Melbourne-based medical eye specialist, Dr. Richard Stawell, has been elected President of The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (RANZCO). Dr. Stawell said RANZCO will continue to work to ensure the community has adequate access to, and can afford, eye services – both in the public and private sector.
“The Government’s budget decision on cataract surgery rebates for patients is already impinging on access and affordability for many Australians. RANZCO will work to build relationships with governments and improve their understanding of issues facing patients and ophthalmology,” he said.
Dr. Stawell has held a number of roles within RANZCO. He was Chair of the Ophthalmic Research Institute of Australia (ORIA) – the research arm of RANZCO – for seven years, and a member of RANZCO’s Executive and Board for a total of eight years and was the College’s Honorary Treasurer for two years.
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Dr. Stawell has held a number of roles within RANZCO
Dr. Stawell works in both private and public practice as a comprehensive ophthalmologist with a subspecialty interest in inflammatory eye disease. He consults from his rooms in the Cabrini Medical Centre in Melbourne, and also works at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital where he heads the inflammatory eye disease clinic.
Dr. Stawell has a long-standing interest in clinical eye research, and is currently a principle investigator in a large, multi-centre international study of inflammatory eye disease. He is on the Victorian Government’s Ministerial Advisory Committee on Surgical Services and, over the years, has worked with volunteer eye-surgery teams visiting developing countries such as East Timor, Vanuatu, Tuvalu and the Solomon Islands.
Queensland-based ophthalmologist, Dr. Bill Glasson, has been re-elected as Vice-President of RANZCO. He joins Dr. Stawell in the leadership of the College, which represents more than 850 ophthalmologists in Australia and New Zealand.
