Denis Browne (surgeon)

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Sir Denis John Wolko Browne (born April 2, 1892 in Melbourne , † January 9, 1967 in Westminster ) was an Australian pediatric surgeon. He is considered a pioneer in pediatric surgery in Great Britain.

Browne grew up on a sheep farm in New South Wales and studied medicine on a scholarship from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Medicine (MB) degree in 1914. During the First World War, he headed a field clinic in France as a major. In 1922 he became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS). He was then registrar and, from 1925, Resident Medical Superintendent at the Hospital of Sick Children on Great Ormond Street in London. In 1928 he became a Consultant Surgeon and stayed at the hospital until his retirement in 1957.

He was considered a brilliant, perfectionist surgeon and unconventional thinker who, on the one hand, was able to generate great loyalty among his employees, and, on the other hand, did not avoid conflicts and thus created enemies. He has dealt with a wide range of problems in pediatric surgery, particularly deformations of newborns due to mechanical compression in the uterus. He also developed therapy methods, the orthotics to restrict movement, for example the Denis Browne Bar (or Denis Browne Splint ) for the treatment of clubfoot , similar to the clubfoot treatment according to Ponseti . He first described this in 1934. Towards the end of his career, he was disappointed that his relevant findings and recommendations in Great Britain had been largely ignored by colleagues.

Denis Browne Bar

In 1954 he was one of the founders of the British Association of Pediatric Surgeons and was its first president. He was a Knight of the Legion of Honor . Browne received the Dawson Williams Prize and the William Ladd Medal. After returning to Australia in 1965, he became an honorary member of the Australian Surgical College. In 1961 he became KCVO .

He was married twice. First marriage to the writer Helen Simpson , with whom he had a daughter. The marriage was initially concluded in secret, as residents were actually prohibited from marrying. After his wife's death in 1940, he married the nurse Moira Ponsonby in 1945, with whom he had a son and a daughter.

Denis Browne also played tennis and participated in the Wimbledon Championships in 1921 , 1923 and 1924 in men's singles and in 1922 in men's doubles.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wimbledon Players Archive

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Browne, Denis
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Browne, Denis John Wolko
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian pediatric surgeon
DATE OF BIRTH April 2, 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH Melbourne
DATE OF DEATH January 9, 1967
Place of death Westminster