Anthony David Holmes AO (b. 1945) is a plastic and reconstructive surgeon. His most high-profile surgery was in 2009 when he worked with a large team of experts to separate the Bangladeshi conjoined twins Trishna and Krishna.

Career

In 1969, Holmes graduated from

Melbourne University The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state of Victoria. Its ...

MBBS A Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (; MBBS, also abbreviated as BM BS, MB ChB, MB BCh, or MB BChir) is a medical degree granted by medical schools or universities in countries that adhere to the United Kingdom's higher education tradi ...

. He followed this with General Surgery training from 1970 to 1974, then Plastic Surgery training from 1975 to 1978 at

Royal Melbourne Hospital The Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH), located in Parkville, Victoria, an inner suburb of Melbourne, is one of Australia's leading public hospitals. It is a major teaching hospital for tertiary health care with a reputation in clinical research. Th ...

. He was certified as a Fellow in Plastic Surgery, Harvard Medical School in 1978 and as a Diplomate of the American Board of Plastic Surgery in 1982.

Craniofacial speciality

Since 1978 Holmes has been consultant plastic surgeon at

Royal Children's Hospital The Royal Children's Hospital (RCH), colloquially referred to as the Royal Children's, is a major children's hospital in Parkville, Victoria, Parkville, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Regarded as one of the great C ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

where he set up the Melbourne Craniofacial Unit in 1979. In 2004, the RCH awarded Holmes the RCH's Elizabeth Turner medal, awarded to senior practitioners who show sustained excellence in clinical care over time. Holmes has trained over thirty craniofacial fellows, the majority of whom have become heads of departments in Australia and overseas.

Academic positions

Since 1981 Holmes has been Associate, Department of Paediatrics at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

. He was awarded th
McIndoe Lectureship
of th
British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons
London in 2010. He was the inaugural Harvard Plastic Surgery Resident's Visiting Professor in 2012. He has 57 articles listed in PubMed.

Significant cases

Trishna and Krishna: Conjoined twins

Holmes was part of a large team, including neurosurgeon

Wirginia Maixner Wirginia June Maixner (born 1963) is an Australian neurosurgeon and the director of neurosurgery at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. She is known for having performed the first auditory brainstem implant on a child in Austr ...

, involved in the 27 hour surgery to separate the Bangladeshi

conjoined twins Conjoined twins, popularly referred to as Siamese twins, are twins joined '' in utero''. It is a very rare phenomenon, estimated to occur in anywhere between one in 50,000 births to one in 200,000 births, with a somewhat higher incidence in south ...

, Trishna and Krishna who were joined at the skull. Although they were given only a 25 per cent chance of both surviving the separation surgery without brain damage, in 2010 at 7 years old, they were "not only surviving but thriving."

Eman Tabaza: Tumour Removal

Eman Tabaza first came to Australia from

Gaza Gaza may refer to: Places Palestine * Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea ** Gaza City, a city in the Gaza Strip ** Gaza Governorate, a governorate in the Gaza Strip Mandatory Palestine * Gaza Sub ...

in 2004 when she was eight. Holmes led an eight-hour operation at the Royal Children's Hospital which removed the tumour and rebuilt Eman's face. She returned to Melbourne at 16 for further facial surgery and Tony Penington also performed spinal surgery related to the same birth defect.

Ronald Aguliar and Asi: Encephalocele

ROMAC also brought Asi from

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

so that Holmes and Neurosurgeon Patrick Lo were able to correct a rare cranio-facial abnormality called an

encephalocele Encephalocele is a neural tube defect characterized by sac-like protrusions of the brain and the Biological membrane, membranes that cover it through openings in the human skull, skull. These defects are caused by failure of the neural tube to cl ...

. Operation Rainbow and the Australian Filipino Guidance Association raised funds for eight year old Ronald Aguliar to travel to Australia so that surgeons including Holmes could rebuild his severely deformed face. He was able to return home.

References

External links

The Jigsaw Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holmes, Anthony David Living people 21st-century Australian medical doctors Fellows of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Officers of the Order of Australia University of Melbourne alumni Harvard University alumni Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century Australian surgeons