INSIDE:
Student success
New roles for
optometrists
Vol.48:22
November 14 2008
£4.95
UK firm in Silmo success NOC previewed Take our latest VRT Manx progress
Return from Oz
Reports on the AOP’s national
student conference
Sheraz Daya speaks
his mind
Professor Nathan Efron interviewed
on his Pioneers Day debate
PLUS :
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Professor Efron, you’re back in the UK for a short while –
What tempted you away from Australia’s summer and back
to Britain in November?
The BCLA kindly invited me to be a featured speaker at the
Pioneers Day meeting, which I was honoured to accept.
This meeting has grown in prestige over the years and is
now a recognised event on the international lecturing
calendar. And, of course, this will be a great opportunity to
meet up with colleagues and friends in London.
Tell us a little of your present work in Australia? You’re
involved in the Queensland University of Technology (QUT)
aren’t you?
My current title is ‘Research Professor’. I work in a brand-
new £30m, purpose-built research facility known as the
Institute for Health and Biomedical Innovation (IHBI).
Basically, all health-related research at QUT is incorporated
within IHBI. There are seven research domains and I am
the leader of the Vision Improvement Domain. My current
research is in two areas: the conjunctival response to
contact lens wear as assessed using corneal confocal
microscopy (CCM), and the development of CCM as a
sensitive marker of diabetic neuropathy.
Given your long experience, what are your thoughts on the
contact lens market in the UK, and elsewhere, since you
left these shores?
The contact lens market remains vibrant, largely fuelled by
the silicone hydrogel contact lens revolution. More than
50% of the contact lenses fitted worldwide are now made
from this material. We are now even seeing the introduction
of daily disposable silicone hydrogel lenses, which are
being released first in the UK.
The health benefit