Sep 2015

World class eye centre opens
in Solomons
Fred Hollows Foundation staff from left: Lucy Dryden, Konio Szetu, Celia Parry, John Szetu, Andrew Bell, Marleen
Nelisse and Craig Fisher
The Hon Prime Minister Manasseh
Sogavare of the Solomon Islands opened
the region’s first Regional Eye Centre in
the country’s capital, Honiara.
The Centre provides free eye care to all citizens
and doubles as a training hub for visiting eye
care professionals.
Officially launched on July 22, the Centre
represents a partnership between the Solomon
Islands, the New Zealand government and
The Fred Hollows Foundation NZ. The site was
designed by award winning New Zealand firm
Bossley Architects and built by local contractors.
The Centre’s lead ophthalmologist, Dr Claude
Posala, says he is thrilled to see the facility
launch after all the extensive consultation and
planning.
“The Centre’s design and construction is
incredibly high quality. Ninety-four per cent of
the Centre’s power comes from solar energy
and the building materials will last 50 years. I’m
proud to say we have the most advanced eye
care facility in the Pacific.”
Dr Posala says the Centre will help prevent
avoidable blindness in the country. “In Solomon
Islands, as in the wider Pacific region, four out
of five people who are blind don’t need to be—
their condition is preventable or treatable.”
Twenty-one Solomon Island eye nurses and
four eye doctors have so far graduated from The
Foundation’s Pacific Eye Institute in Fiji.
“The Solomon Island government has shown
great commitment to building the country’s eye
health systems. Their graduates are amongst the
best and brightest in the Pacific, and now they
have a facility befitting of their specialist skills,”
says Andrew Bell, executive director for The Fred
Hollows Foundation.
Eye care professionals from the region can
gain further specialist knowledge at the
Centre, which will also run mobile clinics in
neighbouring Pacific nations.
In its first year alone, the Centre will double
the number of sight-saving surgeries performed
in the Solomon Islands. The New Zealand
Government has invested more than $4.1 million
in the facility, with additional funding coming
from the World Diabetes Foundation, the Queen
Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust and The Fred
Hollows Foundation NZ. O
OBITUARY
Sydney-based optics giant, Brien Holden
Internationally renowned optics researcher
and philanthropist Professor Brien Holden
died on July 27, aged 73, sending ripples
from his home in Sydney throughout the
world of optics and beyond.
Holden was a teacher, researcher and
humanist, who held a lifelong interest in
bringing healthcare to developing nations, a
passion that resulted in the organisation that
now bears his name, the Brien Holden Vision
Institute (BHVI), for which he served as CEO
until his death.
“I have huge respect for what Brien achieved
in his lifetime,” says Paul Rose, a Hamiltonbased
Optometrist and contact lens developer
who flew to Sydney for Holden’s funeral. “My
association with Brien goes back many years
now and I remember well our first encounter
back in the early 70s. He will be a difficult man
to replace.”
Holden was known for his pioneering work
in soft contact lenses, beginning in the early
1970s at the School of Optometry of the
University of New South Wales where he was
a lecturer. There he led a team of postgraduate
students in determining what was needed
in contact lenses to maintain eye health.
Their work drew wide interest, prompting the
group to move beyond the original goal of
understanding the effects of contact lenses
on the cornea to all aspects of contact lenses
from lens design, material properties and
performance to the effects of a wide range of
ocular devices, procedures and contact lens
solutions on the eye.
Holden is credited in the co-development
of the silicone hydrogel contact lens which
makes up more than half of all contacts used
worldwide.
He was awarded an Order of Australia Medal
in 1997 for his work in eye health and vision
science.
BHVI today is a non-profit organisation that
has established hundreds of eye care sites
around the globe, provided optometric services
to more than two million people and trained
nearly 50,000 eye care personnel.
Optometry Ball
University of Auckland optometry
students enjoyed a night out at
Alexandra Park for the annual
Optometry Student Ball. The August 6
event saw students, staff, and significant others
Professor Brien Holden
“Brien’s efforts and achievements have
been recognised, applauded and adopted
worldwide,” says BHVI Chair Brian Layland.
“All who have worked with him will have fond
memories to cherish; all will miss him. His
legacy will encourage all to strive to achieve
the goals he had set.”
Holden is survived by wife Yvonne, three
children, and four grandchildren.
BHVI appoints interim CEO
The Brien Holden Vision Institute (BHVI) has
appointed deputy CEO, Professor Kovin Naidoo
as interim CEO. Naidoo was a co-founder of the
Clear Vision Optical franchise and has served
in many elected/voluntary positions including
Africa Chair of the International Agency for the
Prevention of Blindness. A Fulbright Scholar,
Naidoo was awarded a PhD from the University
of New South Wales, a Doctorate of Optometry
from the Pennsylvania College of Optometry,
a Masters in Public Health from Temple
University and a BSc and BOptom degree from
University of Durban-Westville. He was African
Optometrist of the Year in 2002, International
Optometrist in 2007, and was jointly awarded
with Holden the Schwab Social Entrepreneur
Award for Africa 2010. O
dress up as pirates, with James Li and Rosa
Sun taking prizes for their outfits. The event
was sponsored by Specsavers, Eye Institute,
NZAO, Luxottica, Designs for Vision, Optimed,
CooperVision and Corneal Lens Corporation. O
Prime Minister Rt Hon Manasseh Sogavare gets an
explanation of the centres solar power by David
Pollard from What Power Crisis?
The Fred Hollows Foundation NZ Regional Eye Clinic in
Honiara, Solomon Islands
Health tracking in a pair of specs
US-based VSP Global claims to have
developed the first wearable
prototype of optical frames integrated
with health-tracking technologies.
Project Genesis features sensor technology
housed within the temple of a pair of Dragon
Alliance frames, allowing the wearer to track
steps, calories burned, activity time and distance
travelled via an app developed in-house, and
synced via Bluetooth.
The app and integrated frames were developed
in secret over 12 months by VSP Global’s inhouse
laboratory, the SHOP, under the leadership
of Jay Sales and Leslie Muller.
“Eyewear has been the most successful piece
of ‘wearable technology’ for over 700 years,”
says Muller. “With Genesis, we’re now adding
additional value into the frame, but doing so in
a seamless, fully integrated design that creates a
richer experience for the wearer.”
SHOP is beta testing the prototype with
26 VSP Global employees at the company’s
Californian headquarters. Participants give
real-time feedback to SHOP engineers and
designers, allowing for rapid improvements to
The tracking device is built into the frame’s temple
the prototype’s initial hardware and software
designs.
“Wearable technology is exploding right now,
some of it could be considered hype, some of it
could be considered the start of a personalised
medicine revolution,” says Sales. “The Genesis
prototype is a first step at providing a deeper
level of contextualised health data through
a device a large portion of people are already
utilising every day.” O
Back row from left to right: Rahul Kumar and Sayed
Shuaib; Centre: Annie Wang, Dexter Low, Janet
Chung, Huimin Dai, Lexia Ahkit and Sean Mahendran.
Front: Divya Anthraper and Brinda Mamidi
From Left to Right: Costume prize winner Rosa Sun
with Alyssa Lie, LeiLei Zhou, Jingyi Xu, and Michelle Ko
(Standing, left to right) Tyler Duncan, Robert Burnie, Katarina Marcijas, Chad Walker; (middle, seated): Marna
Classen, Gemima Ji, Menaga Manokoran, Alice Jackson, Sharni Killoran, Kayleigh Aspeling; and (centre, in
repose) Ken Turner
September 2015
NEW ZEALAND OPTICS
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