Professor Roger Motson
Areas of Interest
Health CareHonorary Award
Honorary Doctor of Health SciencesCitation
Vice Chancellor, it is my pleasure to read the citation for Professor Roger Motson for the award of Honorary Doctor of Health Sciences.
Professor Motson is a distinguished clinical academic, founding Director and currently President of the ICENI Surgical Education Centre in Colchester, and since 2001, holder of a Visiting Chair in Surgery at Anglia Ruskin University.
After studying Medicine at Charing Cross Hospital Medical School, University of London, Roger took up House Officer posts at the West London Hospital, before being appointed Senior House Officer at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, and later, Senior House Officer in Emergency Medicine at Wexham Park Hospital.
He then took up a Research Fellowship at the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, after which he turned his attention to surgery, taking up a surgical Registrar post at Chichester, a further Research Fellowship at the University of California, and San Francisco, further Registrar posts at Norfolk and Norwich, and Whipps Cross Hospitals.
In 1978, Roger was appointed Senior Surgical Registrar at The Royal London where he worked alongside Sir Alan Parks. Then in the early 1980s he undertook further training, including a clinical fellowship in Hong Kong, which culminated in his appointment in 1984 as Consultant Surgeon at Colchester University Hospital.
Over the next three decades, Professor Motson was to have a huge impact in the field of laparoscopic surgery – as he pioneered new techniques in minimally-invasive surgery, and trained countless surgeons in innovative new procedures.
Roger has made an enormous contribution to the clinical academic community, publishing over 140 articles, giving more than 450 invited lectures, and sitting on the editorial boards of 11 peer-reviewed journals. And after running one of the first training courses for laparoscopic cholecystectomy in 1992, he has made a sustained and significant contribution to the advancement of surgical education and research at a local, national and international level, including 12 visiting professorships in the Americas, Europe, Middle and Far East and Australasia.
In 2005 Professor Motson was appointed Director of Colchester University Hospital’s ICENI Centre for laparoscopic surgery, where, until his retirement in 2018, he helped train hundreds of consultants, surgeons in training and theatre nurses.
He has served as president of the Association of Laparoscopic Surgeons of Great Britain; the Royal Society of Medicine Section of Coloproctology; the Colchester Medical Society; and the International Society of Laparoscopic Colorectal Surgeons.
In a recent media interview, Professor Motson stated that his proudest achievement had been establishing laparoscopic surgery at Colchester, and embracing the fantastic opportunities it brought for improving patient care. And in this, his impact cannot be overstated. The techniques he pioneered have become the norm – and today, a great many patients rightly assume that their treatment will be carried out using keyhole surgery rather than more invasive techniques – thanks, in part, to his outstanding work.
Professor Motson is also an accomplished sailor – he has completed numerous Fastnet, Bermuda and Sydney-Hobart Races, and competed in the Admiral’s Cup as part of the winning British team led by the then Prime Minister, Edward Heath, in 1971.
As an outstanding physician, surgeon and educator, Professor Motson will be an inspirational role model for our students and researchers. And coming so soon after the opening of our new School of Medicine, this is a timely and appropriate award, and one that will raise our profile in the national and international surgical community.
We are delighted to welcome Professor Roger Motson to our ARU community.
Vice Chancellor, it is my pleasure to present Professor Roger Motson for the award of Doctor of Health Sciences, honoris causa.