Ian Scott Smillie

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Ian Scott Smillie (15 April 1907 – 18 March 1992) was a British orthopaedic surgeon and a leading expert on knee problems. Born in Dublin to Scottish parents, he studied at Merchiston Castle School and the University of Edinburgh, qualifying in 1931.

After early hospital posts, he became clinical assistant to Walter Mercer in 1936 and joined the Harveian Society of Edinburgh in 1938. At the start of World War II he led the Emergency Medical Service Hospital at Larbert, where he created specialist knee teams and promoted early mobilisation. For this work he was awarded the OBE in 1946.

After the NHS started in 1948, Smillie led orthopaedics for the Eastern Scotland area and helped set up clinics at Bridge of Earn and Dundee Royal Infirmary. He wrote influential books, Injuries of the Knee Joint (1946) and Diseases of the Knee Joint (1974), and developed instruments to surgically remove a damaged knee meniscus. He emphasised rehabilitation and teamwork in orthopaedics.

In 1967 he became the first Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of St Andrews, later moving to Dundee as the medical school expanded. Smillie was known as a skilled surgeon and an inspiring teacher, and he became an internationally respected authority on knee conditions. In 1981 he was elected president of the International Society of the Knee.

His career helped shape knee care for decades, though later advances moved toward more conservative approaches. Outside medicine, he enjoyed car racing at Brooklands in the 1930s, later bought an estate in Perthshire, fished for salmon, and wrote A Guide to the Stalking of Red Deer in Scotland.

Smillie married Delicia Ash in 1941, and they had two daughters. He later married Janet Bissett in 1956. The University of Dundee honors his legacy with the Ian Smillie Award for the top student in the Master of Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery program. Streets named after him include Smillie Place in Bridge of Earn and Smillie Court in Dundee.