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Miroslaw (Mirek) Vitali, OBE (October 5, 1914 – February 19, 1992) was a physician specialising in the treatment and care of amputees. He was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1986 in recognition of his outstanding work helping British servicemen who lost limbs in World War II. Born to Polish parents in Uman in the Russian Empire (now Ukraine), he completed studies at the Medical University of Warsaw in 1939. Taken prisoner during the German offensive in September, 1939, he escaped and returned to Warsaw, where he became active in the underground movement while working in the orthopaedic department of the Red Cross hospital. During the 1944 Warsaw Rising he managed a field hospital. After seven months as prisoner of war in Stalag IV-B he made his way to England via the Polish II Corps in Italy. Shortly after he was demobilised in 1948, Vitali was appointed orthopaedic registrar at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Roehampton and commenced his lifelong work with amputees and developing improved artificial limbs. Vitali was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1963. In 1968 he became principal medical officer for prosthetic research at the hospital. After his retirement in 1979 he continued as a consultant for Queen Mary’s Hospital, Westminster Hospital and the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital. On behalf of the British Council he travelled all over the world, giving lectures and instructional courses to help improve the quality of prosthetic care and fitting of artificial limbs in many countries. He was trustee and adviser for the Douglas Bader Centre at Queen Mary’s Hospital. In the 1980s, the Polish government awarded him the Order of Polonia Restituta in recognition of his work with prosthetics, and the Cross of Valour for his bravery in the Warsaw Rising. Vitali Close was laid out between 2010 and 2013 on land formerly occupied by the hospital.
