Helping hand: The recipients of this year's Jeffery and Partners Travelling Fellowship were Drs Christos Apostolou (third from left) and Doug Stupart (fourth from left). In picture were (from left) Prof Del Kahn, Dr Aaron Ndluni, Dr Peter Jeffery and Dr Bob Baigrie.

Several UCT registrars have been fortunate to benefit from the Jeffery and Partners Travelling Fellowship, established several years ago to allow senior surgery registrars to visit leading international surgical centres. The programme's aim is to expose candidates to expertise not readily available locally.

It's a very competitive process and thanks to the generosity of the Jeffery practice, the Department of Surgery was able to choose two participants this year: Drs Christos Apostolou and Douglas Stupart.

Stupart visited the Vrije Universiteit Medical Centre in Amsterdam, where he worked in the hepatogastroenterology unit under Professor Chris Mulder's supervision, as well as in the gastrointestinal surgery unit under Professor Miguel Cuestas. The main aim there was to improve his colonoscopic skills, learn about small bowel enteroscopy, how to perform endo-anal ultrasound and to observe and assist in laparoscopic colorectal surgery.

Apostolou visited the surgery department at the Royal Perth Hospital, headed by Steve Archer. Archer has a special interest in surgical oncology. Apostolou also spent time at the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney with Dr Tom Hugh, head of the hepatobiliary unit. He gained valuable exposure to complex hepatobiliary and gastrointestinal surgical problems.

Stupart and Apostolou have returned to junior consultant positions in the colorectal and hepatobiliary units, respectively, in the Division of General Surgery at Groote Schuur Hospital.