A huge thank you to the Flinders University Surgical Society (FUSS) to holding a Charity Cocktail Night to raise funds for SWB. SWB’s Paul Anderson spoke at the event, sharing the amazing story of how he founded SWB and what it means to contribute to sustainable development. A special thank you goes to Charlotte Velik, Community Director at FUSS, for letting SWB be apart of such a wonderful event!
Without the support of organisations like FUSS we wouldn’t be able to what we do.

SWB were recently the grateful recipient of a donation from the MD Conference recently held in Melbourne.

SWB founder and chairman Dr Paul Anderson spoke at the conference and was joined on stage by his son Jordan for an informative and entertaining session titled ‘Breaking Boundaries: The Story Behind Specialists Without Borders’.

Dr Paul Anderson with his son Jordan Anderson on stage at the MD Conference.

Photo credit: 2016 MD Conference

Here at SWB we get lots of questions about who attends our programs. We thought it was time to give you an in depth look at some of our program participants. The following interview was conducted last month when the team was in Blantyre, Malawi.

Munashe and Daisy are final year medical students at the University of Malawi and completing their surgical rotation at the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre. On their final day of SWB’s four-day seminar I sat down with this pair of wonderful students to find out about their motivations, fears and plans for the future.

I was afforded the wonderful opportunity to undertake the teaching tour of Malawi (Blantyre) and Zimbabwe (Harare) in 2016. When the call went out for Paediatric Surgery and Orthopaedics, I wondered both why I had been contacted and what I could potentially offer. Modern surgical care is as much about updating procedures and developing intricate new techniques as it is about preparing complex patients for surgery and managing their “medical” needs post operatively. In this vein I was invited to support teaching on areas such as peri-operative fluid management, pre-operative preparation, particularly with regard to hypertension management and renal care around surgery. The opportunity to teach in my area of expertise in preeclampsia (hypertension in pregnancy) was also afforded.

SWB has rectently received a generous donation from SSSM, who donated the proceeds of their annual charity calendar. SSSM’s 2016 charity calendar featured Royal Melbourne Hospital consultants dressed as their super hero alter egos.

Thank you to everyone at SSSM for this valuable contribution to SWB, we are so grateful for your support!

SSSM’s James May and SWB’s Kate Drummond and Georgia Ramsay

If you are a medical student with an interest in Global Health and would like to join the SWB team in late August in Malawi and Zimbabwe we want to hear from you.

Tentative dates for departure are August 27th/28th with teaching beginning August 29th. The program will conclude on September 10th in Zimbabwe.

Applications will close on Tuesday May 31st.

Complete the application form to be considered.

If you have any questions regarding the application process please contact swbstudentliaison@gmail.com

Are you a medical student with a passion for global health?
Applications to become a member of the SWB on this year’s trip will be opening soon.
If you are organised, able to problem solve and are dedicated to sustainable development in resource poor settings we want to hear from you.

Yang was one of the medical students selected to join the team on the 2015 trip.
He had the following to say about his experience

Dr Katherine Edyvane, SWB’s first life member, whom is sadly missed by our team and many others was remembered in the West Australian Newspaper earlier this year.

You can view the obituary here

Access to this content is kindly provided by the West Australian and is not to be reproduced without their permission.

© WEST AUSTRALIAN NEWSPAPERS LIMITED

SWB recently received a generous donation from the Rotary Club of Seymour.

A/Prof Kate Drummond spoke to the group about her work as a neurosurgeon as a member of the SWB team.

We extend our sincere gratitude for this donation which will assist SWB in delivering quality medical education in low resource settings.

A/Prof Kate Drummond with Rotary members Carmel Warren and Ray Brown