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Dr. Garth Taylor is Chief of Ophthalmology at Cornwall General Hospital and Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at Queen’s University, Ontario, Canada. He is also a volunteer with ORBIS Canada– the flying Eye Clinic and CANSEE – Canadian Surgical Eye Expeditions.

ORBIS is an organisation which teaches and performs eye surgery around the world. The ORBIS Clinic utilises a plane with high-tech equipment to facilitate surgery of the highest quality. Currently the Vice President of ORBIS Canada, and Medical Director of the ORBIS flying eye hospital, Dr. Taylor completed 103 ORBIS Missions, which makes him the most travelled eye surgeon with perhaps the most impact across international borders. As a Co-founder and a Director of CANSEE, Dr. Taylor performs eye surgery in developing countries. He has performed over 3,000 surgical procedures with this programme. The experience gained with these two programmes has made Dr. Taylor a highly skilled doctor and teacher in the field of ophthalmology and he aids these organisations in their mission to “shrink the world ophthalmologically”.

Garth Taylor was born in Montego Bay, Jamaica on 29th April 1944. His parents were Winston Taylor - a master baker - and his mother Gwendolyn, a homemaker. At a young age he helped his father in the bakery, his typical day starting early in the morning, working in the bakery before he went to school. After school he also helped out in the bakery and then did his homework. His also found time to play with his friends and participate in football matches. He had a passion for the sea and was an avid swimmer and often went sailing and fishing in his own canoe.

He attended the St. James Boys’ Primary School. From the early age of 7 he knew he wanted to become a doctor. His mentor was his godfather, Dr. Herbert Morrison, who was a surgeon in Montego Bay. He would spend many hours in his godfather’s office as he treated patients and he nurtured Taylor’s medical ambitions. Dr. Morrison also cultivated his charitable spirit. He advised him to pursue medicine to help people; “if your patients have no money, give them money to take a bus home.” At age 10, Taylor entered Cornwall College and focused on the sciences. He was an all-round student, participating in athletics and he represented his College in swimming, football, lawn tennis and table tennis. His good grades prompted his role as a school prefect from 1961-1962. A highpoint in his life is recalled, when, as a member of the Queen’s Scout Group, he had the distinguished honour of being chosen to lower the Union Jack (Flag of England) on Jamaica’s Independence Day on August 6th 1962.

On completion of his secondary school education in 1963, Taylor worked as an operations clerk at Pan American World Airways (PAN AM). He left PAN AM one year later when he gained admission to the University of the West Indies, Mona to study medicine. He was however discouraged by his headmaster and parents who told him, “he was not doctor material.” Disappointed he did not receive a scholarship to pursue medicine, he took up a Canadian Scholarship to study biochemistry in Ottawa. He spent one year pursuing biochemistry and then decided to follow his dream – to study medicine. He entered medical school in 1965, after selling everything he owned in Canada to obtain money to pay for his tuition at UWI. He applied for another scholarship to defray costs but was denied again. Soon afterwards, however, he saw his name on a list of Jamaican Scholarship winners at UWI.

He describes his university experience as, “stressful and intense during the first two years and after that it was fun, I enjoyed every moment.” His mentors were Dr. Knolly Butler and Professor Courtenay Bartholomew. They were his “icons”; they took interest in his work and gave him a fantastic education. He completed his internship in Trinidad at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital. As a student, he sold Jamaican fruit cakes to buy books and to purchase tickets back to Jamaica.

Dr. Taylor became a qualified physician in 1970. He was an intern at the St James Hospital (now called the Cornwall Regional Hospital) and then returned to Montego Bay, Jamaica to practise to help his people and to “make his parents proud of him.” He became fond of neurosurgery, plastic surgery and cardiology, but he had a keen interest in Ophthalmology so he returned to Canada in 1971 to specialise in the field. He attended the Civic Hospital of Ottawa and Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario where he was successful in passing the prestigious Royal College Examination in Ophthalmology in 1976.

In 1977 he was awarded a fellowship in corneal surgery and external diseases at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami, USA. He returned to Canada one year later to set up his private practice in Cornwall, Ontario. He also worked at the Cornwall General Hospital for 24 years becoming the Chief of Staff. He currently holds the title of Chief of Ophthalmology. Dr. Taylor also lectures at Queen’s University, Ontario where he holds the title of Associate Professor.

When this cornea specialist is not treating patients with advanced forms of eye diseases or lecturing, his way of rejuvenation comes from signing-on for weeklong forays as a Volunteer Faculty (VF) member with ORBIS International. He has found time to give back to the community and the world at large, through this programme working as Volunteer Surgeon since 1982. ORBIS, a non-aligned, non-profit global development group, operates through a DC-10 aeroplane, which has a well-equipped modern hospital on board. Their mission is to decrease the cases of treatable blindness in the world as well as to preserve and strengthen the capacity of local partners to prevent and treat blindness. Dr. Taylor has completed 103 missions to countries such as Jamaica, Trinidad, Ethiopia, Sudan, Cyprus, Swaziland, Nepal, China, Turkey and Greece among many others. He is a member of the Advisory Board of ORBIS, Past President and current Vice President and most recently, Director of ORBIS Canada.

ORBIS not only treats patients but also they educate the whole spectrum of medical care professionals including the training of local doctors and nurses, biomedical engineers and technologists. The latest technological advancement of ORBIS is a tele-medicine programme in which the ORBIS team of experts can collaborate with local doctors via an Internet consultation to treat patients. He recently set up an eye bank in Bangladesh and is establishing others throughout the world.

Dr. Taylor is also a co-founder and Director of Canadian Surgical Eye Expeditions (CAN.SEE). This is another volunteer organisation that recruits doctors and nurses to perform hundreds of eye operations at no cost to less fortunate people in the developing world. Since the inception of CAN.SEE in 1990, over 4,000 operations were performed in countries such as Jamaica, Trinidad, Guyana, Ecuador, Costa Rica, India, Nepal, and Ghana. In Trinidad he collaborated with Dr. Aniruid Mahabir along with student interns. He has also been a volunteer in neglected Northern Ontario Provinces, working on the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) Eye Van, examining and treating patients. Also loyal to his homeland of Jamaica, he has worked in rural towns examining Jamaicans and dispensing free eyeglasses.

He enjoys practising ophthalmology so much, that he sees it is a form of relaxation. He also enjoys baking Jamaican fruitcakes for friends and family as gifts and he also makes wedding cakes. His efforts at re-establishing links with his Jamaican heritage are also evidenced in his playing dominoes and enjoying Jamaican music. Most of all, though, he enjoys Jamaican cuisine. In his moments of leisure, Dr. Taylor reads many books on lifestyles, and religion fascinates him. In his future, Dr. Garth Taylor wants “peace of mind and contentment in life.” He admits that he is not ready to get old since he wants to do so much more to help people and he wants to be able to write more, so that people can learn from his experiences.

His advice for kids is to, “find someone you like, someone you can relate to, listen to them and mould your life after theirs.” He adds also, “Do something you like and be happy doing it; don’t do something because you are trying to please someone.” He cautions also that, “whatever you do, make yourself happy, but do not hurt anyone in the process.”

Garth Taylor
- Ophthalmologist

Sources:

Garth Taylor - Ophthalmologist

Sources:

Garth Taylor
- Ophthalmologist