Rate My Professor Hamish McLaren

Hamish McLaren serves as Senior Professional Practice Fellow in the Department of Surgery and Critical Care at the University of Otago, Wellington, part of the School of Medicine and Health Sciences within the Division of Health Sciences. He obtained his MBChB degree from the University of Otago in 2007 and achieved Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in Orthopaedics (FRACS Orth) in 2020. His orthopaedic specialist training was undertaken through the New Zealand Orthopaedic Association program, involving rotations across multiple North Island hospitals under the guidance of 40 orthopaedic surgeons. Following completion of training, McLaren advanced his expertise through targeted fellowships. He spent six months in Christchurch at Burwood and St. George’s Hospitals with surgeons Gary Hooper and Rod Maxwell, specialising in uncemented joint replacement, unicompartmental knee replacement, and revision joint replacement. He further completed six months of subspecialty training in foot and ankle surgery at Gold Coast University Hospital. In Australia, he worked for a year with Ross Crawford at Prince Charles Hospital and St. Vincent’s Hospital, performing more than 250 robotic-assisted hip and knee joint replacements and contributing to published research in robotic joint surgery.

In clinical practice at Boulcott Hospital in Lower Hutt, McLaren focuses on hip and knee reconstruction, incorporating robotic arm assistance for enhanced precision in joint replacements. Earlier contributions include co-authorship on the 2006 public health report 'Cigarettes and Candy' from the Department of Public Health, Wellington School of Medicine, and the 2008 journal article 'In sight, in mind: retailer compliance with legislation on limiting retail tobacco displays' published in Nicotine & Tobacco Research, which has garnered over 50 citations. Through his role at the University of Otago, Wellington, he contributes to medical education in surgery and critical care, bridging clinical practice with academic teaching in a multidisciplinary environment dedicated to surgical training, research, and service delivery.