Frank Green

Frank Green was a man of high energy, who for much of his life devoted his skills to humanitarian work. He was born in Finchley, London. He studied medicine at the University of Glasgow, graduating in 1974, and after a year working in Glasgow, he took a job in New Zealand. It was there that he became attracted to ophthalmology as a career, but his time in New Zealand was cut short by his mother’s illness in 1976. After her death in 1977, Frank decided to remain in Scotland and after initially training in general medicine (MRCP 1978), he continued his training in the Glasgow ophthalmology rotation directed by Professor Wallace Foulds. In 1984 he was invited to join the ophthalmology department at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary as a consultant. ARI was also the clinical arm of the academic department of ophthalmology at the University of Aberdeen under its first professor, John V Forrester. Frank’s contribution to the reorganisation and rejuvenation of an ailing ophthalmology service at that time was central to its growth and development over time. Essential innovations included intraocular lens implantation for cataract surgery, laser therapy for diabetic retinopathy, modern glaucoma management, and vitreoretinal surgery. Frank also took great interest in training junior doctors and in offering career advice. Frank remained based at Aberdeen eye department until his retirement in 2011.

In 1990 Frank responded to an invitation from the Christian Medical Fellowship, a charitable organisation supporting doctors in promoting Christian values, which was seeking an ophthalmologist to provide eye care for Karen refugees in Myanmar. While much publicity has been given to the ethnic cleansing of the Muslim Rohingya refugees on Myanmar’s western border, little is known about the similar treatment of the historically Christian tribes, the Karen, the Karenni, and other ethnic populations in the east …