Gillingham Fellowship Experience:
Dr. Arturo Santos

Definitely, being a recipient of the Gillingham Pan-American Scholarship (1995) had a very significant impact on my professional development. This award gave me the opportunity to have been considered and admitted to one of the best training programs in medical and surgical retina of the world, since the prestige of the sponsors of the scholarship is considered very important by the corresponding admissions committees. It is worth saying that the financial support associated with this scholarship provides the necessary resources for a stay abroad. 

Personally, having obtained this recognition has given me great satisfaction not only in the professional field but also in my personal life as well. Having had the opportunity to meet and learn from great teachers and leaders in the area, allowed me to develop skills that have been very useful throughout my professional life. I learned different approaches to generate innovative proposals to problems with a multidisciplinary perspective and I acquired skills that have allowed me to engage in translational research to generate a relevant scientific and social impact. Daily living with colleagues of various nationalities and different ways of thinking enriched my thinking and gained friendships that are still an important part of my life today. Thanks to this experience I incurred in various areas such as technology-based venture and the generation and application of quality management models, resulting in generation of patents, products applied in ophthalmology and several awards such as the Ibero-American Quality Award.

I understood that continuous learning within academic communities is an integral part of the professional life of all doctors, as well as being part of high-level human capital formation. This experience was reflected years later by being founder of an Institute of Research in Ophthalmology and Visual Science and two high specialty programs in Medical and Surgical Retina institutions of higher education.

I hope that the description of my experience as a recipient of the Gillingham Fellowship can serve as a motivation to many young ophthalmologists in training, to participate in the selection process and get a formal clinical training in an internationally renowned institution so that, once they return to their country of origin, they can generate a relevant impact in the area of Ophthalmology, in his community and in his professional and personal life.

Dr. Arturo Santos
Medical & Surgical Retina Specialist
Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico