John Insall

Who is John Insall?

John Nevil Insall was a pioneering English orthopaedic surgeon who contributed extensively to the advancement of total knee replacement surgery. He designed four models of widely used systems.

He was born in Bournemouth, England. He attended Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, graduating in 1953. He worked as a physician and orthopedic surgeon in England and Canada before joining the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. He founded the Insall Scott Kelly Institute for Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine at Beth Israel and the Knee Society.

In addition to his pre-eminent knee textbook Surgery of the Knee, Dr. Insall wrote approximately 150 peer-reviewed articles, 41 book chapters and 5 books. He has also trained over 200 orthopaedic residents and 100 national and international knee fellows throughout his academic career.

He died of lung cancer on December 30, 2000, at Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan.

His publications include the following:

Current concepts in primary and revision total knee arthroplasty

Surgery of the knee, Volume 1

The Insall award was established to honor Dr. Insall's achievements and contributions to orthopaedics.