A/Prof Munjed Al Muderis is an Orthopaedic Surgeon and world leader in Osseointegration, who works as an Australian trained Orthopaedic Specialist and Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor with Notre Dame University School of Medicine (Sydney). Munjed is a respected human rights activist and international speaker serving as a Red Cross Ambassador and speaker for Amnesty International on refugees and human rights as well as being a published author .
A/Prof Al Muderis currently works as a clinical lecturer at Macquarie University and The Australian School Of Advanced Medicine where he specialises in hip, knee, trauma and osseointegration surgery. He holds positions as a fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and as Chairman of the Osseointegration Group of Australia.
As a recognised world leader in osseointegration, Munjed has completed more osseointegration surgeries than any other surgeon, helping more than 150 amputees, transfemoral and transtibial, mobilise and function with greater ease, comfort and control. A common outcome is reflected in what one of his patients has testified to experiencing after receiving a prosthetic, “Before I was walking 90 metres, I’m up to 10 kms now with osseointegration”
Born in Baghdad Munjed graduated from Baghdad College High School (The American Jesuit) in 1991 and studied medicine at Baghdad University from 1991 to 1997. He eventually fled to Australia, as a refugee and asylum seeker, where, upon his release from mandatory detention, he embarked on his journey to become a leading Orthopaedic Surgeon
As a first year resident in Baghdad, Munjed refused to follow the brutal orders of Saddam Hussein’s regime, requiring doctors to surgically remove the ears of soldiers as their punishment for having deserted from the army. Because of his refusal, on moral and ethical grounds, his life was in immediate danger, so he was forced to flee Iraq as a refugee, ending up on a flimsy wooden boat heading to his new home, Australia, where he spent over a year in detention. During his detention he completely memorised an Anatomy textbook, a feat which eventually enabled him to pass the entrance exams to undertake Medical practice in Australia.
Upon completion of his studies and full certification, Munjed’s first job in Australia was at Mildura Base Hospital, as an Emergency Unit and Orthopaedic Resident. Four months later he moved to Melbourne as a Surgical Registrar at the Austin Repatriation Hospital. His career then took him to Wollongong Hospital where he spent a year as an unaccredited Orthopaedic Registrar, followed by a year at Canberra Hospital.
A/Prof Al Muderis joined the Australian Orthopaedic Training Program in 2004, in Sydney, then obtained his surgical fellowship, FRACS (Orth), in 2008 and went on to complete three post specialisation fellowships. He initially attended a six month national fellowship in Lower Limb Arthroplasty, with Dr Ali Gursel at the Sydney Adventist and Baulkham Hills Hospitals after which he moved overseas, to Berlin, where he completed a nine month fellowship in Hip and Knee Arthroplasty, with Prof. Dr. Med. Jorg Scholz, at the Emil von Behring Hospital, a Teaching Hospital of the Charite Medical School. His third post was a three month Trauma Fellowship with Prof. Dr. Med. Axel Ekkernkamp at the Unfallkrankenhaus Berlin (UKB,) also a Teaching Hospital of the Charite Medical School.
Dr Munjed Al Muderis’ surgery has opened up whole new worlds for amputees by liberating them from their previously debilitating physical restrictions even to the point of full physical motion and activities that were never possible previously. He specialises in hip, knee and trauma surgery with particular interest in hip arthroscopy, resurfacing, minimally invasive hip arthroplasty, knee arthroplasty and reconstruction of recurrent patellar dislocations. He is now recognised as a world leading surgeon in the field of osseointegration surgery.
Osseointegration is defined as “the structural linkage made at the contact point where human bone and the surface of a synthetic, often titanium based implant, meet.”
Through this surgery A/Prof Munjed Al Muderis and The Osseointegration Group of Australia provide above and below knee amputees with leg replacement using the OGAP-OPL implant which is designed to be as close to the human anatomy as possible. The surgery involves an implant being inserted into an amputee’s femur which, when integrated with the bone allows for a simple, quick, safe connection between the stump and the lower prosthesis.
Osseointegration surgery provides amputees with greater mobility, comfort and quality of life. The implantation is performed in either a single surgery or over two stages depending on the patient’s existing conditions and suitability. No two osseointegration patients are identical, so the surgical process varies slightly from patient to patient depending on their condition and needs. Partial weight-bearing and the fitting of the lower prosthesis can take place as early as a few days after the completed surgery. Then begins the rehabilitation stage and gait training, which occurs under careful team supervision, .
A/Prof Munjed Al Muderis currently lives in Sydney with his wife Irina, who is a GP, their two daughters and a black poodle named Mozart. In 2014 he published his memoir entitled ‘Walking Free’. He is known for his warmth, good humour and caring attitude towards his patients and often continues to maintain contact long after they cease to be his patients.
Source: http://www.almuderis.com.au/
