Mr Helmut Zahn

Mr Zahn graduated at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, in 1987. He obtained his medical degree (MD,PHD) the following year. In 1989 an opportunity arose to work in England, facilitated by the affiliation of Heidelberg with Cambridge and his Professor, who was given an honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons. He quickly decided to join the Southwest Thames Surgical Training programme and completed part 1of the FRCS exam in 1991, followed by part 2 in 1993. From there he was appointed to the Specialist Training Programme in Orthopaedics at Kings College, Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospitals. In 1999 he passed the final exam (FRCS Trauma & Orthopaedics) in 1999 and was entered into the British Specialist Register (CCST). In the same year he was appointed Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust, where he became part of a team of trauma surgeons as well as doing elective operations. 

Initially working as a Generalist, he soon found his calling for the treatment of disorders of the hip and knee joints.

In 2010 he was given a Trust award for his work on Rapid Recovery after hip and knee replacement. He and his team worked in particular on early mobilisation after surgery, alternative forms of pain relief and shorter stays in hospital.

In 2011 he became Clinical Lead for the William Harvey Hospital until 2014. He then became the Trustwide Lead for Hip and Surgery until 2018.

His special interest now lies with minimally invasive surgery for hip and knee replacement, the treatment and reconstruction of failing hip and knee replacements, as well as arthroscopy of the knee and reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament. He is a founder member of the Bone and Joint Infection Group (BJIG) and the Multidisciplinary meeting(MDM) for revision surgery of the hip and knee joint at East Kent Hospitals.

He has been a leading surgeon at the Chaucer Hospital since 1999 and was a member of the Medical Advisory Board until 2010.

In his spare time Mr Zahn likes spending time with his family and children. He also has a passion for Road cycling, something he enjoyed since his teenage years.

His other passion is music. He plays the electric rock, blues and jazz guitar and performs regularly in Pubs and on Festivals in the region with his band The Bones (thebones.uk). Go and see him play when you get a chance.

• Signature knee replacement
• Hip resurfacing
• Knee and hip arthroscopy
• ACL reconstruction

• British Orthopaedic Association (BOA)
• British Hip Society (BHS)
• Royal College of Surgeons ( England)