The 2024 King’s Honours Birthday list has recognised 737 Australians for their conspicuous service, including six members of the Australian ophthalmic community for their contributions to ophthalmology, optometry and Indigenous eye health.
Member of the Order of Australia (AM)
Professor Glen Anthony Gole has been awarded Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the General Division for “significant service to ophthalmology, tertiary education and to professional organisations”.
Prof Gole, based in Queensland, began practising ophthalmology in 1990. He started as a visiting ophthalmologist at Queensland Children’s Hospital and became head of the department in 1995 before moving on to become director of ophthalmology from 2010-2018.
Concurrently, he was an Associate Professor of ophthalmology at the University of Queensland from 1991-2009. Since 2010, he has been a professor at the same institution, with research interests in retinopathy of prematurity, retinoblastoma, amblyopia and strabismus, and glaucoma.
Internationally, Prof Gole has volunteered as a paediatric ophthalmologist with the Sight for Life Foundation in Vietnam, Bangladesh and Laos.
Dr Diana Bronwen Semmonds, from NSW, received an AM for “significant service ophthalmology, to regulatory bodies and to professional organisations”.
She was the vice president of RANZCO from 2016-2018, chair from 2001-2012 and board director from 2009-2018. Additionally, in RANZCO’s NSW branch, Dr Semmonds held the position of chair from 1999-2001.
She has been the principal ophthalmologist at St Leonards Eye Centre since 1985. At the Sydney Eye Hospital, Dr Semmonds has been a visiting medical officer in the Intraocular Implant Unit since 1988, director of the Sydney Eye Hospital Foundation since 1997 and was chair of the alumni association from 2008-2012.
Board chair at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital (Eye and Ear) Dr Sherene Devanesen, also received an AM for “significant service to community health through governance and administrative roles”.
Dr Devanesen has been board chair at the Eye and Ear since 2015 board director at Northern Health since 2021. She has long held professional, committee and advisory roles across several health services over the last few decades.
Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM)
Meanwhile, Dr James Edward Elder from Victoria has been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the General Division for his “service to medicine as an ophthalmologist”.
At the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, he held the position of director from 1990-1993 and director from 1994-2009 and has practised at the Royal Women’s Hospital since 1992.
Moreover, Dr Elder was awarded the RANZCO Teacher of Excellence award in 2015 and 2020, an Achievement Award at the Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology in 2017, and the Elizabeth Turner Medal by the Medical Staff Association of Royal Children’s Hospital in 2022.
Ms Helen Christine Summers was awarded an OAM for “service to the community of the Northern Territory, and to optometry”.
She is the senior optometrist at Helen Summers Optometrist, Bupa Optical in Darwin. Summers has been an emeritus member of Optometry Australia since 2021 and chair of the Australian Optometric Panel from 2012-2021. She is also a past member of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Eye Health Working Group. Additionally, she held the position of director of Guide Dogs SA/NT from 2005-2019.
Summers has been awarded many accolades throughout her career including the Caroline Amy Award, St Aidan’s Anglican Girls’ School, QLD in 2018; Australian Businesswomen’s Network Hall of Fame in 2014; Business Owner Award at the Telstra Australian Business Women’s Awards in 2013; Business Woman of the Year, Business Innovation Award, and Business Owner Award at the Telstra NT Business Women’s Awards in 2013.
She has also volunteered with Cambodia Vision, an Australian-run not-for-profit that recruits hundreds of volunteers to provide eyecare to disadvantaged and remote Cambodian communities.
Ms Emma Elizabeth Stanford from Victoria has been awarded an OAM for “service to Indigenous eye health”.
Stanford has been a senior research fellow in Indigenous Eye Health Unit at the School of Population and Global Health at the University of Melbourne since 2017 and was a research fellow in the same department from 2009-2017.
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