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A few weeks. For more than 20 years.

Dr Leo Cheng has built a distinguished surgical career in the UK while giving several weeks each year to Mercy Ships, using his specialist skills to help patients access complex surgery.

Sector Medical
Location Meadway, Stevenage SG1 2EF, UK

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Video

Bringing decades of expertise aboard

Leo specializes in oral, maxillofacial, head and neck surgery. For more than two decades, he has brought that experience aboard Mercy Ships, serving patients across numerous African countries.

For him, volunteering doesn't mean stepping away from his profession. It's another way to use it.

I feel so privileged to be a surgeon who can reconstruct tissues so patients can function again, as normal as possible.
Dr Leo Cheng · Maxillofacial Surgeon · UK
  • Leo's specialist experience allows him to treat complex facial and neck conditions, including tumors that patients may have lived with for years.

Leo's specialist experience allows him to treat complex facial and neck conditions, including tumors that patients may have lived with for years.

A career that keeps giving

Leo has volunteered for several weeks at a time for more than 20 years, bringing his skills aboard while continuing his medical career and training the next generation of surgeons in the UK.

“My heart, my energy and my attitude come from being here on Mercy Ships. I’m over 60 but I feel like I’m 18!”

I’m just a guy with two arms, two legs, a head, and some skills.
Dr Leo Cheng · Maxillofacial Surgeon · UK
20+ years A few weeks at a time. Hundreds of patients. One skill used again and again.
20+ years A few weeks at a time. Hundreds of patients. One skill used again and again.

Could you give a few weeks of your skills?

You don't have to leave your career behind to make a difference.

For Leo, a few weeks of volunteering became something he chose to return to year after year. Surgeons from different backgrounds bring their specialist expertise aboard, working alongside international and African healthcare professionals to make life-changing surgery possible.

His invitation to other surgeons is simple:

“Just come!”

Volunteer your skills

Meet the Crew Behind the Ship