Professor Taylor holds the Harold Mitchell Chair in Indigenous Health at the University of Melbourne and was the past Managing Director of the Centre for Eye Research Australia. He has been the Professor of Ophthalmology and Head of Department at the University of Melbourne since 1990.
Professor Taylor received his medical degree from the University of Melbourne in 1971 and his Doctorate in 1978. He was on the Faculty of the Wilmer Institute at The Johns Hopkins University from 1977 to 1990 where he held joint appointments in Epidemiology and International Health.
Professor Taylor’s research interests include blindness prevention strategies, infectious causes of blindness and the growing interface between medicine, public health and health economics.
His numerous awards include the Paul Harris Award from Rotary International, the International Blindness Prevention Award from the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the Gold Medal from the International Organization Against Trachoma. In 2001 he was made a Companion in the Order of Australia for his contributions to the prevention of river blindness, to academia through research and education related to the prevention of eye disease, and to eye health in indigenous communities. He was a finalist in the 2005 Australian of the Year Awards.
Professor Taylor is a member of the International Council of Ophthalmology, Regional Chairman for the Western Pacific for the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness and Vision 2020, and holds the 53rd Chair of the Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis.
Professor Tien Wong, Director of Research and Clinical Services
Professor Tien Wong is Head of the Department of Ophthalmology, University of Melbourne. He is also the Director of the Retinal Vascular Imaging Centre within the Center for Eye Research Australia.
Professor Wong completed medical school at the National University of Singapore in 1992 and clinical ophthalmology training at the Singapore National Eye Centre in 2002. He has sub-specialty fellowship training in medical retina diseases at the University of Sydney, Australia. He holds a MPH (1997) and a PhD (2002) from the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, USA. He has completed two research fellowships, first a fellowship in ophthalmic epidemiology at the Dana Center, Wilmer Ophthalmological Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and an American Diabetes Association fellowship at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. In 2006 Tien Wong was promoted to full professor.
Professor Wong’s clinical and research expertise is in the area of retinal vascular diseases, including diabetic and hypertensive retinopathy, retinal vein occlusion, and age-related macular degeneration. Professor Wong’s particular research interest is in the relationship of retinal vascular signs as predictors of cardiovascular disease. Professor Wong is on the Editorial Board of three major ophthalmology journals, the American Journal of Ophthalmology, Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, and Ophthalmic Epidemiology. He is an elected Member of the Macula Society, and Chair of the Program Committee in the Clinical Epidemiology section of ARVO.
In 2005, Professor Wong received a grant from the Victorian State government, Australia, under its highly competitive Science, Technology and Innovation Scheme to develop a $6M Retinal Vascular Imaging Centre (RetVIC).
Professor Sarah Hosking, Director of Clinical Education
Jointly appointed with:
Department of Optometry and Visual Science, City University, London, UK and the Department of Ophthalmology, University of Melbourne, Australia
Sarah Hosking currently holds part time appointments as Professor of Optometry at both Aston University, Birmingham and City University, London, conducting research in both organisations. Since 2006 she has lived in Melbourne, Australia, where she holds an Honorary Professorial Fellowship appointment in the School of Medicine, University of Melbourne, and has been awarded a Fellowship from VESKI. Her research in Australia is conducted collaboratively with the Centre for Eye Research Australia and the Brain Research Institute, and is a further extension of work previously and currently carried out in the UK.
Mr. Rick Ross, Chief Operating Officer
Holds a Masters Degree in Optometry and has held clinical placements in Australia and the USA. He has been in private practice for 25 years and was a Director of Associated Vision Consultants which provided over 100,000 Optometry consultations per year. He has been in clinic partnership with Ophthalmologists and was one of the first Optometrists to be granted therapeutic prescribing rights in Australia. Mr. Ross has a keen and sophisticated understanding of the eyecare market and brings a wealth of clinical and commercial experience to the Board.
Dr Harry Unger, Chief Executive Officer
Dr Unger was Executive Director, Strategy and Development of Vision Group Holdings Limited which listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in 2004. Dr Unger founded the company and was its Chief Executive Officer until 2007, and left the company in October 2008. Dr Unger, during his 20 year career as an Ophthalmologist with special interest in Cataract and Refractive Surgery, formulated the concept and business model for the consolidation of Ophthalmology clinics in Australia. He is a past Chairman of the Victorian Branch of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists and a past Federal Councilor. He has long championed the idea of the need to change historic work practices and to leverage the potential of community screening to triage and integrate the resources of Optometry, Ophthalmology and the General Medical workforce to address the community’s needs for quality eyecare services.
Eyescan Advisory Board
Professor Tien Wong, Director of Research and Clinical Services
Professor Sarah Hosking, Director of Clinical Education
Mr. Rick Ross, Chief Operating Officer
Dr Harry Unger, Chief Executive Officer
