Dr Simon Courtman explains what motivates him to volunteer with the global charity who deliver eye care throughout the developing world

Opportunities in careers often present unexpectedly and not always for the reasons that others would expect. Orbis is a non-profit humanitarian organisation like many others that aims to transfer the skills and expertise of surgeons, anaesthetists and theatre staff from established healthcare systems to evolving and developing centres in countries challenged by resources and infrastructure. Its main stated objective is to eliminate preventable blindness worldwide.

I must be honest that I when was first approached with an offer of a week in Kingston, Jamaica, seven years ago, it struck me that I could quite happily provide my skills for a week. That first Orbis programme however was a revelation. The personal satisfaction is obvious but transient. What can you really achieve in one or two weeks?

Professor Hildo Azevedo-Filho, Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at Pernambuco University, talks to Mark Baillie about his experiences of training programmes around the world

Hildo Azevedo-Filho was born in Recife, Brazil, and qualified from the University of Pernambuco in 1969. His father and grandfather were both doctors, which perhaps explains his progression into medicine, but why did he pursue such a specialised and competitive specialty? “I have always been fascinated by the brain and I wanted to purse a challenging specialty,” he explains. “After learning about neuro physiology and neuro anatomy at medical school, I knew that I definitely wanted to pursue neurosurgery.”

Watching on the Heights is the museum’s contribution to the Lister Centenary

The Museum’s exhibition, due to open in February 2012, is an opportunity for the College to pull out many of the interesting items from the collections and explore some of the themes that dominated Lister’s life. We have many artefacts associated with the great man, from his letters to Sir William Watson Cheyne, to his personal surgical instruments.

The Lister Centenary is set to increase interest in the College’s museum and its extensive Lister collection. Chris Henry explains how the RCSEd’s heritage is being made more accessible to the general public 

It’s not often you get the chance to observe a project developing that results in a quantitative improvement in your working environment. I have been privileged, over the last year, to see how our strategic plans can come to fruition.