RSM events:

Images from Writing on the Edge: Tom Craig exhibition at the RSM

28 June - 31 August

Free entry

Open to the public Mon-Fri 9am-6pm

A photography exhibition by award-winning Sunday Times photographer Tom Craig is now on display at the Royal Society of Medicine. Taken from Craig's new book, Writing on the edge: great contemporary writers on the front line of crisis (published by Rizzoli), this exhibition displays the harrowing, moving images he took as he accompanied 14 contemporary British writers on their travels to foreign countries where they saw for themselves the challenges faced by the humanitarian charity Médicines Sans Frontiers.

Image from Writing on the Edge by Tom Craig

Writing on the Edge

In 2009-10 fourteen British writers travelled to fourteen countries to see for themselves the challenges facing the humanitarian charity Medécins Sans Frontières.

  • Martin Amis experienced first-hand the problems of gang violence in Colombia, South America
  • Tracy Chevalier focused on the abuse of women in Burundi, East Africa
  • Daniel Day-Lewis met children in Palestine
  • DBC Pierre learnt about the unusually high incidence of mental health problems in Armenia
  • AA Gill visited Chad, in West Africa
  • Sierra Leone's extraordinarily high incidence of mother and infant mortality had a huge impact on Minette Walters
  • Danny Boyle (director of Slumdog Millionaire) witnessed the suffering of citizens with drug-resistant tuberculosis in Uzbekistan
  • Hari Kunzru recorded the delivery of vital medicines and healthcare in the troubled area of Assam, India
  • Ali Smith went to Morocco
  • Michael Faber to Ukraine
  • Jim Crace to Cambodia
  • Joanne Harris to Congo-Brazzaville
  • Jon McGregor to Sudan-Nuba.

On their return to the UK, they wrote about their experiences for a book, Writing on the Edge. They were accompanied on their travels by the award-winning photographer Tom Craig, who captured these moving and often stark images.

In May 2010 the Royal Society of Medicine hosted an event at which Martin Amis, Tom Craig, Danny Boyle, AA Gill and Ali Smith spoke about the journeys they had been on. Marc DuBois, the director of MSF UK, also spoke at the RSM about the organisation's work.

If you would like to purchase Writing on the Edge (published by Rizzoli, 2010), it is available at www.amazon.co.uk and in all good bookshops.

Médecins Sans Frontières and the Royal Society of Medicine

Medécins Sans FrontièresMedécins Sans Frontières is an international medical humanitarian organisation that relies on the commitment of medical professionals with recent clinical experience and a genuine humanitarian impulse, and in particular welcomes contact with Members of the RSM who are medical doctors, epidemiologists, biomedical scientists, logisticians, anaesthetists, surgeons, pharmacists, mental health professionals, midwives, nurses and nutritionists.

At the moment MSF is particularly in need of obstetricians and paediatricians. French speakers are also highly in demand, to work in projects in Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, Chad and Haiti.

To find out how to apply for opportunities with MSF, and to read first-hand accounts by MSF doctors working in the field, visit www.msf.org.uk/work_overseas.aspx.

Many Members of the Royal Society of Medicine currently volunteer their expertise and time for MSF. The Society is delighted to be a supporter of MSF and will continue to work hard to find tangible ways invwhich the extraordinary work of MSF can be supported.

The Royal Society of Medicine and Global Health

The Royal Society of Medicine has recently launched a Global Health programme to complement superb meetings and initiatives by our Sections representing over 50 medical specialties. The Castastrophes & Conflict Forum has been a leading light in this area and welcomes RSM Members to attend their events and meetings.

The Society's Trustees and Academic Department are planning a major Global Health meeting to take place in Spring 2011, and discussions are taking place about additional initiatives.

The Development Office has hosted a series of medical innovation presentations about global health initiatives, including the 'Glostavent' - a portable self-powered anaesthetic machine; self-focusing glasses for use in the developing world; and the world's first fridge-free vaccine. For more information see our Innovations microsite for more details.

Regular Global Health briefings have been taking place. Recent speakers have included:

  • Lord Crisp on global health partnerships
  • Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP, Secretary of State for International Development
  • Jasmine Whitbread of Save the Children UK
  • Mark DuBois of Médecins Sans Frontières UK
  • Richard Dowden of the Royal African Society
  • Sir Nicholas Young of the British Red Cross

Speakers at future meetings include:

  • Sir John Holmes, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator
  • David Heymann, Global Health and Security, Chatham House.
Image from Writing on the Edge by Tom Craig Image from Writing on the Edge by Tom Craig Writing on the Edge