The Trial Steering Committee (TSC) is responsible for oversight of the trial in order to safeguard the interests of trial patients. The TSC is comprised of a 75% majority of independent and lay members, as well as the Chief Investigator, representatives of Principal Investigators, a representative of the sponsor, the health economist and senior trial statistician. The committee provides advice to the Chief Investigator, UCL Comprehensive Clinical Trials Unit, the funder and sponsor on all aspects of the trial through its Independent Chair. The remit of the TSC is to oversee study conduct and advise the TMG.

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Mr Paul Cooke

Consultant Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Surgeon

Trial Steering Committee

Mr Paul Cooke is an established international expert in foot and ankle surgery. He qualified in Sheffield in 1977, later gaining FRCS (London) in 1981, and MCh 1990.

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Mr Andrew Goldberg

Clinical Senior Lecturer in Trauma and Orthopaedics, Consultant Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Surgeon

Mr Goldberg OBE qualified from St Mary’s Hospital Medical School (Imperial College London) in 1994. He is the Chief Investigator on the TARVA trial.

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Mrs Marion Cumbers

Patient Representative

Marion has a background in computer programming, and after the last of her four children went to school, in IT support in education at various levels. She was elected as a parent governor and was later an OFSTED lay inspector for 11 years.

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Dr Stephen Brealey

Trial Coordinator for Methodology

Stephen has a background in Diagnostic Radiography and Health Services Research. His interests include the evaluation of diagnostic tests and interpretation of medical images.

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Mr Nick Welch

Patient and Public Rep.

Nick spent 35 years in the Pharmaceutical Industry working in sales and marketing throughout the EU before retiring in 2006. He joined the British Orthopaedic Association’s Patient Liaison Group in 2006 and has chaired it since 2012.

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Ms Caroline Dore

Head of Statistics

Caroline is Head of Statistics at the UCL Clinical Trials Unit. Caroline graduated in Statistics from UCL in 1970 and has more than 40 years experience of collaboration in medical research.

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Professor Alison McGregor

Professor of Musculoskeletal Biodynamics

Alison is chair of Musculoskeletal Biodynamics in the Department of Surgery and Cancer, where she manages the Human Performance Group.

Professor Amar Rangan

Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery

Amar is a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon in the Shoulder & Elbow Unit of The James Cook University Hospital.

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Professor Damian Griffin

Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon

Damian Griffin is the Professor of Trauma and Orthopaedic surgery at The University of Warwick. He trained at Cambridge, Oxford and in the United States and now has a clinical practice in hip surgery for young adults.

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Professor Hamish Simpson

Professor of Orthopaedics & Trauma

Professor Simpson is the George Harrison Law Chair of Orthopaedics at the University of Edinburgh, and Editor-in-Chief of the Bone and Joint Research Journal.

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Professor Marion Campbell

Director, Health Services Research Unit

Marion is the Director of the Health Services Research Unit at the University of Aberdeen where she has worked since 1993.

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Professor Nachi Chockalingam

Professor of Clinical Biomechanics

Nachi has a doctoral thesis on gait and posture analysis of patients with scoliosis and is the Professor of Clinical Biomechanics at the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Staffordshire.

Professor Steve Morris

Chair in Health Economics

Steve joined UCL in 2009 and is now the Chair of Health Economics. He has a BA in Economics and Philosophy from the University of Nottingham, an MSc in Health Economics from the University of York, and a PhD in Economics from City University London.

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Mr James Blackstone

TARVA Trial Manager

James studied American History at the University of East Anglia, graduating with a BA in 2005 and an MA in 2007, before going on to conduct doctoral research at Clare College, Cambridge.

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Mr Torsten Chandler

Health Economist

Torsten is the Trial Health Economist for the TARVA study. He holds a BA in Economics from the University of Exeter and an MA in Comparative Business Economics from UCL.

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