When people ask me what life in the laboratory is really like, I often pause. On one hand, it is the romantic notion of pushing back the boundaries of science with the daily rhythm of experiments, data and easily obtained...
“What’s the bleeding time?”“10 past 10 sir”. These are the famous lines uttered by Chief Surgeon Sir Lancelot Spratt (James Robertson Justice) and Medical Student Simon Sparrow (Dirk Bogarde) on a pre-op ward round at the fictional St Swithin’s Hospital,...
Sophie: Bye. Love you! Mark: I love you, too. (It’s okay, everyone says it. I say I love Häagen-Dazs and my broadband provider, and I like Sophie more than them. In most respects.) Yes, Valentine’s Day is fast approaching again...
As he retires from clinical practice, the author looks back on his long career in uveitis and how care of these patients has changed dramatically since his days as an undergraduate. My trainees and fellows are often bored by my...
The COVID-19 pandemic was one of the biggest challenges to face NHS workers. However, history has repeatedly shown that times of difficulty can result in the development of significant social and technological advances. We describe our own experience of this...
A few months ago, my eldest son got me interested in a Netflix series called “Better Call Saul”. This is a spin-off from another series called “Breaking Bad”, although I confess to not having seen any of those episodes as...
Ophthalmic imaging devices, such as corneal topographers, are not widespread in the developing world. A small device that connects to a smartphone might be a solution to improve developing nation access to corneal imaging. I recently had the opportunity to...
I recently had the pleasure to visit Vision Engineering’s headquarters and manufacturing facility in Woking, UK. Vision Engineering have built an international reputation for engineering microscopes that provide 3D visualisation without the use of traditional optical eyepieces. Although the company...
One small UK based charity is enabling pioneering research to prevent blindness in low and lower middle income countries. The British Council for Prevention of Blindness (BCPB), established in 1976, funds innovative research and training which seeds the development of...
Over the last few years, the mental and emotional wellbeing of those who work in medicine has come under scrutiny. The author introduces a new resource. Working in healthcare has always been stressful but never more so than today. In...