Passionate about global awareness

Professor Trevor Gibbs, director of the educational development unit at Cape Town University's faculty of health sciences, wants to be a medical student again, graduating with a medical degree from the international trio of Liverpool, Kiev, and Cape Town universities. It's a dream that reflects his desire to shape the future of medical education to produce the most resourceful, globally aware, and open minded doctors through the exchange of students between vastly different countries. It's also a dream he is putting into action through his involvement in the embryonic International Networked Medical School (INMedS), a virtual health university uniting people from different countries.

“We've been so isolationist in the past, and now it's important for both doctors and medical students to realise that medicine isn't just about working in the UK or their country of graduation. It's great to share ideas, methods and experiences to get the most out of everything,” he says. “You have to realise that not everybody has the same opportunities or standard of living as you, and if you can understand that, particularly as a medical student, you'll have a better perspective of life and possibly, be …