Dr Richard R.H
DR RICHARD R.H. COOMBS MA DM MCh FRCS MRCP FRCS(Ed) Orth
Dr Coombs has worked as a Consultant Surgeon and Senior Lecturer in Orthopaedic Surgery at the Hammersmith Hospital Trust and the Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine for a period of more than twenty years. For ten years he was in administrative charge of the Orthopaedic Unit at the Hammersmith Hospital and Royal Post Graduate Medical School. He was also in charge of the Accident & Emergency Department at Hammersmith Hospital for approximately five years. He has been involved in trauma with on call responsibilities for thirty years. He has a particular interest in fracture management, including external fixation and the causation and management of spinal pain.
He has an MA in Physiology from Oxford University (First Class Honours) and a Doctorate of Medicine from Oxford University for research into the collagen biochemistry of Achilles tendon rupture.
He has served on the Biomaterials Sub Committee of the Science and Engineering Research Council and the DOH Medlink Committee. He has also served on the DOH Medical Technology Committee awarding research grants. The entire Link programme has awarded £400m in grants over the last twelve years.
He has held two major Brite-Euram Research Grants to develop bioresorbable implants for fracture management and to develop hydroxyapatite coated ceramic spacers, to replace diseased intervertebral discs. Each of these multi centre international grants has totalled over 3m Euro.
He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. He is a member of the British Medical Association, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, a member of the Royal College of Physicians and a Fellow of the British Orthopaedic Association, a member of the British Orthopaedic Research Society, a member of the International Musculo Skeletal Laser Association. He has been Treasurer of the European Society for Shockwave Therapy and an associate member of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. He has been Treasurer of the International Society for Medical Shockwave Treatment.
He has edited and written six books on Orthopaedic Surgery in collaboration with Professors of Orthopaedic Surgery from the United States, Europe, Australia and Japan.
ESWT In conjunction with Dr Milad Hanna, director of the Lithotripsy Unit at Charing Cross Hospital, Imperial College he has treated approximately 600 patients with shockwave treatment over the last 15 years for a variety of musculoskeletal problems including non- union, osteonecrosis, soft tissue problems and deep infection.
Disclosure No particular industrial connections apart from the fact that at Charing Cross Hospital and Imperial College they use Storz equipment