Top opthalmic surgeons acquire leadership skills

India’s Top Ophthalmic Surgeons at WeSchool for a 2-day Leadership Development Program

For the 7th year in succession, India’s top ophthalmic surgeons were at WeSchool, Mumbai from 23rd to 24th September 2014 to attend a Leadership Development Program. These included Dr. Quresh B. Maskati (President, AIOS), Dr. Partha Biswas (Chairman, ARC-AIOS), Dr. B. K. Nayak (Secretary-AIOS & Head of Department of Ophthalmology- P. D. Hinduja Hospital), Dr. Vinod Kulkarni (Treasurer, AIOS) and Padma Shri Prof. Dr. S. Natarajan, (Chief Mentor, AIOS LDP). WeSchool faculty included Prof. Dr. Ragini Mohanty (Head- Healthcare Management Programs)- who addressed the participants during the inauguration, Mr. Abhijit Sanyal (Visiting Faculty), Dr. Suyash Bhatt (Faculty, Finance), Prof. Zubin Mulla (Visiting Faculty) and Prof. Dr. V. H. Iyer (Dean, Management Development Center). Mr. Abhijit Sanyal and Prof. Zubin Mulla spoke on leadership, resource mobilisation and project management from the point of Diabetic Retinopathy projects. Prof. Dr. Suyash Bhatt spoke on ‘Personal Finance’. Prof. Dr. V. H. Iyer conducted two sessions. The first one on ‘Institutional Brand Building, Public Relations, Managing Media & Press Releases’, he explained how personal and institutional leadership, brand building and communication were intimately linked to each other, citing examples of individuals and organisations/companies. In the next session- ‘Taking the Right Decision and Implementing it’, Dr. Iyer dwelled on key business topics such as managing change in a structured manner. Dr. Quresh B. Maskati (President, AIOS) conducted the session on ‘Leadership in Ophthalmology’ wherein he dwelled on the importance of role models in developing leadership skills as a part of which values such as consistency, ethics and openness form a vital part. He illustrated the talk with incidents from his personal life. Dr. S. Natarajan shared his thoughts on ‘Secrets of Successful Career Development’ while, Dr. Partha Biswas took a session on ‘Lessons in Hospital Building’. Mr. D. Sivanandhan (Former DG of Police, Maharashtra and Chairman, Aditya Jyot Foundation) took the participants through an interactive session on ‘Understanding Leadership’ sharing his personal experiences of how leaders can develop individuals and institutions. Prof. Dr. S Natarajan, Dr. G. Kumaramanickavel and Dr. Radhika Krishnan jointly took a session on the ‘DRIP Project’ (Pan India Epidemiological study on Diabetic Retinopathy) and updated the participants on the project and its status. The program concluded with a session conducted jointly by WeSchool and AIOS teams on the takeaways and action plans.

Report prepared by: Prof. Sharad P. Nileshwar, Head-Industry Interface (MDC), WeSchool