Cambridge Ophthalmology Student Society

09/08/2025

Cambridge Ophthalmology Student Society (COSS) Duke Elder Series is back for 4 final sessions this August/September!

We’ve carefully reviewed your feedback from the June sessions and tailored these upcoming talks to focus on areas students found most challenging. Whether you're refining your knowledge or catching up, these sessions are high-yield, focused, and timed perfectly ahead of the exam.

SIGN UP LINK: https://forms.gle/U9rxTdNfwF3fvEcZ7

Session 5: Neuro-ophthalmology
🗓 Thursday 14th August | 🕕 6:00–7:00 PM
🎙 Speaker: Dr Felyx Wong
Session 6: Refractive Errors & Optics
🗓 Wednesday 20th August | 🕔 5:15–6:00 PM
🎙 Speaker: Sarah Farrell (Optometrist)
Session 7: Uveitis & Systemic Disorders
🗓 Monday 25th August | 🕔 5:15–6:00 PM
🎙 Speaker: Dr Erika Damato
Session 8: Final Tips, Tricks & Past Paper Practice
🗓 Monday 1st September | 🕕 6:00–7:00 PM
🎙 Speakers: Dr Henry Rocha

14/06/2025

👁️‍🗨️ Hey everyone!
COSS is excited to bring back the Duke Elder Lecture Series 2025 — perfect for med students in Years 3–5!

This summer, we’ve got 8 high-yield online lectures to help you prep for the Duke Elder exam. Whether you’re just starting or brushing up, these talks will give you a solid, structured overview of key ophthalmology topics.

📅 June sessions:
🟣 Mon 16 Jun, 6pm – Intro to Duke Elder
🔵 Wed 18 Jun, 7pm – Glaucoma
🟢 Mon 23 Jun, 1pm – Paediatric Ophthalmology
🟠 Wed 25 Jun, 5:15pm – Cataract, Cornea & External Eye

🗓 August sessions coming soon!
📍 All on Zoom/Teams.
👉 Register here to get the links: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1FDTHWJXoVppvZI3MGf13FK5h3qESAIETaYMKo1hpjQw/viewform?ts=68449105&edit_requested=true

Hope to see you there! 😊
– COSS

23/01/2025

Talk 3 of the Portfolio Series is happening on 1st February at 8pm on Zoom!

Sign up via the google form: https://forms.gle/JH6uGEfigsrnjL1t7

Dr Arun Thirunavukarasu's talk titled "Setting up to Succeed in Ophthalmology" will talk about how to approach career planning as a medical student and foundation doctor; how to maximise scores in the MSRA, portfolio, and interview; and his current plans for optimising the experience of speciality training. He will also talk about clinical academic career pathway and how this can tie in well with ophthalmology.

He is an Academic Foundation Doctor and Clinical Fellow at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and University of Oxford. He read medicine with Distinction and neuroscience with Double-First Class Honours at University of Cambridge, graduating as a Scholar of Corpus Christi College. He then won an Academic Foundation Programme post at University of Oxford as first-ranked candidate nationally. He is an active researcher with 50+ international presentations and peer-reviewed publications, and his work has been cited over 2,500 times.

03/01/2025

Talk 2 of the COSS Ophthalmology Portfolio Series will be on 14th January at 6:30pm

Our speaker lineup spans FY2 to consultancy and we hope this series will help provide prospective applicants with useful tips to ace the portfolio!

Miss Louise Allen has been a consultant ophthalmic surgeon at Addenbrookes for 24 years. She is primarily a paediatric ophthalmologist and spent two years researching genetic eye disease for her MD thesis. Her talk will discuss innovation in ophthalmology and the value of doing so to maintain interest throughout a long career!

Sign up via this google form to receive the Zoom link:
https://forms.gle/HevEHHCQXqw15ZHm7

28/11/2024

COSS are excited to announce a 4 part Ophthalmology Portfolio Series running through December to February.

Our speaker lineup spans FY2 to consultancy and we hope this series will help provide prospective applicants with useful tips to ace the portfolio!

First talk is on the 13th December at 6pm. Dr Wong is a recent graduate of Queen Mary University of London, and is currently training in the Cambridge Deanery as an ophthalmology trainee. He will be giving us his insights into transitioning from FY to Ophthalmology, reflections on his ST1 experience so far, and tips for building a standout portfolio

Sign up via this google form to receive the Zoom link:
https://forms.gle/ousDfiwzznQvXdLR6

31/10/2024

Reminder to sign up to the Ophthalmology Electives Talk happening next Thursday 6:30pm

Sign up via this google form to receive the zoom link to your email!
https://forms.gle/j56c8CYGEgcqXr27A

24/10/2024

Ophthalmology Electives Talk

Hear from 3 speakers who undertook electives across USA, UK, Japan, Hawaii and more!

