Martin Elliott (surgeon)

Martin Elliott
Martin Elliott delivering a Gresham College lecture.
Nationality	British
Fields	Medicine Paediatric Care Heart Tracheal Disease Slide Tracheoplasty Operations
Institutions	Great Ormond Street Hospital University College London Gresham College

Martin Elliott is Co-Medical Director at Great Ormond Street Hospital, Professor of Paediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery at University College London, Director of the National Service for Severe Tracheal Disease in Children and Gresham Professor of Physic at Gresham College. He is part of one of only four or five teams in the world specialising in slide tracheoplasty operations.^[1]

Early life

Elliott trained at Newcastle University where he lectured in Anatomy between 1974 and 1975. He then joined the Medical School Surgical Programme at Southampton University in 1975 before gaining surgical, and then, cardiothoracic residency at Newcastle University until 1983.^[2]

Career

Elliott was appointed a consultant paediatric cardiothoracic surgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital in 1985 and has held the post of Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at University College London since 2004. Elliott was appointed Co-Medical Director of Great Ormond Street Hospital on June 11, 2010, replacing Mr Robert Evans.^[3]

Elliott has partaken in groundbreaking research in many different fields of medicine including the pathophysiology of cardiopulmonary bypass and the development and application of outcome registries in surgery for congenital heart disease (CHD). Included within his research on CHD, Professor Elliott developed the European Congenital Heart Defects Database; which has become the forerunner of the EACTS and STS registries. He was also founding president of the International Nomenclature Society for CHD.^[1]

Elliott has consulted and worked with Formula 1 teams and the airline and hotel industries to improve teamwork within cardiac care.

His most recent research project led to the first stem-cell supported tracheal transplant in a child and to the expansion of research in tracheal tissue engineering.^[1]

In 2014 he was appointed Gresham Professor of Physic at Gresham College. In this four-century old Professorship he will deliver series of free public lectures on The Heart of the Matter, "to explore [...] the challenging medical, ethical, financial and political issues of our time."^[4]

Other Research Work

Elliott has had over 260 peer-reviewed articles published and has delivered over 300 invited lectures worldwide. He has partaken in many television documentaries and reviews scientific journals and teaches and operates throughout the world. Elliott has trained many of the world's leading paediatric cardiac surgeons and has been involved in service reform in several countries.^[1]

At Great Ormond Street Hospital, Elliott leads on quality and safety and focuses on improving the experience for patients and providing information to their families so they can make informed choices when necessary. Elliott's work on quality and safety has won several prizes for Great Ormond Street Hospital. He has provided evidence to the Bristol Inquiry, about the Bristol heart scandal in the 1990s,^[5] and the Francis Inquiry related to the importance of information provision for quality improvement.^[6]

Personal life

Elliott enjoys listening to music in his spare time and is known to have Mozart or Miles Davis playing when in the operating theatre. Elliott got involved with Formula 1 by noticing similarities between teams dealing with pitstops and the transfer of patients from theatre to intensive care.^[7]

References