Razvan Untu – Grant Placement – Instituto de Oftalmologia Dr. Gama Pinto, Lisbon

I chose this Institute because it is one of the top Ophthalmological Training Centers in Europe and I couldn`t have made a better option.The only unfortunate thing was that I could only stay for 3 weeks and had to adjust my rotation interests because of that.

First of all,I would like to thank Prof.  Antonio Castanheira Dinis for answering my email and allowing me to come to Instituto de Oftalmologia Dr. Gama Pinto and for also showing me how ophthalmology being done in a private practice.

I felt warmly welcomed and right at home here, by all of the Institute staff, starting with the Director of the Institute(Dr. Luisa Coutinho Santos) and ending with the secretary(Céu Costa) which was a great help for me, being a constant liaison between me and the Institute.

Furthermore, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Dr Victor Ágoas for guiding my Observership and fulfilling my every request regarding rotations according to my interests. Many thanks to the members of the Retina Department(Dr. Paulo Rosa , Dr. Sandra Barrão, Dr. Ana Fonseca, José Henriques), Cornea and Refractive Surgery (Dr. Hugo Nogueira, José Maia Seco), Glaucoma (Dr. Jorge Godinho) and also the Oculoplastics Department (Dr. Marta Villa Franca) who were all very patient in sharing their knowledge with me,  giving me many useful guidelines to take back home with me.  Also I want to thank them for giving me the opportunity to see different approaches and a different therapeutic management to some pathologies I rarely come across at my home hospital.

Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to the European Society of Ophthalmology, for awarding me this Grant which gave me an unique opportunity to visit one of the Europe`s best Ophthalmologic Training Centers.

I would highly recommend the Instituto de Oftalmologia Dr. Gama Pinto to the future Grant winners for improving their knowledge and professional skills in every field of ophthalmology. And let’s not forget the beautiful city of Lisbon that adds to that impression.

Kind regards,

Dr RazvanUntu