The Institute has named the series to honour the work of Professor Brien Holden and his more than 30 years of dedicated service to eye care education, research and development.
In the last three decades, Professor Holden has inspired hundreds of graduates with his dedication to vision excellence and his entrepreneurial skills.
The lecture series will be held at the prestigious Scientia Building at the University of New South Wales (NSW) in Kensington, Sydney. Equally prestigious is the line up of international speakers and local experts to discuss vision’s latest discoveries and shine a light on the pathway to eliminating avoidable blindness.
The introduction to the lecture series and opening speech will be delivered by President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of NSW, Professor Fred Hilmer OAM. The nine speakers at the lecture series represent the cutting edge of their profession.
Professor Mark Willcox, Chief Scientific Officer at IER, hopes the series will become an important platform to explore new territory in the areas of vision correction, ocular health and eye care. “The series is a unique opportunity to learn about exciting new ideas from a broad spectrum of outstanding researchers in their fields”, he said.
“A wide range of topics on the latest research, industry news and humanitarian issues in vision correction, ocular health and eye care will be discussed. We have attracted a group of speakers who are at the forefront of their fields. We will also soon be announcing more special guests, so stay tuned.”
The lecture series addresses the theme 'Discovery, Translation and Public Good - Pathway to Eliminating Vision Impairment'. The day firstly offers a glimpse of the future of eye care, the latest discoveries and the science behind vision correction and the opportunities for translation to commercial products. Following this, global authorities on public health and vision care will shine a light on the pathway to eliminating avoidable blindness and vision impairment.
The morning session will begin with Professor Brien Holden OAM addressing the subject 'the world of vision correction and its challenges'. Professor Holden is co-founder and CEO of the Institute for Eye Research, International Centre for Eyecare Education and Vision CRC.
Professor Earl Smith III from the University of Houston will follow with enlightening discussion on the topic 'Myopia', a critically important topic he has dedicated himself to for most of his career.
Global Head of Research & Development for CIBA VISION, Dr Franck Leveiller, will discuss 'the business of vision correction', to be followed by the CEO of Adventus Technology (Australia), Ms Sylvie Franz, who will present on 'the challenge of delivering truly breakthrough products'.
Next, acclaimed scientist from the Institute for Eye Research and University of NSW lecturer, Professor Mark Willcox, will explore 'Vision research and the fight against infection'.
The session will conclude with 'Perspectives on basic eye research in China', presented by Professor Jian Ge, Director of Zhongshan Ophthalmic Centre at Sun Yat-Sen University, China. Professor Ge leads a team of ophthalmologists and optometrists who provide affordable services for 30 000 surgeries and nearly half a million outpatients each year.
The afternoon session will re-focus on international public health efforts to eliminate avoidable blindness. An outstanding line up of speakers includes eye health entrepreneur Professor Gullapalli (Nag) Rao, recent past President of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB), who will present 'a global perspective on eliminating avoidable blindness'.
Internationally respected health economist from Johns Hopkins University, Associate Professor Kevin Frick, will speak about 'the economic impact of refractive error' followed by African Chair of the IAPB, Professor Kovin Naidoo, who will explore 'the challenges of providing global eye care'.
Finally, the day will conclude with perhaps Australia’s leading authority on Aboriginal eye health, Professor Hugh Taylor AC, who will shed light on the topic 'reaching the underserved: Aboriginal eye care', before an open panel discussion ends the series.
Coming up next: More on special guests and speakers.
Registration for the lecture series is free. To register go to: www.brienholdenlectureseries.net and fill in the registration form.
For further media information please contact:
Stephanie O’Connell, Tel: +61 439 600 312 Email: s.oconnell@ier.org.au
|
