Dr Mark Ainsley Rider, Hand Surgeon, Sydney
MBChB, FRCS, FRCS(Ed), FRCS(Plas), FRACS
Doctor Rider is the inaugural Director of what became the South Western Sydney Hand Centre at Fairfield (Fairfield Hand Clinic). It is anticipated that this will become the third specialist hand centre in Sydney (along with Royal North Shore Hand Unit and Sydney Hospital Hand Clinic). The centre offers particular expertise in hand injuries and major trauma such as amputations, with an emphasis on teaching, and a consultant–led model of care.
Mark was born in Yorkshire, and graduated from medical school in Scotland in 1987. After a period as a lecturer (in anatomy and physiology) at the University of St Andrews, he undertook general surgical training and obtained the fellowships of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (FRCS), and of Edinburgh (FRCSEd).
Five years at Oxford completed his plastic surgical training and culminated in qualification as a specialist plastic surgeon (FRCSPlas).
I entered plastic surgery with the specific purpose of becoming a hand surgeon.
As a registrar he worked with many of Britain’s most well-known hand surgeons. The plastic surgery training was complemented by a Fellowship at Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, with Prof Michael Tonkin, an internationally regarded orthopaedic hand surgeon. (The other supervisors were Drs Damian Ryan, Claudia Gschwind and Tony Beard)
Mark undertook a further year advanced training as a micro-surgical Fellow in Wellington NZ, and was then appointed as a consultant at the Wellington Regional Plastic Surgery Unit.
In 2009 Dr Rider was invited to move back to Sydney, to help build a Hand Unit at SW Sydney LHD.
He is an active member of both the Australian Hand Surgery Society and the NSW Hand Surgery Association, Honorary Senior Lecturer at Western Sydney University, and of course a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.
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Dr Rider's hand research and academic activities.