Mr Alastair Beaven graduated from Birmingham Medical School in 2006 and always knew he wanted to be an orthopaedic surgeon. During medical school he became interested in the military, joined the Officer Training Corps and was successfully awarded a medical cadetship in 2003 commissioning as a 2Lt.
After house jobs in Selly Oak Hospital he went to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 2008 whereafter he joined 16 Air Assault Brigade for his General Duties. Seduced by the hard work and dedication of airborne infantry he completed the All-Arms Regular Pre-parachute selection course run by Pegasus Company and passed the Basic Parachute course in 2010. He deployed to Afghanistan in 2010 with 3PARA battlegroup and ran a role 1 medical treatment facility in Helmand province.
He has been heavily involved with the Queen Elizabeth (QE) Hospital Birmingham and has worked there as a surgical core trainee, military registrar, major trauma registrar, clinical research fellow, and specialist orthopaedic registrar. He completed higher surgical training (Birmingham rotation) in 2023 and embarked upon a trauma fellowship at the John Radcliffe Major Trauma Centre in Oxford. He joined the Co-ordinating Trauma Clinician (CTC) rota at the QE in December 2022.
He left the Regular Army after 9 years of service in 2012 and joined the Reserve Army as a medical officer with 202 Field Hospital. During his time at 202 Major Beaven successfully led the operational shooting team to victory, commanded the Army Medical Services Tactical Training Exercise (AMSTTE) team, and was unit volleyball team captain. He has been second-in-command of Birmingham Detachment, deputy Officer Commanding clinical squadron, and assistant medical director. He has championed teaching of both Combat Medical Technicians (CMTs) and medical officers, and developed the Unit’s Forward Surgical Team capability.
Major Beaven has led the University of Birmingham’s Trauma Sciences MSc Conflict Trauma module since its inception in 2016, and took over leadership of the musculoskeletal module in 2019.
His research interests include trauma, major trauma, and military trauma; he has published works across many fields including orthopaedic trauma, military tourniquets, and blast injury. He also reviews papers for a variety of journals.
He is an advocate for parental equality and made use of shared parental leave to become primary carer for each of his two children when they were six-months old.