Simon Abram

Simon graduated from Oxford University medical school in 2010 and began surgical training in Trauma and Orthopaedics in 2012. From 2016-19, Simon took time out of surgical training to undertake a DPhil (PhD) aimed at improving the treatment of patients with meniscal tears of the knee. In support of this work, Simon was awarded a nationally competitive Doctoral Research Fellowship by the NIHR in 2017.

Simon’s research currently has two main themes: 

1. The epidemiology of musculoskeletal conditions and surgical interventions. A number of large healthcare databases are available in the UK and this ‘big data’ represents a valuable and relatively untapped resource to inform patients and clinicians of the risks and benefits of orthopaedic interventions. Simon works with the national hospital episode statistics (HES) database to investigate trends and regional variation in surgical practice and to determine the short-term risks and long-term outcomes of arthroscopic procedures performed in the knee.

2. Guideline development and treatment pathway improvement. For many orthopaedic procedures, there is apparent variation in the delivery of care between treatment centres. There is a need to standardise treatment decisions to ensure all patients receive evidence-based care and to consistently monitor and improve the outcomes of this care. Simon is currently working to deliver a national treatment guideline for the management of meniscal tears of the knee, in collaboration with Professor Andrew Price, Professor David Beard, and the British Association for Surgery of the Knee (BASK).