Professor Munjed Al Muderis

Biography

Born in 1972 in Iraq, Professor Munjed Al Muderis grew up under the Ba’ath regime of Saddam Hussein. His father was a judge, his mother a school principal, and his uncle a descendant of the royal family. He began reading medicine at Baghdad University, which was interrupted in his second year by the Gulf War.

In 1999, as a junior surgeon in Baghdad, he was presented with a devastating choice by Saddam’s military commanders: amputate the ears of men attempting to escape the military draft, or risk execution. He chose instead to run — fleeing to Australia via Jordan and Kuala Lumpur. He endured 10 months in a Western Australian immigration centre before being released to take up a position at Mildura Base Public Hospital, Victoria, where he began building one of Australia’s most substantial orthopaedic careers.

Professor Al Muderis has developed particular depth in hip and knee arthroplasty — including complex primary and revision joint replacement — and in limb reconstruction. He performs minimally invasive anterior hip replacement, robotic-assisted knee replacement, and complex revision procedures for patients who have had prior failed joint replacements elsewhere. He uses patient-specific instrumentation and 3D modelling across all sub-specialties.

In osseointegration, Professor Al Muderis developed both the single-stage OGAAP-2 surgical protocol and the Osseointegrated Prosthetic Limb (OPL) titanium implant — a system that attaches a prosthetic limb directly to the skeleton, offering significant advantages over traditional socket prosthetics for people with limb loss. He has performed osseointegration surgery in more than 1,200 patients and holds the only AOA-accredited fellowship training program in osseointegration surgery in Australia. His doctoral thesis, awarded by the University of Notre Dame in 2022, consolidated over a decade of research in this field.

Professor Al Muderis is a Clinical Professor at Macquarie University and Adjunct Clinical Professor at the University of Notre Dame Australia. He is founder of the Osseointegration Group of Australia, a not-for-profit organisation supporting amputees. He holds appointments at the Paley Orthopedic & Spine Institute in West Palm Beach, Florida — one of the world’s foremost limb reconstruction centres — and at Burjeel Medical City in Abu Dhabi, where he founded the Al Muderis Osseointegration Clinic, serving patients across the Middle East region. He consults and operates internationally while maintaining his Sydney practice. He has authored more than 65 peer-reviewed publications in international journals and holds multiple international patents in implant design.

His career has been recognised with the NSW Australian of the Year award (2020), GQ Man of the Year 2019 (Social Force Award), the Rotary International Vocational Excellence Award (2019), the Asia Game Changers Award (New York, 2018), and a nomination for the Fred Hollows Humanitarian of the Year Award (2021). He has been received in royal audience with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Harry.

Areas of Expertise

Hip: Minimally invasive anterior hip replacement, complex primary hip replacement, complex revision hip replacement, hip resurfacing, hip arthroscopy
Knee: Robotic total knee replacement, unicompartmental knee replacement, complex revision TKR, knee arthroscopy, ACL reconstruction, meniscus repair, high tibial osteotomy, MPFL reconstruction, patellar malalignment surgery
Revision joint replacement: Complex revision surgery for previously failed hip and knee replacements, including cases declined elsewhere
Limb reconstruction: Limb lengthening, stature lengthening, limb realignment (osteotomy), complex bone reconstruction, orthopaedic tumour surgery and megaprosthesis, tendon transfer
Osseointegration: Single-stage OGAAP-2 surgical protocol and OPL titanium implant for above- and below-knee amputees
Patient-specific instrumentation & 3D printing across all sub-specialties

Qualifications & Training

MBChB (Baghdad University)
FRACS (Orthopaedic Surgery)
FAOrthA (Fellowship of the Australian Orthopaedic Association)
GCertSpMed (Graduate Certificate in Sports Medicine, UNSW)
DMedSc (Doctor of Medical Science, University of Notre Dame, 2022)
Clinical Professor, Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, Macquarie University
Adjunct Clinical Professor, School of Medicine, University of Notre Dame Australia

Hospital Affiliations

Macquarie University Hospital, Sydney
East Sydney Private Hospital, Sydney
Norwest Private Hospital, Sydney
Paley Orthopedic & Spine Institute, St Mary’s Medical Centre, West Palm Beach, Florida, USA
Paley European Institute, Warsaw, Poland
Burjeel Medical City, Abu Dhabi — Al Muderis Osseointegration Clinic

Research & Publications

Professor Al Muderis has authored more than 65 peer-reviewed publications in international journals including the BMJ, Bone & Joint Journal, and Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery, spanning hip and knee arthroplasty, limb reconstruction, and osseointegration. He has been invited to present at more than 100 national and international conferences.

Selected publications:

Al Muderis M, Lu W, Li JJ, et al. Single-stage osseointegrated reconstruction and rehabilitation of lower limb amputees: the OGAAP-2 protocol. BMJ Open. 2017;7(3):e013508.
Hoellwarth JS, Tetsworth K, Kendrew J, et al. Periprosthetic osseointegration fractures are infrequent and management is familiar. Bone & Joint Journal. 2020;102B(2):162–169.
Al Muderis M, Khemka A, Lord SJ, et al. Safety of osseointegrated implants for transfemoral amputees. Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery Am. 2016;98(11):900–909.
Al Muderis M, Tetsworth K, Khemka A, et al. The Osseointegration Group of Australia Accelerated Protocol (OGAAP-1) for two-stage osseointegrated reconstruction. Bone & Joint Journal. 2016;98(7):952–960.

Full publication list: Google Scholar ↗

Books

Walking Free (2014) — an autobiographical account of his journey from Saddam Hussein’s Iraq to Australia, and his career as a pioneering orthopaedic surgeon.
Going Back (2019) — his return to Iraq more than two decades after he fled, documenting both his country of origin and his continuing medical work there.
Aussie STEM Stars: Munjed Al Muderis (2020) — a children’s book about his journey from refugee to surgical innovator.

Awards & Recognition

Fred Hollows Award — Humanitarian of the Year nomination, 2021
NSW Australian of the Year, 2020 — “Munjed exemplifies the valuable and positive contribution that refugees can make — leading by example what it means to be Australian.”
Rotary International Vocational Excellence Award, 2019
GQ Man of the Year 2019 — Social Force Award
Asia Game Changers Award, 2018 — “For courage that led to his freedom — and then groundbreaking work to give patients new hope.”
Australian of the Year nominations, 2015 and 2016

Humanitarian Work

Professor Al Muderis is a dedicated humanitarian committed to using his skills to help those who have fallen victim to war and human rights abuses. He is the founder of the Osseointegration Group of Australia, a not-for-profit organisation that provides support to amputees, and regularly returns to conflict-affected regions to provide surgical care and training.