Roles and duties in war and peace in focus for visiting professor Boffard
VISITING PROFESSOR. During one of Kenneth Boffard’s first assignments, as a doctor in Europe, at a hospital in Birmingham, he had to manage the casualties of an IRA bombing. Some 40 years later, as Visiting Professor at Sahlgrenska Academy he is working with members of the Department of Surgery to develop a training program that meets the needs of health professionals working in crisis and war-torn countries abroad. We have met the recognized trauma expert Professor Kenneth (“Ken”) Boffard for an interview.
Ken Boffard from South Africa was appointed Visiting Professor at Sahlgrenska Academy in 2016. His career has been dedicated to developing life-saving trauma surgical practice and associated academic study programs, and his work is acknowledged the world over. In October he became one of only two non-Americans awarded full membership of the ACS Academy of Master Surgeon Educators.
Boffard’s other titles include Professor Emeritus at the University of the Witwatersrand and Honorary Consultant in its Department of Surgery, and Academic Head of Trauma Surgery at the Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa, one of the University’s Academic Teaching Centers. The ACS Academy Award is, of course, a prestigious award, and he has received several other awards over the years for his commitment and his outstanding knowledge in the field of trauma surgery, intensive care, and related study programs.
His ambition to educate and impart knowledge has resulted in the creation of the world’s most advanced open surgical training course, Definitive Surgical Trauma Care (DSTC), now held in seven languages, in 33 countries. These include Sweden, which had one of the first established programs. The course has culminated in a book entitled Manual of Definitive Surgical Trauma Care, sold worldwide and now in its fifth edition.
Boffard is also one of the pioneers of EMS (Emergency Medical Services) helicopters in South Africa. These flying intensive care units, widely used in Sweden too, are an essential resource in pre-hospital management of critically injured patients, and vital in saving lives daily. Evidently, he is highly deserving of this award.