in 1985, kirby spent five weeks at the duke university medical center, north carolina, usa, on a royal college of surgeons travelling scholarship. he then gained his md in 1986 from cambridge. in the same year, he was elected the hunterian professorship with a lecture titled "the investigation and management of the neurogenic bladder". it was published in the "annals of the royal college of surgeons of england", where kirby showed how the use of