A LETTER FROM THE EDITOR:

Thanks for
the memories

We explore the heritage of the College in my final issue – the perfect time to consider changes over the years, says Roger Currie

Welcome to my final edition of Surgeons’ News. As I reflect on my 15 issues as Editor, it brings to mind a number of the events that occurred during my tenure. There was a second wave of a global pandemic, a worldwide vaccination programme, followed by a recovery and then the ‘new normal’. Surgery is still recovering from the impact of the pandemic; some specialties and geographical areas are ahead of others. Innovation with high-impact clinics and operating lists have been adapted and adopted by many specialties with impressive results, but we still have more work to do to fully recover.

I recall that when I was first approached for this role in 2020, I did not feel I had the skillset to produce Surgeons’ News to the quality of my predecessors. Hopefully I have delivered an interesting and quality magazine in my tenure with the support of the in-house team, notably Terri Borthwick, and our publishing team at Think headed by John Innes.

As we move to a new Editor, Emma Stapleton, and a new publishing house with a focused pivot to digital content, we will see a big change in Surgeons’ News and I wish the new team well.

Chance introduction brings us many opportunities in life. This is how one of the articles in this issue and the front cover evolved. My colleague and friend Jeff Downie met Philip Ferguson Jones on a beach on the Isle of Mull. This led to him illustrating the Facial Aesthetics Course run annually here at the College. From that followed an enquiry about an article for Surgeons’ News and the role of the medical artist. You can read the resulting feature highlighting the work of Philip and his colleagues in this issue.

As the main theme of this edition is ‘Heritage’, I was delighted that we could illustrate both old and new on the front cover, illustrating that some things evolve but still don’t change. I was delighted to sit down with Chanté St Clair Inglis to welcome her to the College as Director of Heritage and Estates, and to get her take on our heritage and estates portfolio and how she plans to move this forward over the coming years.

We also pick up on the theme of tackling sexual misconduct, which has evolved from the pioneering College #LetsRemoveIt campaign originally launched back in 2017. The piece by Vice-President Clare McNaught illustrates how we all have a duty to recognise and call out this inappropriate behaviour in the workplace, making for a significantly improved working environment. 

With a very informative dental section and our usual regular features, I hope this gives all readers something for consideration.

Finally, it would be remiss of me not to thank Professor Rowan Parks for his very kind words within his piece and I hope that my time as Editor of Surgeons’ News has given all Fellows and Members a product that is informative, enjoyable and a unique Member benefit.

Roger Currie

surgeonsnews@rcsed.ac.uk