Background

David Potter trained in Sheffield before undertaking a fellowship in shoulder surgery at Wrightington Hospital. He has also worked with world renowned shoulder surgeons in Cape Town, Zurich, New York and San Antonio. He specialises in shoulder surgery and upper limb trauma.

David Potter studied medicine at the University of Sheffield Medical School, qualifying in 1990. After general surgical training in Sheffield and Leeds, he returned to Sheffield as a specialist registrar in 1995. A short fellowship with Professor Christian Gerber in Zurich in 1998 confirmed his interest in shoulder surgery. In 2001, he became the Shoulder Fellow at Wrightington Hospital working with Professor John Stanley, Ian Trail and John Haines. This fellowship gave him the opportunity to become involved in the management of numerous difficult and complex cases. During this year, he also spent some time working with Professor Louis Bigliani and Evan Flatow in New York and also attended shoulder meetings in San Diego, Nice and Cape Town. He was appointed as a consultant orthopaedic surgeon in Sheffield and took up his post at the start of 2002.

In addition to providing a full shoulder service to Sheffield and the surrounding area, David has developed specific interests in primary and revision shoulder replacement surgery, arthroscopic shoulder stabilisation and rotator cuff surgery and complex upper limb trauma. He has been an active member of the British Elbow and Shoulder Society (BESS) since 1998 and has presented and published papers on shoulder and elbow surgery nationally and internationally. He was awarded the first Shoulder Arthroscopy Fellowship to be made by BESS in 2003, introduced to assist young surgeons to develop advanced skills in arthroscopic shoulder surgery. This support allowed him to visit Steve Burkhart in San Antonio, Gary Gartsman in Houston and he also spent several weeks operating with Joe deBeer in Cape Town, South Africa. His main areas of research interest are total shoulder replacement (glenoid surgery) and proximal humeral fractures. He also enjoys teaching both locally and nationally and is frequently invited to participate in courses and meetings as a faculty member.

David has taught arthroscopic shoulder surgery at Wrightington Hospital and the Royal College of Surgeons as well as jointly organising the first Arthrex advanced shoulder arthroscopy course in Naples, Florida.
He has also lectured on shoulder replacement surgery techniques at the Royal College of Surgeons in London and convened a ‘Master class in Shoulder Replacement’ with Louis Bigliani in Sheffield.