Professor Basil Vrettos is a specialist Shoulder and Elbow Orthopaedic surgeon practicing at Life Orthopaedic Hospital (Vincent Pallotti) and Constantiaberg Mediclinic. He is an honorary Consultant to the Shoulder and Elbow Clinic at the Princess Alice Unit at Groote Schuur Hospital. He is involved in teaching and training of Registrars and is part of the UCT rotation for the training of fellows in shoulder and elbow surgery. He has regularly hosted local and international visiting orthopaedic surgeons. He is involved in teaching in other countries in Africa and travels regularly to Zimbabwe to teach and work.
He has published numerous articles in local and international orthopaedic journals and presents at local and international courses and congresses. He has been an invited speaker at numerous international congresses, most notably as the Presidential Guest Speaker at the British Elbow and Shoulder Meeting in Dublin in 2016.
He has been the regional editor for the Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery (America) and on the editorial board of the British Shoulder and Elbow Journal. He has been a reviewer for these journals as well as for the British Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery.
He is an executive committee member of the South African Orthopaedic Society and a past President of the South African Shoulder and Elbow Society. He was the Scientific Chairman for the 8th International Congress of Surgery of the Shoulder and Elbow held in Cape Town in 2001 and has been a member of the scientific committee of these 3 yearly congresses since then. He was a full member of the International Board of Shoulder and Elbow surgery from 2008 to 2016. He is a member of the American Shoulder and Elbow Society, the Shoulder and Elbow Society of Australia, the Zimbabwe Orthopaedic Association, the Surgical Society of Zimbabwe and the College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa.
He obtained his undergraduate degree in Zimbabwe, his general surgical degree in the UK and his postgraduate orthopaedic degree at the University of Cape Town. He undertook a fellowship in Shoulder and Elbow Surgery in 1997 under Professor Angus Wallace and Mr. Lars Neumann at the University Hospitals in Nottingham, UK. He has extensive experience in treating shoulder and elbow conditions and particular experience in complex, neglected shoulder and elbow conditions.
He has received numerous awards including the GT du Toit Registrar’s Prize at the SAOA congress in 1991, the President’s Medal at the SAOA Congress in 1994, the American, British and Canadian Travelling Fellowship in 1998, the SAOA Literary Award in 2010, Winner of the South African Shoulder and Elbow Society grants in 2013 and 2014.
He enjoys vegetable gardening, is keen on birding and wildlife, regularly plays tennis and cycles.