Rob Townsend

MBCHB MSc DTMH FRCPath

Clinical Director

Rob is currently a Consultant Medical Microbiologist at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.  He is also an honorary clinical lecturer for both Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Sheffield.  He started his working life as a biomedical scientist in microbiology and had his first scientific publication in 1991.  Rob went on to pass his BSc honours degree in Biomedical Sciences and subsequently obtained a distinction in his MSc in Pathological Sciences.  Rob successfully applied for medical school in 1995 and qualified in medicine in 2000, having done house jobs in medicine, surgery and infectious diseases.  Rob was a SHO in infectious diseases before becoming a medical registrar in microbiology in 2002.  In 2007 Rob was elevated to his current consultant role.
Rob’s main clinical interest area is orthopaedic infections, where he has initiated orthopaedic ward rounds and an arthroplasty MDT on a weekly basis.  He also co-created a new bone joint research group at Hallam University, whose special interest is antibiotic implant coatings. Rob gives educational lectures both nationally and internationally on orthopaedic infections.  He is one of the main organisers of the annual Orthopaedic Infections meetings held in Sheffield and is currently on the national working party, responsible for the production of national guidelines for the management of orthopaedic infections.

Steve Davies

MA CSci FIBMS

Scientific Director

Steve is currently the Microbiology Departmental Manager at the Northern General Hospital, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.  Steve commenced his training at the Royal Hallamshire Sheffield in 1979, where he passed his HNC in Medical Laboratory Sciences and then the Fellowship Exam of the Institute of Biomedical Sciences.  On achieving the second examination success, Steve was given the Malcolm Breach Memorial Prize for gaining the highest mark in the country.  Steve has held managerial positions at the Northern General Hospital since 1990 and achieved a MA in Management Studies at York University in 2004.

Steve has been responsible for several scientific publications.  He is currently the Microbiology Specialist Advisor for the IBMS and is also the Honorary Treasurer for the Society for Applied Microbiology.  Steve has helped organise and has given lectures at many scientific symposia. He is currently the Chairman of the Microbe Symposia.  Helping to organise and speaking at the successful national orthopaedic meeting in Sheffield has proven to be the catalyst to the desire to provide a quality orthopaedic service for both Sheffield and other areas of the UK.

Matt Radatz

Surgical Director

Matthias studied medicine at the Free University of Berlin in Germany from 1985 to 1991.  He completed his medical doctorate thesis in April 1993 and finished his training to become a neurosurgeon in May 1997.  Matthias first moved to Sheffield in 1994 as part of his neurosurgical training and was Registrar and Senior Registrar from 1994 to 1996.  After completing his training in 1997 he spent 18 months in the Neurosurgical Department at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford.

Since May 1999 Matthias has held the post of Consultant Neurosurgeon at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.  He became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of London in April 2000 and has since held significant management roles including Lead Clinician from 2002 to 2008, Programme Director for neurosurgical training of the Yorkshire and Humber Deanery from 2007 to 2011 and is a member of the Specialist Advisory Committee of the Society of British Neurosurgeons.

Matthias’s clinical practice encompasses complex spinal neurosurgery and stereotactic radiosurgery utilising the Gamma Knife and Cyber Knife.