Angus Wallace

William Angus Wallace (born 31 October 1948) is a British orthopaedic surgeon. He is Professor of Orthopaedic and Accident Surgery at the Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences of the University of Nottingham. He came to widespread public notice for a life-saving surgery he performed using improvised equipment on a British Airways flight in 1995, and for treating Wayne Rooney before the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Wallace grew up near Dundee, Scotland. He attended the High School of Dundee and the University of St Andrews.

In 1989, he treated a number of victims of the Kegworth air disaster, in which a British Midland flight crashed onto the embankment of the M1 motorway, and conducted further investigations into injuries sustained in the crash. Following a half-decade of research, he concluded that passengers failed to adopt the brace position correctly, resulting in many injuries; his research team's suggestion of a different brace position had been adopted by all UK airlines by 1999.

By 1995, Wallace had already achieved the respect of the medical community for his work in orthopaedic surgery, but he came to wider public attention that year when he and fellow doctor Tom Wong performed a mid-air surgery to save a woman's life. While British Airways Flight 032 from Hong Kong to London was still on the ground, Wallace and Wong briefly examined a fellow passenger complaining of arm pains. She stated she had fallen from a "bike", by which Wallace assumed she meant a bicycle. They concluded she had a fractured bone in her arm, and after takeoff returned to apply a splint. However, in the flight's second hour, the passenger further complained of chest pain. It emerged that she had not merely fallen from a bicycle but had been flung to the ground while riding on a motorcycle which collided with a car; Wallace suspected she had previously concealed the extent of her injuries so as to avoid being taken off the flight.

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