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Harold Ellis

Professor Harold Ellis CBE, Mch, FRCS (b.1926)

Biography

Inspirational teacher of clinical anatomy
Harold Ellis has taught Anatomy at Guy's Hospital since 1993 – an inspirational teacher now in his ninth decade who has introduced generations of medical students to anatomy and surgery. He is the author of 25 books, including the student textbook Clinical Anatomy, now in its twelfth edition.


Ellis graduated from the University of Oxford in 1948, in the month that the NHS was established. He was appointed Professor of Surgery at Westminster Hospital in 1962, selecting a team which included as senior lecturer Roy Calne the future kidney transplant specialist.


Ellis was appointed CBE in 1987, and the Royal College of Surgeons established The Professor Harold Ellis Medical Student Prize for Surgery in recognition of his teaching and contribution to surgery.


‘A lecture by Professor Harold Ellis entitled ‘60 years in the NHS’… was a breath of fresh air, a real inspiration.’ (Kathryn Topley, 4th year medical student)