Australians honoured with top awards at AAO meeting

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Australian optometrists have once again been honoured with six prestigious awards at the annual American Academy of Optometry (AAO) meeting in New Orleans.

Charles F Prentice Medal

Professor Eric Papas, from the School of Optometry at UNSW, received the Charles F Prentice Medal, which is the AAO’s top award presented to an individual who has made significant contribution to the advancement of knowledge through research in the visual sciences. Prof Papas was instrumental in the development of the first silicone hydrogel lenses. Along with his inventions and research, he has been influential in training PhD students, publishing highly cited research studies and until recently he was the Associate Editor of Optometry Australia’s journal Clinical and Experimental Optometry.

Carel C Koch Memorial Medal

QUT Professor Nathon Efron, who is also the Editor of OA’s Clinical and Experimental Optometry, received the Carel C Koch Memorial Medal, which is presented to a person who has made outstanding contributions to the enhancement and development of relationships between optometry and other professions. Prof Efron has been instrumental in introducing the world of endocrinology, neurology, and related professions to the technique of assessing the structural integrity of corneal nerves using the corneal confocal microscope, which has led to it becoming a diagnostic tool for both peripheral and central neurodegenerative disorders.

The Irvin M and Beatrice Borish Award

The Irvin M and Beatrice Borish Award recognises an outstanding young researcher who has shown exceptional promise to conduct independent optometric research directly related to aetiology, prevention, detection, diagnosis, or management of clinical eye disorders. The Borish Award recipient is Dr Rabia Mobeen from the School of Optometry at UNSW. Dr Mobeen is a talented clinician-scientist-educator who has been recognised for her efforts not only in establishing post-graduate research work in her native Pakistan, but also for her personal research in the area of immune response in the cornea during orthokeratology.

The Julius F Neumueller Award in Optics

The Julius F Neumueller Award in Optics is awarded to a student pursuing a degree in a school of optometry who submits a first-authored original research paper on one of the following topics: geometrical optics, physical optics, ophthalmic optics, or optics of the eye. This year, the Neumueller Award was presented to Annabelle Seddon (principal author), Hanna Chaki, Hang-My Julie Dona Phan, Jessica G Spink, Matthew Loc Phuc Ha, and Surini Wijeysuria, from Optometry and Vision Science at QUT, for their paper entitled “Effects of induced aniseikonia on binocular visual acuity”.

The Tony Adams Eminent Service Award 

The Tony Adams Eminent Service Award honours those persons who have rendered extraordinary and/or distinguished long-term service to the Academy. This year’s awardee is Professor Ian L Bailey, an Academy Fellow for 60 years. Prof Bailey graduated in optometry from the University of Melbourne, but has spent his entire career in the School of Optometry at the University California, Berkeley. Prof Bailey’s first active participation in the Academy was in December 1976 in Portland, Oregon. At his very first meeting he was invited to give an Ellerbrock Continuing Education Course and three scientific papers. Since then, he has attended and presented at every single Academy meeting – up until the 2020 pandemic. Over those 45 years, he has given 197 papers, courses, workshops and posters.

Ezell Fellowship

Dr Sidra Sarwat, from the School of Optometry at the UNSW, was one of 16 outstanding vision researchers selected to receive a prestigious Ezell Fellowships from the Academy. For 75 years, the Ezell Fellowship program – named after Dr William C Ezell who established the Foundation to fund these awards – has recognised talented optometric researchers pursuing careers in research and education.