Medical Volunteering Opportunities

For nearly 40 years, the keystone of our work has been to teach and train eye health professionals to prevent and treat avoidable blindness.

Our global cadre of volunteer medical professionals is made up of a diverse pool of experts covering every subspecialty of ophthalmology – including nursing, anesthesiology, biomedical engineering and ophthalmic technicians – from over 30 countries around the globe.

Following academic tradition, we proudly refer to our network of selfless and dedicated volunteer teachers and trainers as Orbis Volunteer Faculty.

We're also incredibly proud to say nearly 20% of these volunteers are Canadian!

Our Volunteer Faculty provide specialized instruction, training, and skills-transfer both online and in-person.

All volunteers are matched in accordance with requested subspecialty skill areas. When asked to volunteer aboard the Flying Eye Hospital or abroad at a local partner institution, typical activities will include diagnostic patient consultation and/or instruction, simulated or surgical demonstration, as well as delivery of educational content in large or small group settings.

All in-person training programs are designed with specific objectives to achieve desired competency outcomes for our projects and partnerships.

We seek individuals who thrive in a team environment and can share their skills and talents with comfort and confidence. Being a great teacher and mentor is a key attribute of all our Volunteer Faculty.

Travel distance, language skills, and cultural familiarity are also taken into consideration when matching volunteers with deployment opportunities.

Due to the ongoing pandemic, we are not actively deploying Volunteer Faculty at the moment.

In the interim, we invite you to complete our short registration form.

Once we're able to safely resume clinical training aboard the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital and with partner institutions around the world, we will contact you to complete our Volunteer Faculty credentialing process.

Unfortunately, we don't have opportunities for medical students to volunteer in a medical capacity at this time. But, that doesn't mean you can't support Orbis and make a real difference in the fight to end avoidable blindness right now.

In fact, we've created a new Canada-wide initiative just for students and recent grads with a passion for eye health and a burning desire to help those in need.

The Orbis Future Vision Leaders is a collective of university and medical students, ophthalmology postgraduate trainees, and alumni from across Canada who are passionate about eye health, global health, and international development. The goal of the Orbis Future Vision Leaders is to create an engaged and inspired community of students and recent graduates who want to network, learn, share and exchange ideas – all while building awareness and raising funds to support Orbis’s sight-saving work around the world.

Even if you aren't eligible to join our Volunteer Faculty at this moment, or you're not interested in joining the Orbis Future Vision Leaders, you can stay in touch by signing up for our newsletter below or donating here.