his own practice.

Dr Molnar's special interests and areas of expertise include, 1. Joint replacement surgery of the hip and knee; 2. Revision arthroplasty for failed, painful or infected prosthetic joints; 3. Arthroscopic surgery of the hip and knee including ACL reconstruction, sports knee surgery, hip arthroscopy, labral repair and femero-acetabular impingement (FAI) hip surgery; and 4. management of hip and knee and pelvic trauma. He operates using minimally invasive techniques combined with computer navigation when appropriate.

Dr Molnar has a strong interest in research, overseeing his own research as well as being part of multicentre trials and a member of the Orthopaedic Trauma Research Consortium. He also participates in a number of teaching activities, regularly lecturing to other Orthopaedic Surgeons, orthopaedic trainees, medical students and nursing staff. He is a faculty member of AO Australasia and has presented at local and international conferences.

Dr Molnar's primary practice is in Kogarah. He also sees patients at Castle Hill and travels monthly to both Dubbo and Moree. He operates at St George, Sutherland and Westmead Public Hospitals as well as St George Private Hospital, Castle Hill Day Surgery, Dubbo and Moree Hospitals.

Website: http://www.orthotrauma.com.au/

Dr Justin Paoloni

MBBS (UNSW), PhD, MSpMed, FACSP
Sports Physician

Dr Justin Paoloni graduated in 1996 from the University of New South Wales, and has been the Sports Medicine Research Fellow at the Orthopaedic Research Institute at St George Hospital since 2000. He has trained extensively in musculoskeletal medicine and sports injury management, completing a PhD thesis on tendon injuries (Achilles tendon, tennis elbow, and shoulder tendon injuries) and has received numerous awards for his clinical research. He was awarded the 2003 St George Hospital Young Clinical Investigator of the Year, the 2004 Herodicus Society Fellowship from the American Orthopaedic Society of Sports Medicine, and the 2004 Gold Medal from the NSW Sporting Injuries Committee for Outstanding Research Achievement in Science and Medicine in Sport.

Dr Paoloni completed a Masters of Sports Medicine at the University of New South Wales, and after four years of specialist training was awarded a Fellowship of the Australasian College of Sports Physicians. He is a keen sportsman who is a qualified grade 1 tennis coach, an Amateur League soccer player, Vice-captain of the Australian Medical Soccer Team, and an accomplished hiker who has trekked in Australia, South America, Canada, China, Thailand, the Middle East, and Kyrgyzstan.

Dr Paoloni has a long history of sports team care and has been the Medical Director of the Canberra Raiders NRL team, the Wests Tigers NRL team, Parramatta Rugby Union teams, and has toured with Australian sporting teams including the Australian volleyball team, and Australian soccer teams.

Dr Justin Paoloni is a qualified Sports Physician specialising in the non-surgical management of musculoskeletal injuries. He currently holds the Senior Lecturer position at this institution and specialises in the management of tendon injury, major joint, and muscle injury, osteoarthritis, and training and injury prevention strategies for all sports.

T: +61 2 9553-9655
E: pao26[at]hotmail.com

Dr Zoltan Szomor

MD, PhD, FRACS, FA(Orth)
Director of Orthopaedic Trauma Surgery

Dr Zoltan Szomor completed his training with the Australian Orthopaedic Association Training Program. He is a Fellow of The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and completed a PhD Degree in shoulder rotator cuff pathology at the University of New South Wales. He also completed an 18 month fellowship at Kyoto University, Japan, focusing on arthroplasty and cartilage research, and a fellowship on Shoulder and Sports Surgery in Sydney. He is currently a Conjoint Senior Lecturer at the UNSW and the Medical Director of the NSW Bone Bank.

Dr Szomor has published several papers in international journals and is currently involved in research projects related to bone and tissue banking. He also enjoys undergraduate and postgraduate teaching.

Dr Szomor's main clinical interest and experience extend to knee surgery and arthroplasty, shoulder and trauma surgery. Dr Szomor has affiliations with St George and Sutherland Hospitals, St George Private and Hurstville Community Private Hospitals.