Rate My Professor Bruce Hodgson

Bruce Hodgson serves as Clinical Senior Lecturer in the Section of Orthopaedic Surgery within the Department of Surgical Sciences at the University of Otago. His qualifications include BHB, DipObs, and MB ChB from the University of Auckland, along with FRACS fellowship obtained in 1987. Following specialist training, he completed post-fellowship fellowships in bone and joint reconstruction at Exeter, United Kingdom in 1988; orthopaedic trauma in Munich, Germany in 1989; and spinal surgery at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa from 1989 to 1990. As a practising orthopaedic surgeon, Hodgson heads the Scoliosis Unit at Dunedin Hospital, operating on a tertiary referral basis for the South Island, and serves as a visiting orthopaedic and scoliosis surgeon at Christchurch Public Hospital. He is a founding surgeon of the South Island Scoliosis Service and a foundation member of the New Zealand Spine Society. In 1999, he was awarded International Fellow status by the American Scoliosis Research Society.

Hodgson's academic interests centre on orthopaedic surgery, scoliosis, and spinal surgery, including the development of a scoliosis animal model and evaluation of spinal surgery outcomes. His peer-reviewed publications include 'Vascularized fibula strut graft used in neurofibromatosis type 1-related kyphosis: A case of almost complete reversal of deformity-induced tetraparesis' (Evidence-Based Spine-Care Journal, 2013, co-authored with Melloh, Carstens, and Cornwall); 'Repair of spondylolytic defect with a cable screw reconstruction' (International Orthopaedics, 2008, with Pai and Pai); 'The use of evoked EMG in detecting misplaced thoracolumbar pedicle screws' (Spine, 2001, with Danesh-Clough, Taylor, and Walton); 'Bilateral, uncemented total hip arthroplasty in osteopetrosis' (Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery British Volume, 2004, with Gwynne Jones and Hung); and 'Does smoking cessation prior to elective spinal surgery lead to long-term smoking abstinence' (New Zealand Medical Journal, 2016, with Hanrahan and Cuthbertson). He has presented research such as 'A novel muscle splitting approach to the thoracic spine pedicle' at the New Zealand Orthopaedic Association Annual Scientific Meeting in 2014. In education, he teaches Advanced Learning in Medicine year 5 students, trainee interns, and orthopaedic trainees. His clinical scope encompasses spinal surgery for cervical, thoracic, and lumbar regions addressing deformity, degeneration, trauma, and tumours, alongside hip and knee joint replacements and arthroscopic sports medicine procedures.