Health is paramount to our existence. Of all qualities of life we depend most upon it. Most of us are unable to resolve more than basic problems of health ourselves. We depend upon those who have devoted themselves to the skills needed for its preservation.

The people to whom our health is trusted are the culmination of a long tradition. It started over 2000 years ago, with the Greek philosopher and physician Hippocrates. Known as the "Father of Medicine", he founded the first medical school, and there taught his principles "to diagnose, treat and heal every patient with the utmost skill and integrity". Over centuries practitioners have been united by allegiance to Hippocrates' ethics.

A Vision to Heal is about the most gifted of medical practitioners today. Carried by their imagination, their dreams and their artfulness, they are at the cutting edge of healthcare.

They heal not within existing barriers but from beyond them: not by abiding with current medical knowledge, but by creating it for the next generation; not by frequenting the well-trodden paths, but by forging new ones for others to follow. They work in all fields of medicine; from specialisations to general practice and from the molecular level to universal healthcare.

A Vision to Heal portrays Hippocrates' most shining successors; their achievements, their aspirations and the philosophies and emotions that rouse them. Supported by science and tradition, led on by compassion and calling and driven by mental strength their quest is as fundamental as it can be elusive: to defend health; to conquer illness; to ultimately secure the well-being of all