Dr Anan Shetty was presented the award for his research on stem cells in articular cartilage repair.
A renowned Indian-origin orthopaedic surgeon has been awarded the prestigious Hunterian Professorship and the Medal for 2017 by UK's Royal College of Surgeons for his research on stem cells in articular cartilage repair.
Dr Anan Shetty is a knee surgeon in the UK and a Chair and Director of stem cell research at Canterbury Christ Church University.
Named after the pioneering surgeon and scientist John Hunter and dating back to over two centuries, the Hunterian Professorship is among the most highly-regarded annual awards in the field of surgery.
"The Hunterian Professorship is considered one of the proudest traditional honours of the college bestowed on surgeons of eminence who have richly contributed to the field of surgery by original research or innovations.
"The honour of delivering the Hunterian lecture is regarded by surgeons around the world as a great privilege and high accolade awarded to recognise their work," the citation reads.
Besides training orthopaedic surgeons at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, Dr Shetty is leading world class research in knee surgery.
His reputation as a knee surgeon and orthopaedic teacher attracts surgeons and patients from all over the world.
Apart from his surgical innovations, he is the first surgeon to use robotics in arthroscopic knee surgery in the world and gel-based cartilage repair surgery in the UK.
More recently, he has been developing some of the revolutionary surgical techniques for cartilage repair, Gel ACI (Autologous chondrocyte Implantation) with Professor Kim, Director of cell therapy, Catholic University Hospital Seol, South Korea.
Dr Shetty is the founder and director of the Kent Knee Unit based at the Spire Alexandra Hospital in south-east England, which was established in response to the requirements and management of knee disorders.
He has authored many books and is the winner of the Fred Heatley Prize for Research and Elsevier Prize for Best Publication.
In 2008, he was awarded the silver medal in recognition of his teaching and research.