A Continuing Legacy: Professor Frank Billson AO

The Professor Frank Billson Research Scholarship was solely designed to support approved research activities conducted by the ophthalmology team at Victoria’s Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH). Its establishment was initiated by Ms Kline in recognition of the Professor’s long-standing employment as the hospital’s Head of Paediatric Ophthalmology in the 1960s.

However, Prof Billson’s reach has extended well beyond Melbourne. In 1977, he moved from Melbourne to Sydney to become Foundation Professor of the University of Sydney’s Department of Clinical Ophthalmology and Eye Health.¹ There he established a training program in ophthalmology with posts in every state of Australia and the Torres Strait Islands. He was also a Foundation Director of the Save Sight Institute, responsible for raising funds to commission a laboratory and recruiting over 50 scientists and support staff for the facility.

With the encouragement of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB), in 1978 he co-founded Foresight Australia with Major General Paul Cullen. The specialist organisation of eye surgeons addresses avoidable blindness by running clinics and training doctors in low-income countries in the Asia Pacific Region.

Extensively involved in advocacy, he once said “A friend recently described me as a pig-headed optimist, and they’re probably right. I’ve always had an unswerving belief that there are solutions to problems and if you have a difficult situation, you have to look for ways to resolve it.”¹

With this attitude, he made an extraordinary contribution to the profession of eye health with a long list of professional appointments, including as President of Royal Australian College of Ophthalmologists; an external examiner to universities in Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Papua New Guinea; a Director of the Lions NSW Eye Bank; Council Member of the International Council of Ophthalmology and the Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology; and Honorary Vice President of the IAPB.

A friend recently described me as a pig-headed optimist, and they’re probably right. I’ve always had an unswerving belief that there are solutions to problems and if you have a difficult situation, you have to look for ways to resolve it.

The Patient is Everything

Prof Billson has been acknowledged for “his compassionate care”, which has “literally touched the lives of thousands of preterm babies and their parents”.1 It’s an approach that came from lived experience. When interviewed in 2021 for his alma mater, Trinity College at the University of Melbourne, he said that having been a patient suffering life-threatening tuberculosis he’d come to realise that “the patient is everything”.²

“In 50 years of medicine, I have never forgotten the person behind the disease.”²

Ms Kline, who was a uveitis patient of Prof Billson as a child, remembers fondly, the respect and consideration he paid her as a child.

Speaking to mivision she said, “He was a brilliant doctor; he always had such a good way of presenting the information and allowing me to make my own decisions with regards to my health. He was always compassionate, empathetic, and always gave me and my family so much of his time… he taught me one of the most invaluable lessons, which is never to allow my medical condition to define me.”³

When Beth Quinlivan, writing for Radius, interviewed him about his initial interest in paediatric care he said, “I love children, I relate well to them, and I was fascinated by the interaction of child development and eye disease.”

In his capacity as an educator, Sir Edward Woodwood, the Chancellor of Melbourne University wrote that he “expanded the boundaries of his efforts within Asia, contributing to surgical, diagnostic and prevention training programs in Sri Lanka, India, China, Singapore, and Papua New Guinea”.

Additionally, Sir Edward wrote that he “set an example through the selfless sharing and transferring of his skills and expertise, thereby not only encouraging but also empowering others to follow in his footsteps”.

In 50 years of medicine, I have never forgotten the person behind the disease.

Awarded

Prof Billson has been recognised with innumerable awards, including Officer of the Order of Australia in 1985, and the Weary Dunlop Asia Medal in 1994 awarded for “selfless leadership in the service of both his profession and his country and internationally”. In 1995 he was made a Life Governor of the Lions NSW-ACT Save Sight Foundation and is an Honorary Lion. In 2003 he was awarded the International Humanitarian Award for Blindness Prevention by the American Academy of Ophthalmology and in 2004 he received the Claude Worth Lifetime Distinction Medal for contributions to paediatric ophthalmology.

He received the Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology’s most prestigious award – the Jose Rizal Medal – in 2005, and in 2006 the NSW Senior Australian of the Year. That last award recognised his humanitarian work in Australia over 40 years in the care of prevention and treatment of blindness in premature babies.

