George Murrell is Director of the Orthopaedic Research Institute at St George Hospital and Professor at the UNSW. He graduated from Adelaide University and was the 1984 South Australian Rhodes Scholar. At Oxford he gained blues in athletics, completed a DPhil (PhD) and was awarded the Royal College of Surgeons Arris and Gale medal. He then spent a year in Cambridge teaching and rowing before completing his orthopaedic training at Duke University, USA. During a two year fellowship in sports medicine, shoulder surgery and research at the Hospital for Special Surgery, New York he gained a National Institutes of Health First Award, and an American Orthopaedic Association North American Travelling Fellowship.

Professor Murrell specialises in shoulder surgery and has a special interest in arthroscopic methods to repair and restore damaged ligaments and tendons. His team has won over 30 awards for their work and his fellowship program attracts surgeons and patients from around the world.