An Addenbrooke’s doctor dedicated to shaping front line emergency care in the East of England – and influencing it worldwide - has won a second coveted award for his work.
Emergency department consultant Dr Rod Mackenzie was on Monday (10 November) presented with the 2026 Gibson Chair Professorship by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and its Faculty of Pre-Hospital Care.
The Gibson Chair recognises sustained contribution to the scientific and educational development of pre-hospital and emergency care – such as that delivered at the roadside after car crashes - and the continuing importance of research, teaching, and collaboration in shaping effective systems.
It is is named after the founder of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh’s Faculty of Pre-hospital Care in 1996, Professor Myles Gibson OBE. Now retired, the neurosurgeon was particularly interested in improving head injury management from scene through ED to recovery.
Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH) appointed Dr Mackenzie and colleague Dr Simon Lewis as the first two Pre Hospital Emergency Medicine (PHEM) consultants in 2010 and together they championed the East of England PHEM sub-specialty training programme supported by the first A&E consultant, Dr Howard Sherriff. He was a proponent of breaking down the barriers between pre-hospital and hospital emergency care.
Today the programme is the largest of its kind in the UK and CUH has a dedicated PHEM Department, chaired by Dr Adam Chesters, and over a dozen consultants with PHEM roles. They assist three regional air ambulance services (Magpas, Essex and Herts Air Ambulance and East Anglian Air Ambulance) as well as further afield and in the military.
Dr Mackenzie said:
This award reflects the contribution of many colleagues and collaborators who have helped to build the systems and capability that underpin modern pre-hospital and emergency care. I’m grateful for the Trust’s support in creating the space to continue that work.
Dr Rod Mackenzie
The Trust is supporting Dr Mackenzie with two 12-month national research initiatives. The Pre-hospital Research and Audit Network (opens in a new tab) (PRANA), aims to integrate data across agencies to better inform understanding of critical illness and injury in the pre-hospital phase. ResusPro (opens in a new tab) is a simulation-based training initiative for emergency department teams.
It is the second recent national award for Dr Mackenzie. In March he received the 2025 Trauma Care Fellowship Award at the annual meeting of Trauma Care UK in Stone, Staffordshire.
An eminent board of trustees recognised a career “dedicated to advancing trauma care, from pre-hospital response to hospital-based major trauma systems” adding “his leadership in system development, training, injury epidemiology, and governance has shaped trauma care in the UK and internationally.”