Continuing the Legacy

The Professor Frank Billson Research Scholarship aims to support approved research activities conducted by the RCH ophthalmology team such as:

• Paying for external support where the support is not accessible internally or without payment,
• Purchasing equipment and software required for research activities,
• Providing dedicated research time,
• Paying for travel and accommodation relating to research activities, and
• Covering miscellaneous expenses.

Research is expensive and critical to improving eye disease and vision problems, Ms Kline said. “The scholarship is an endowment that we hope will attract more funding and donors who want to make a difference to the lives of babies and young children.”

Dr Staffieri, who began working at the RCH Department of Ophthalmology, first as a student and then as a newly graduated orthoptist in 1984, was an inaugural recipient of the scholarship, alongside Dr Rod O’Day and Dr Olivia Rolfe.

Describing the scholarship as “a great honour”, she said it had funded a research project to better understand the burden of treatment for children with unilateral, non-familial retinoblastoma, by comparing those treated with primary enucleation with those who underwent globe-sparing treatment.

“The findings from this study have been used when counselling every parent since its completion to help support their treatment decision for their child. Often, there are treatment options, but each come with their own burden: Primary enucleation is an irreversible procedure that can provide complete cure with a significantly lower burden of treatment in relation to hospital admissions, general anaesthetics, and outpatient appointments. It does come with the lifelong burden of maintaining a well-fitting prosthesis and the psychosocial impact that comes with that. The burden of globe-sparing treatment was significantly higher, with at least twice as many surgeries and appointments, but the child retained their natural eye.

“Providing the parents with a realistic picture of what they, and their child, will endure during treatment enables them to make a more fully informed choice at a time of great distress,” Dr Staffieri said.

Director of Ophthalmology at RCH, Dr Anu Mathew and orthoptist Cathy Lewis are also beneficiaries of the scholarship, which is enabling them to create two online educational programs for optometrists; one to upskill them on paediatric eye health care in the community and another to equip them to provide collaborative care in conjunction with the ophthalmology department at the RCH (see page 34 of this issue for more).

“Expanding our collaborative care with optometrists in the community means we can share care of some patients that meet certain criteria, for example, children with glaucoma who might need to have regular, ongoing eye assessments, but may not necessarily need to see our ophthalmologists each time,” explained Dr Mathew. “This is great for patient-centered care because the kids can get some of the care they need closer to home when possible.

“It also opens up resources for other children who need to be seen in the hospital.”

Ms Lewis said funding for projects such as this one can be hard to come by.

“The scholarship is important for the RCH Department of Ophthalmology as it provides our clinical team of orthoptists, ophthalmologists, and junior medical staff the opportunity to develop and conduct much needed research in all aspects of paediatric ophthalmic care.

“It differs from other research funding pathways as only employees of the RCH Department of Ophthalmology are eligible to apply for the Frank Billson Research Scholarship. Obtaining research funding is extremely competitive and difficult and not built into our salaries, so having access to a dedicated research scholarship significantly impacts in a positive way, our ability to design and perform paediatric ophthalmic research. This in turn will improve the provision of evidence based, paediatric eye care internally at the RCH, and in the wider community.”

Noting that “one research project leads to new research questions”, Dr Staffieri said, “it is reassuring to know that this funding is available to our team to continue answering these questions that ultimately improve outcomes”.

To find out more about the endowment fund watch the documentary or visit: rchfoundation.org.au/donation/frankbillson.

Feature image source: Sydney Eye Hospital Foundation.

References

1. Quinlivan B. Visionary Care. Faculty Profile, Radius. Winter 2008.
2. Dean A. World Sight Day: Frank Billson’s vision for change. 14 October 2021. Available at: trinity.unimelb.edu.au/whats-happening/news/world-sight-day-frank-billson [accessed November 2024].
3. Patient Honours Prof Billson with Eye Scholarship, mivision 1 October 2024. Available at mivision.com.au/2024/10/patient-honours-prof-billson-with-eye-scholarship [accessed November 2024].
4. Frank Billson AO. Available at: foresight.org.au/frank-billson-ao [accessed November 2024].