Message from UDOTS Director: Mr Arpit Jariwala

I’d just like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy, healthy and prosperous 2020.

Firstly, I’d like to thank the entire Team at UDOTS for their dedication and loyalty during what has been a busy transitional period for us all over the last twelve months. It’s a time to reflect upon our achievements in 2019 whilst looking forward to 2020 with positivity and energy. You’re a talented group of individuals’ but our greatest strength and accomplishments will be as a Team. Each of you has worked tirelessly in continuing the success of the department, our courses and our research portfolio and for that you should be rightly proud.

I’d also like to thank all our teaching faculty for your teaching contribution on our courses during 2019. We believe we have the finest teaching faculty of any orthopaedic course in the country and you are an integral part of its sustained success and development. This year has been a time of change for the department and your continued support for UDOTS during this time is greatly appreciated. We’ve managed to increase and improve the Teaching Faculty with newly invited lecturers joining those who continue to return to Dundee every year. I’d also like to thank my NHS Tayside colleagues for their valuable input over the year. Their valuable contributions have made our research symposiums and cadaveric workshops a great success.

There have been so many great achievements throughout 2019 that there’s not space here to highlight them all but on a more personal note, being appointed Director of UDOTS earlier this year was a great honour, and a career highlight, especially when I reflect that I was one of the MCh (Orth) Students at UDOTS in 2002-03!

We’ve added three new members of staff to the UDOTS Team last year with Mr Muhammad Hussain appointed as IMAR Laboratory Technician, Mrs Jenni Dalgleish appointed as Gait Service Physiotherapist and Mr Andrew Murphy has been appointed as Non-Clinical Lecturer specialising in sports. I am confident that all three will be fantastic additions to the Department.

It was in 2019 that our MCh (Orth) Dundee course was officially recognised by the Pakistan Medical & Dental Council (only MCh Orth course to do so), which adds to an ever-increasing list of Indian State Councils that recognise the course. Dr Parag Sancheti, MCh (Orth) Alumni and graduate from 2003, was bestowed an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws honoris causa by the University of Dundee. Dr Sancheti has been a champion for UDOTS and our MCh (Orth) course. One of our Intercalated BMSc students, Aurelien-Xuan Bahuet, won this year’s University of Dundee Sir James Mackenzie Prize.

2019 also saw the first ever Live Demonstration Workshop on Gait Analysis presented at IOACON by Dr Graham Arnold, Mr Sadiq Nasir and Mrs Sheila MacDonald, held this year in Kolkata, India. It was a great success with fantastic feedback from delegates, so much so, that IOACON Educational Committee have already been invited UDOTS back to IOACON for the next two years!

On the flip-side, Professor Rami Abboud, resigned from the University and is now Vice President for Internationalisation & Engagement/Dean of Faculty of Engineering at the University of Balamand in his home city of Lebanon. Also, Mrs Heather Ferguson, Department Secretary, retired only last month after 40 years’ service to the University. We all wish them all the best for their new roles.

2020 proposes to be another busy year with many new teaching events being planned in UDOTS including Sports Injury Workshop and a Foot and Ankle Trauma Symposium, in addition to the other annual workshops. Many new lecturers have been invited to further expand and strengthen the clinical side of the curriculum. Also, the plan is to have a Research Symposium for the students to disseminate their research findings to a wider audience in the University and NHS.

Last but not the least, I will be travelling to Kolkata to deliver the prestigious Professor A.K. Saha Memorial Lecture on the 8th February 2020 in the annual West Bengal Orthopaedic Surgeons meet, WBOACON 2020.

So once again, I thank you all for your support to UDOTS and wish you and your loved ones a successful 2020.

Mr Arpit Jariwala
MS Orth, MCh Orth Dundee, MRCSEd, FRCSEd T&O, MD