News and notices. Comm Eye Health Vol. 16 No. 47 2003. October 01, 2003

A warm welcome to Victoria and many thanks to Murray

After working as an ophthalmologist in Afghanistan, first in 1969 and 1970, then from 1975 to 1981, Dr Murray McGavin joined the International Centre of Eye Health in 1987 with the aim of creating a Resource Centre that would provide continuing education materials for ophthalmologists and eye workers in developing countries. This goal was realised in 1988 with the first issue of the Journal of Community Eye Health and two years later with the establishment of the International Resource Centre. After 15 years, the Resource Centre has grown and helped establish five Regional Resource Centres in Pakistan, India, South Africa, Tanzania and Colombia, and Murray has edited and produced 47 issues of the Journal of Community Eye Health which have been freely distributed to eye care professionals in more than 170 countries.

Murray has imbued his work with a lively sense of humour, warm personal qualities and a caring nature, which has endeared him to his team, colleagues, students and Journal correspondents through his years at the Resource Centre. It is, therefore, with thankfulness for his own personal vision of an International Resource Centre, and with appreciation for his dedication to producing a high quality, freely available Journal of Community Eye Health, that we say farewell to Murray as he returns to his beloved Scotland. We wish him happiness and fulfilment in his well deserved retirement.

We are very pleased to welcome Ms Victoria Francis as the new Editor of the Journal of Community Eye Health. Victoria worked first as a lecturer in Professional Communication for medical students in South Africa and then trained further in Health Education in London. She then worked in Zimbabwe before moving to England where in 1987 she joined with Erica Sutter and Allen Foster at ICEH to write ‘ Hanyane – A Village Struggles for Eye Health’. Subsequently, Victoria obtained a Masters in Social Research Methods and Statistics and worked on Trachoma in Kenya, co-produced The Healthy Eyes Activity Book for schoolchildren, as well as undertaking consultancies and publications relating to broader health issues, including Sexual and Reproductive Health. Victoria’s work has always focused on finding ways to bridge the communication gap between medical interventions and the community. It is a great privilege for all of us at ICEH to welcome Victoria as the new Editor of the Journal of Community Eye Health

News and notices in Comm Eye Health Vol. 16 No. 47 2003 –