Professor Ken Boffard is a Trauma Director and Academic Head at Milpark Hospital, Johannesburg, a satellite training centre of the University of the Witwatersrand. Until January 2014, he was a Chief Specialist and Head of the Department of Surgery at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, Johannesburg, South Africa. He is currently a Visiting Professor of Trauma Surgery at the University of Gothenburg, and Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden. He qualified in Johannesburg and trained in Surgery at the Birmingham Accident Hospital and Guy’s Hospital in the United Kingdom.

He was a President of the International Society of Surgery (ISS), the world’s oldest and largest international surgical organisation, from 2009 – 2011, and Congress President of the International Surgical Week in Yokohama Japan, in August 2011. He is a Past President of the Trauma Society of South Africa, the International Association for Trauma Surgery and Intensive Care (IATSIC), and a previous Governor of the American College of Surgeons.

He holds Fellowships in Surgery of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons of England, Edinburgh, Glasgow, American College of Surgeons, and College of Surgeons of South Africa. He has been awarded Honorary Fellowships by the American College of Surgeons, The American Surgical Association, The Royal College of Surgeons of Thailand, The College of Surgeons of Sri Lanka, The Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland, The German Trauma Society, and Japanese Association for the Surgery of Trauma. He is Secretary General of the International Society of Surgery in Zurich, Switzerland.

He holds the rank of Colonel in the South African Military Health Service Reserve Force, and is a Freeman of the City of London by redemption, and an elected Liveryman of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators of London.

His passion is Education, and various aspects of trauma resuscitation, intensive care, and regional planning of Trauma Systems. He has a particular scientific interest in Ballistics and Blast injuries. His interests include flying (he is a licensed fixed wing and helicopter pilot), scuba diving, and aeromedical care. His research interests include coagulation, haemostasis and critical bleeding. He has over 100 publications, 20 book chapters and has written five books on Trauma surgery.