Sir John Charnley was a British orthopedic surgeon who is regarded as one of the greatest innovators of orthopedic surgery. He pioneered the hip replacement operation, which is now one of the most common operations in the world. Dr. Charley created the Wrightington Centre for Hip Surgery. He was awarded the 1975 Lister Medal for his contributions to surgical science. The corresponding Lister Oration, given at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, was delivered on 26 May 1976, and was titled ‘The Origins of Post-Operative Sepsis in Elective Surgery’
Dr. Charnley was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1977. He was one of the recipients of the Albert Lasker Medical Research Awards. He lectured in Manhattan as part of the Hospital for Joint Diseases’ Robert Jones Lectures, named in honor of the Army’s director general for orthopedics in World War I.
Charnley influenced generations of orthopedic surgeons through his textbook on conservative fracture treatment which was first published in 1950.
Working with a Genius
As with all orthopedic surgeons, your surgeon studied Charnley in medical school. Dr. David K Halley, co-founder of Halley Orthopedics and co-creator of the X10 Knee Recovery System studied and worked alongside Dr. Charnley in Wrightington, England early in his career. In fact Dr. Halley and Dr. Charnely published a number of highly influential orthopedic research papers together.
Dr. Halley helped develop the X10 as a result of years of observing first-hand great variability in the outcomes of total knee patients.