My story

The wonderful thing about the twelve year training course, from medical student to ophthalmologist, is the journey that it took me on. I got to meet and experience the company of wonderful people who would shape my career. I have always tried to transfer the passion and care that I learned from my teachers to the dealings that I have with my patients.

A highlight of my medical training in South Africa was the “Rural Tours” where I got to experience the delivery of health care to very remote and sometimes isolated communities. One trip involved a 1000km journey to a hospital on the edge of the great African plateau where some of the satellite clinics were accessible only by small aircraft. I sometimes find it hard to believe that the evenings were spent treating people who had been bitten by snakes or were suffering from tetanus. I realised then how little access people sometimes had to sight-restoring surgery and what a difference it would make to their lives.

 My Ophthalmology training was done in an Academic circuit which drained a vast and varied socio-economic population. The training was vigorous and broad, as I would be treating a patient with ocular leprosy in the morning, and another who had had a stroke in their eye from high cholesterol and hypertension in the afternoon. I valued the range and scope of the training, but more than that, I appreciated the dedication, commitment and humanity of my teachers and colleagues

 After finishing my training in SA I went to Edinburgh to write the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh exam as I felt that I would like to super specialise in the United Kingdom. I was awarded the Muthusamy Medal for the Most Distinguished Candidate in the exams. I have always felt that this honour was a direct reflection on the quality and depth of the knowledge of my colleagues and mentors who had taught me my profession.

 Soon after that I completed a Fellowship in Oculoplastics in Cardiff in Wales where I learned how to reconstruct and repair the delicate tissues around the eye. My training was supervised by Ms Carol Lane who demonstrates a personal work ethic I continually aspire to.

I used my newly acquired skill to help cofound the South African Society of Oculoplastic Surgeons which promotes the interest and development of Oculoplastic surgery.

In 2008  I moved to Australia with my wife and two young children and worked for Vision Eye Institute in the friendly town of Hervey Bay before moving to Melbourne.

 I am now part of the Vision Eye Institute in Melbourne where I work with with a fantastic cohesive team of superbly trained Ophthalmologists, whose attention and devotion to patient care is the basis of our creed. The team is led by Dr Reich whose humanity, decency and broad scope of clinical knowledge sets the tone of our practices.

Dr Levitz

The prestigious Certificate of Edinburgh Award