I wanted to thank everyone for all the nice messages regarding my new position with ORBIS. It has been years in the making and wouldn't have been possible without the help of a few people at ORBIS including Roz Stevens, MD, a personal friend and a friend of the OPS.

To answer a few questions raised in previous emails. Since missions for the FEH are all outside the US, the plane is "parked" at a Federal Express facility during the year in either Dubai or Singapore. The Federal Express contribution is huge to say the least. Fed Ex gives a plane to ORBIS. In fact, the new MD10 is replacing the DC10 given to ORBIS by Fed Ex because in addition to donating the plane, Fed Ex services, fuels and allows the plane to park at their facilities as part of their support to ORBIS. The reason the current plane is being replaced is because Fed Ex is changing their fleet over to the MD10 and will no longer have parts for the DC10. In addition, Fed Ex and United pilots volunteer to fly the plane and since the DC10 will no longer be used, these pilots won't have the qualifying hours to fly them. 

Bill Anderson asked about the plane being in Dallas. Other than times when the plane goes on a goodwill tour in North America, the reason the plane goes to Dallas is because of the generous support Alcon gives to ORBIS. They supply the plane with not only all the ophthalmic consumables but also a wide range of their instrumentation. Both Alcon and Federal Express are very low key about their support to ORBIS but combined, they are the major contributors.

A few people asked about volunteering and doing ophthalmic imaging on the new plane. In the past, there wasn't any ophthalmic imaging done. Years ago Pat Saine devised a slit lamp and retinal imaging system for the plane but it was way before the complete transition to digital and hasn't been used in years. One of my proposals to ORBIS is that we create a Volunteer Faculty (VF) program for diagnostic imaging. I have had many people write and tell me they would enjoy going on an ORBIS mission and I promise to let everyone know should they decided to implement a VF diagnostic imaging program. 

Mark