Dr George Lui is currently an FY2 and undertook his elective across Japan, Hawaii and the US - his talk is titled ’12 cities in 8 weeks: How to plan your dream elective’

Karan Gupta is a 6th year medic who will speak about his experience at Cleveland Clinic USA and Nottingham Cornea, UK.

Jen Lim is a 6th-year medic who undertook a summer elective at Moorfields Eye Hospital, London

Sign up via this google form to receive the zoom link to your email!

https://forms.gle/j56c8CYGEgcqXr27A

18/08/2024

*Cambridge Ophthalmology Student Society*

👁️🚨COMMITTEE APPLICATIONS OPEN FOR 2024/2025 👁️🚨

We are looking for a new committee for the new academic year - please use the attached Google Form below to apply!

If you’re interested in a career in Ophthalmology, being on the committee is a great way to explore the specialty and for portfolio purposes. This coming academic year, we are collaborating with over 10 other medical schools across the UK, creating a National Ophthalmology Teaching Series (NOTS) - this will run throughout the year.

We aim to spread interest, run some exciting events this year and we would love for you to be involved!

Deadline: Sunday 1st September (Midnight)

For any questions, please contact Henry Rocha (hr430@cam.ac.uk)

Please use the form below to apply to be on the Cambridge Ophthalmology Student Society Committee for the academic year 2024-2025. Applicants should be medical students at the University of Cambridge; applications from all years are welcome. Deadline for application: MIDNIGHT SUNDAY 1ST SEPTEMBER Ro...

06/08/2024

Project Opportunity:

The UK National Eye Health and Hearing Study (UKNEHS) is the first population-based study of its kind in the UK (Chief Investigator: Prof Rupert Bourne). The pilot study for this is taking place in Cambridgeshire & Peterborough from September to December this year. Results from this pilot will be used to inform a multi-million pound national study.
The UKNEHS study team is looking for interested CUH medical students to take part in the community-based fieldwork associated with the study as we interview and take sensory measurements of 750 people aged 50+ in randomly selected but clustered households. There is a door-to-door component working with a field team and a ’clinic-based’ component, where research participants are examined in a local community centre close to their homes.
We are seeking interested medical students with an outgoing personality who could work with us in or outside of office hours and in return we will involve students in the analysis and inclusion in peer-reviewed articles that ensue. We have been advised that 4th, 5th or early 6th year students would be ideal. We will aim to provide transport and GCP-training. This would be an ideal opportunity for students to experience public health/community-based research involving state-of-the-art diagnostic techniques and data handling. It is supported by a very large stakeholder group across the UK, with international (eg. WHO) support.

If you are interested, please contact Fengyi Liu (fl418@cam.ac.uk)

15/05/2024

👁☂️Essay Prize Opportunity!

UK medical students with interests in ophthalmology, neurology, or psychiatry – consider entering the Esme’s Umbrella Essay Prize 2024!

Esme’s Umbrella is an ophthalmology charity which supports people who are living with Charles Bonnet syndrome. This year, we are offering an essay prize to UK medical students in all years of study. The deadline to enter this national prize is 2nd August 2024. Consider entering for the chance to win £300!

Please follow this link for more information, including how to enter: https://tinyurl.com/CBS-Essay-Prize-2024. We look forward to reading your entries!

28/03/2024

👁️ Teaching on behalf of Oxford Medical Student Ophthalmological Society:

“We are carrying out some fundoscopy teaching to undergraduate fifth year students in Oxford, covering common Ophthalmic conditions, and how to diagnose them on fundoscopy, as well as some OSCE tips.”

The meeting will be happening on Thursday the 28th of March at 5PM. The link for this is:

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_MGYwZTFkYjUtMGJiOS00MDcyLTg4MDMtNWI2ODQ5NzA4MGI0%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22cc95de1b-97f5-4f93-b4ba-fe68b852cf91%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22627db684-4a13-4026-9136-9a1512df51fd%22%7d

If any Cambridge students are interested in joining, they are more than welcome to!

18/03/2024

👁Ophthalmology for Exams: final talk!👁

Join us for our third and final talk: Ophthalmology OSCE station on 20th March at 6pm!

Sign-up link: https://forms.gle/EaCr4VMn7THyWcVK8

Our speaker will be Dr Mihai Bica, Ophthalmology Registrar who previously ranked first place in the national Duke Elder exam. He will be taking us through what an ophthalmic OSCE station may entail, which will be useful for clinical exams!

Certificates will be emailed to attendees who attend 3 talks, which will be a great way to show your interest in the specialty!
We look forward to seeing you there! 🩺