Miss Sarah
Muirhead-Allwood

Miss Sarah Muirhead-Allwood qualified in medicine from St Thomas’ Hospital in London. During training she took time off to do a physiology degree and to do some research in the USA. After qualifying, she was appointed house surgeon to the legendary Ronald Furlong where she was introduced to hip surgery. Her postgraduate surgical and orthopaedic training continued at St Thomas’ Hospital, University College Hospital, the Westminster Hospital and the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital.

She was appointed as a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at The Whittington Hospital and at the Royal Northern Hospital in London. The same year, she was also appointed as Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer at University College London. In 1991, she was appointed as a consultant at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (RNOH) to lead a revision hip and complex primary hip replacement team. She retired from this position in 2012 and continues to hold an honorary consultant position at the hospital.

Although initially appointed as a consultant orthopaedic surgeon, Miss Muirhead-Allwood soon specialised in hip surgery. She is particularly renowned for her expertise in complex and revision hip replacements and in minimally invasive procedures, and is one of only a handful of UK surgeons to offer this approach. For the last 25 years, she has exclusively performed primary and revision hip surgery, and lectures on these procedures all over the world.

Miss Muirhead-Allwood set up The London Hip Unit in 2002 to provide a fully supported specialised service for adults with hip problems. She is a founder member of the British Hip Society and a member of the European and the International Hip Societies.

Throughout her career she has been heavily involved with prosthetic design. She initially developed the Computer Assisted Design/Computer Assisted Manufacture (CAD/CAM) prostheses with Professor Peter Walker at the RNOH, and since has been involved with several major orthopaedic manufacturers with the design of new implants.

She continues to be active in research and publishing papers and works closely with the biomechanics group in the department of Mechanical engineering at Imperial College.

In 2021, she was honoured by the Royal College of Surgeons of England with the Robert Jones Lectureship and medal.