An Addenbrooke’s doctor who has worked on the frontline of emergency care for more than three decades – and is described as the architect of the East of England trauma network - has won a prestigious lifetime achievement award for his work.
Dr Rod Mackenzie, who is based in the Trust’s Emergency Department, received the 2025 Trauma Care Fellowship Award at the annual meeting of Trauma Care UK in Stone, Staffordshire.
Chairman, Professor Tim Coats, presented him with a bronze statuette of “Wound Man” - a famous medieval surgical diagram that illustrates various injuries a person might receive through war, accident, or disease.
The award, bestowed by an eminent board of trustees, was established in 2020 to recognise exceptional contributions to trauma victim care. Criteria include academic and clinical excellence, innovation, and service development.
They recognised a career “dedicated to advancing trauma care, from pre-hospital response to hospital-based major trauma systems” adding “his leadership in system development, training, injury epidemiology, and governance has shaped trauma care in the UK and internationally.”
Dr Mackenzie said:
It is privilege to be able to help people at their time of greatest need. Every day, hundreds of patients attend our ED having experienced a health crisis that they were not anticipating. This is particularly the case with major trauma - where it is often younger patients who are suddenly severely injured. My job, our job, is to embrace them and do everything we can to make what is often described as ‘the worst day of their life’ better.
I feel honoured and humbled to receive the 2025 Trauma Care Fellowship Award, especially from Professor Tim Coats, whom I deeply admire. The trouble with lifetime achievement awards is I'm not finished yet! There’s still plenty of exciting work ahead in injury prevention, emergency planning, teaching and saving lives with data.
Thank you to Trauma Care UK and everyone who has been part of this journey!
Dr Rod Mackenzie
Trauma Care UK was founded in 1996 to address the need for commonly agreed standards of the best clinical practice in the management of trauma. It is the UK’s largest trauma charity.
In making the presentation last Wednesday (12 March) Professor Coats referred to Dr Mackenzie’s current roles as:
- Consultant in Emergency Medicine & Pre-hospital Emergency Medicine, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Vice-Chair, Intercollegiate Board for Training in Pre-hospital Emergency Medicine (IBTPHEM)
- Injury Prevention and Engagement Lead, Cambridge Major Trauma Centre
- Emergency Preparedness, Resilience, and Response (EPRR) Lead, Cambridge Major Trauma Centre
- Tactical Medical Advisor, East of England Ambulance Service
- Programme Co-investigator, PRANA (Pre-hospital Research and Audit Network, prananet.org) – Leading data-driven improvements in pre-hospital trauma care.
He also referred to his career contributions to trauma care that include:
- Being an army veteran - having served with the Royal Army Medical Corps and other units over an 18-year period.
- Being a volunteer pre-hospital doctor with Magpas Air Ambulance for 20 years.
- Undertaking a clinical research fellowship at Queen Mary, University of London focusing on emergency and trauma research in 2002.
- Appointed Senior Lecturer & Honorary Consultant in Emergency Medicine, University of Leicester (2007–2010).
- Being the architect of the East of England Trauma Network.
- Being the first Clinical Director of the Cambridge Major Trauma Centre (2012–2024) - one of the highest-performing MTCs in England.
- Leading the development of Pre-hospital Emergency Medicine (PHEM) as a GMC-recognised medical sub-specialty, defining national training and assessment standards.
- Developing the Diploma and Fellowship in Immediate Care (Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh) as national benchmarks for PHEM clinical practice (chief examiner 2012 to 2016 and continuing as a senior examiner).
His Academic Contributions to Trauma Epidemiology & Prevention including:
- Led major research projects, including the ‘Cambridgeshire Trauma Audit and Research Project’ (CTARP) and the ‘Targeting Road Injury Prevention’ (TRIP) project.
- Current co-investigator for the PRANA ‘Data Saves Lives’ project, utilizing national trauma registry data to drive system-wide improvements in pre-hospital and emergency trauma care.
- Founder of ‘ResusPro’, delivering immersive scenario-based training for emergency physicians.
Key Recognitions & Awards
- Faculty of Pre-hospital Care Medal, Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (2020) – For outstanding contribution to pre-hospital care.
- The Asmund Laerdal Award (2016) – For services to pre-hospital care.
- Maurice Ellis Lecture, Royal College of Emergency Medicine (2009) – Recognizing excellence in trauma and emergency medicine.