Dr. Benjamin East is an Orthopaedic Surgeon who specialises in upper limb conditions and treatment. Dr. East regularly takes complex upper limb referrals from all over the Hunter New England Health district and has worked routinely with high level sporting teams, including the NRL Newcastle Knights. Commencing practice in 2015, Dr. East has worked at the John Hunter Hosptial taking tertiaty referrals for Shoulder and Elbow trauma on a weekly basis.
Originally training as a Biomechanial engineer, Dr. East’s interest in medicine and orthopaedics developed while working with Leprosy patients in South India as a student. Studying Medicine at the University of Sydney and then, moving to Newcastle as a junior doctor, Dr. East enrolled in Orthopaedic Surgical training.
After completing orthopaedic training in 2013 and with a good grounding in the essential skills of orthopaedics, Dr. East completed fellowships in Melbourne in Shoulder and Elbow surgery under the guidance of A. Prof. Simon Bell and Richard Dallalana. Following this, Dr. East attended Cambridge University’s Addenbrooke’s Hospital for a third fellowship in Shoulder and Elbow surgery. This time saw him work with internationally known shoulder arthroscopy surgeon, Graham Tytherleigh-Strong, and Upper limb trauma surgeon, Lee Van-Rensburg.
Finally Dr. East travelled to Lyon, France to the Centre Orthopaedique Santy, world leaders in degenerative shoulder conditions, to work with Gilles Walch and Lionel Nathan, before returning to Newcastle to establish practice.
Dr. East is actively involved in Orthopaedic Outreach; Orthopaedic design, teaching and research. Dr. East has been involved as a design surgeon for a number of orthopaedic implants – a work which is ongoing. He is a director of the Newcastle Orthopaedic Research Institute (NORI; www.NORI.org.au). He has published and presented widely, teaching and speaking at natioal and internatioal meetings and courses. He remains interested in the implementation of cutting edge engineering technology, research and the application of advances in engineering, medicine and surgery to patient care.
