Australian optometrist Emeritus Professor Nathan Efron AC has been recognised for his lifetime research achievements of with a prestigious international award.
Prof Efron was presented with the top award of the American Academy of Optometry – the Charles F Prentice Medal – at the annual meeting of the Academy on 8 November, 2024. This award recognises an individual who has made significant contributions to the advancement of knowledge through research in the visual sciences.
Prof Efron was invited to present a lecture to delegates attending the award ceremony and spoke on the topic ‘Moments of inspiration’, describing his career achievements in the context of those who have inspired him, moments of personal inspiration, and those he has inspired. Immediately prior to his presentation, delegates were shown a brief, specially commissioned documentary highlighting Prof Efron’s career achievements, featuring interviews from many of his work colleagues and international collaborators. Watch Here
Prof Efron is internationally acclaimed for his work in two fields – the ocular response to contact lens wear, and ophthalmic markers of diabetic neuropathy
Far Reaching Research
Currently the editor of Clinical and Experimental Optometry Prof Efron has held academic appointments at the University of Melbourne (1983-89), the University of Manchester, UK (1990-2005), and the Queensland University of Technology (2006-2016). A prolific author, he has published nearly 500 refereed scientific papers, as well as seven books that have appeared in a total of 24 editions and foreign translations.
Prof Efron is internationally acclaimed for his work in two fields – the ocular response to contact lens wear, and ophthalmic markers of diabetic neuropathy.
Diabetic Neuropathy
His work in the field of diabetes explores the link between eye nerve damage and nerve changes in the feet of diabetic patients and has been used to validate and develop novel new eye tests to detect and monitor peripheral neuropathy.
Additionally, these studies have been extended to develop eye tests for the early detection and monitoring of other neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s Disease, dementia, multiple sclerosis and motor neurone disease.
Contact Lenses
In the field of contact lenses, Professor is best known for developing a set of eponymous grading scales for assessing the severity of contact lens complications. It is estimated that 200,000 of these grading scales have been distributed world-wide to contact lens practitioners and students. He is also recognised for his work as the instigator and co-convenor of an international survey of trends in prescribing various types of contact lenses. This annual survey has been running for 28 consecutive years in 71 countries with the assistance of over 100 country co-ordinators and has amassed an immensely powerful database relating to over 480,000 contact lens fits. The results have been published extensively.
“Thrilled, Humbled and Honoured”
The third residential Australian to receive the Charles F Prentice Medal in its 55-year history, Prof Efron described the Medal as the most important international research award in optometry and said, “I’m thrilled, humbled and honoured to receive it”.
