McIndoe Lecture
In 1962, the Royal College of Surgeons of England received a donation from the Royal Air Forces Association which was to cover the McIndoe Lectureship.
The British Association of Plastic Surgery and the Royal College of Surgeons of England agreed that the lecture should be devoted to plastic surgery or another allied subject and should be based on the lecturer’s experience in that field.
The Lectureship is awarded by the Council of the College on the recommendation of the President of the College, and the President and Honorary Secretary of the BAPRAS.
Sir Archibald McIndoe was a New Zealander who, after training at the Mayo Clinic, went to London and studied Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery with his cousin Sir Harold Gillies, the acknowledged father of modern British reconstructive surgery. When World War 2 broke out McIndoe headed up the surgical unit in East Grinstead responsible for treating thousands of burnt and injured pilots, especially those involved in the Battle of Britain. His work was outstanding and he is acknowledged as having been one of England's greatest surgeons. He remains revered by the Royal Air Force.
The McIndoe Lectureship and Medal is regarded as a most prestigious honour. Only three Australians have been awarded the privilege . In 2010 Tony Holmes was the recipient and in December at the Royal College of Surgeons in London he delivered the McIndoe lecture titled "Serendipity, Epiphany and a fortunate surgical life" which was received particularly well. The lecture concentrated on the pathways surgeons take to reach their goals and specific surgical interests of Tony's over his career, in particular clefts, craniosynostoses, cephaloceles and craniopagus twins.
Below, Tony receives the McIndoe medal from Eric Freedlander, President of the British Association of Aesthetic, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons (standing in front of the statue of John Hunter) in the College of Surgeons in London