John Chalmers

Biography

Chalmers studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh. After qualifying as MB ChB in 1950 he worked as House officer in different hospitals. In 1952 he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England one year later. From 1954 to 1957 he had his orthopaedic education at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital. He spent an Orthopaedic Fellowship at the University of Illinois and in 1958 was appointed as Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh. In 1961 he graduated M.D. and in 1963 also qualified as Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.

For a period of 32 years he was Senior Lecturer and Consultant at the (old) Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and at the Princess Margaret Rose Orthopaedic Hospital. He was an examiner for the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and the FRCS Ed Orth. and for the M. Ch. Orth. of Liverpool University. In 1982 he was elected a member of the Aesculapian Club.

With his wife Gwyneth he has four children and six grandchildren.

Memberships of Professional Associations

President of the British Orthopaedic Association 1989-90

President of the British Orthopaedic Research Society

National Committees

Specialist Advisory Committee in Orthopaedic Surgery.

Scottish Bone Tumour Registry

Medical Research Council Committee on Osteoporosis

Surgical representative on the Merit Award Committee for Scotland

Visiting Professorships and Lectureships

Auckland University

Dalhousie University

Hong Kong University

Hadassah Medical Center (British Council Fellow)

Basrah University

Pakistan (World Health Organization visitor)

Black Lion Hospital, Addis Ababa

Editorial Boards

Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery

Journal of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh

Journal of the Western Pacific Orthopaedic Association

Journal of Orthopaedics

Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research

Scottish Medical Journal

Papers (selection)

March haemoglobinuria. British Journal of Surgery 44 (1957), 394

Transplantation immunity in bone homografting. Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery 41-B (1959), 160–179

The growth of transplanted foetal bones in different immunological environments. JBJS 44-B (1962), 149–164

Cancellous bone: its strength and changes with ageing and an evaluation of some methods for measuring its mineral content.

I Age changes in cancellous bone. JBJS 48-A (1966), 289–299

II An evaluation of some methods for measuring osteoporosis. JBJS 48-A (1966), 299–308

Bone transplantation. Journal of Clinical Pathology, 20 (1967), 540–550.

Osteomalacia – a common disease in elderly women. JBJS 49-B (1967), 403–423

Peripheral compression lesions of the ulnar nerve. JBJS 50-B (1968), 793–803

Quantitative measurements of osteoid in health and disease. Clinical Orthopaedics 63 (1969), 196–209

Geographical variations in senile osteoporosis. JBJS 52-B (1970), 667–675

Observations on the induction of bone in soft tissues. JBJS 57-B (1975), 36–45

Unusual causes of peripheral nerve compression. The Hand 19 (1978), 168–175

Nonmedical Books

Audubon in Edinburgh. Edinburgh 2003

Andrew Duncan, Physician of the Enlightenment. Edinburgh 2010

Duel Personalities: James Stuart versus Sir Alexander Boswell. Edinburgh 2014