Maltese surgeon Marcel Gatt has been awarded the most prestigious surgical honour in the UK – the coveted Moynihan Prize. This accolade was presented to Mr Gatt by the president of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland (ASGBI) in recognition of his research, which has wide implications for the treatment and improved survival of surgical and critically ill patients alike.

The research forms part of Mr Gatt’s ongoing specialisation and research initiative focusing on intestinal failure – the inability of the gut to function properly. This is a poorly recognised, albeit common condition found in many surgical and critically ill patients. A novel treatment was developed and administered to patients, and shown to expedite the return of normal gut function, concomitantly decreasing infection rates and bettering clinical outcomes.

When asked whether he entertains the idea of eventually coming back to work in Malta, Mr Gatt replied that it would be his wish to do so but this would depend on the conditions he were to be offered.

The Moynihan Prize is named after Professor Sir Berkeley George Andrew Moynihan (1865-1936), himself born in Malta, and is awarded for the best clinical research of the year. Nine papers are selected for presentation at ASGBI’s annual meeting from around 2,000 submissions from around the world.

This prize came a few months after Mr Gatt was awarded an MRCS ad eundem degree by the Royal College of Surgeons of England for contributing time and effort to matters of the college and as recognition of his pioneering work in surgery. Mr Gatt was also one of a team of surgeons awarded the same Moynihan Prize in 2005. He also won the Leeds Regional Surgical Prize in 2004 and in 2005.