Research Committee

Professor Charles McMonnies, BSc MSc (Chair, Research Committee)

Charles McMonnies graduated from the School of Optometry & Vision Science, University of New South Wales (UNSW) with a BSc in 1966 and MSc 1971. He is an Adjunct Professor at the School of Optometry and Vision Science, UNSW.

Charles is an active member within the Australian and international optometric community. He is a member of the Council for the International Society of Contact Lens Research, a fellow and past President of the Contact Lens Society of Australia, a life member of the New Zealand Contact Lens Society and a member of the board of management for the Optometric Vision Research Foundation.  

He continues to conduct research into areas such as keratoconus, ocular surface disease, corneal mechanics and contact lens practice.

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Professor Brien Holden, BAppSc PhD DSc OAM (CEO)

Professor Brien Holden is a world leader in eye health and vision correction research, education and public health. He is a founder and CEO of the Brien Holden Vision Institute, Brien Holden Vision Institute Foundation (formerly the International Centre for Eyecare Education), Vision Cooperative Research Centre, is Executive Chair of Optometry Giving Sight, and a Professor at the School of Optometry and Vision Science at the University of New South Wales.  

He was founder and Director of the Cornea and Contact Lens Research Unit at the School of Optometry and Vision Science, Director of the Cooperative Research Centre for Eye Research and Technology, a founding Director of the Institute for Eye Research, co-founder of the International Association of Contact Lens Educators, founding President-elect of the International Society for Contact Lens Research and founder of the Optometric Vision Research Foundation.

In the area of international public health, Professor Holden is respected for his innovation and leadership in eliminating avoidable blindness and impaired vision due to uncorrected refractive error.  He is a Trustee Board Member of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) and Chair of its Refractive Error Programme, and in 2003 was appointed Chair of the World Health Organisation Refractive Error Working Group. He is also Chair of the Board of Management of VisionCare NSW.  Recently, through his involvement with the Australia-India Council he has helped ignite a transformation of the Indian optometry profession to build a system to educate enough optometrists and create the infrastructure to develop quality vision care for all Indian people.

Professor Holden graduated from the University of Melbourne with a BAppSc in 1963 and from City University (London) with a PhD in 1971.  His distinguished contribution to optometry and vision science has been recognised with several prestigious international awards including honorary Doctor of Science degrees conferred by the State University of New York, Pennsylvania College of Optometry, City University London, University of Durban-Westville, South Africa, Ohio State University and the Universite de Montreal, Canada and a  Doctorate of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa, from the University of Houston in addition to over 30 other national and international awards.  He has helped obtain grants and funding for eye research, education and public health totalling over AU$700 million and is the author of over 230 refereed research papers.

In 1997, Professor Holden received the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for contributions to eye care research and education, and in 2010 was jointly awarded, with Professor Kovin Naidoo, the Schwab Social Entrepreneur Award for Africa at the World Economic Forum in Tanzania.

Anthony Chapman-Davies, BOptom (Hons) MOptom GradCert OcTher

Anthony Chapman-Davies has been a practising optometrist since 1979, when he graduated with a Bachelor of Optometry degree with first class honours from the University of New South Wales (UNSW). He completed a Master of Optometry in 1981.

Anthony has been involved in undergraduate and postgraduate education since 1981 at the School of Optometry and Vision Science, UNSW, where he is a visiting fellow. He has lectured widely throughout Australia and internationally over the last 30years.

Anthony is chairman of the Optometric Vision Research Foundation and serves on the board of Glaucoma Australia.
In 1998, Anthony was bestowed with the prestigious Josef Lederer Award for Excellence in Clinical Optometry by the Optometrists Association of Australia NSW Division.

Professor Brian Layland, BSc (Opt Sc) OAM    

Brian Layland graduated with an ASTC in Optometry in 1953 and completed a Bachelor of Science degree (OptSc) in 1958. He served as an optometrist in his own practice for 45 years until taking up his current position as Director of Aboriginal Vision Programms for the Brien Holden Vision Institute Foundation (formerly International Centre for Eyecare Education).

Brian has made a major contribution to the development of the optometry profession in Australia. He was heavily involved in the acceptance of optometric services into Medicare and Veterans’ Affairs, as well as the establishment and development of VisionCare NSW which has distributed more than 1.6 million pairs of spectacles to those in need throughout NSW.

Professor Layland was also involved in the establishment of the Optometric Vision Research Foundation and other organisations dedicated to eye care research, education and service delivery. He has given almost 55 years of service on national and state optometric associations in various capacities, as well as acting as a member and chairman of many professional committees involved with state and federal governments.

In the area of education, Brian is an Emeritus Professor at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). He has been a Visiting Lecturer at the School of Optometry, UNSW from 1971, where he has also been an Advisory Committee member since 1957. He was appointed a Fellow of the UNSW in 2010.

Most recently, Brian has made a considerable contribution to enhancing eye care for Aboriginal Australians through his role at the Foundation, including the historic establishment of the Aboriginal Health College in Little Bay, Sydney.

In 1979, Brian Layland received the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for services to the profession of optometry. In 1985 he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Liverpool (OLM) for outstanding services to technical education in his tenure as the first Chairman of the TAFE Committee, a role he retained for 25 years. In 1992 he received the International Optometrist of the Year award from the World Council of Optometry, the Wilfred I. Wenborn award for conspicuous service in the advancement of the profession of optometry and in 1996, the prestigious Josef Lederer award for excellence in optometry.

Dr Gullapalli 'Nag' Rao, MBBS PhD

Dr Nag Rao is Chair of LV Prasad Eye Institute and Chair of the Brien Holden Vision Institute Foundation (formerly International Centre for Eyecare Education).

An entrepreneur of solutions for eye health, Dr Rao is widely respected for the creation of sustainable, high quality, comprehensive eye care delivery and as the father of the vision centre model which is transforming vision care across India and inspiring development worldwide.

Dr Rao established LVPEI, one of the world’s leading eye research hospitals, after a successful career in the US as an academic Ophthalmologist. He received his basic medical education in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, and completed his postgraduate residency training at the All India Institute for Medical Sciences, New Delhi. In the US, he trained at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, and later at the School of Medicine, University of Rochester, where he continued as a faculty member until 1986.

Dr Rao has specialised in diseases of the cornea, eye banking and corneal transplantation, community eye health, eye care policy and planning. He has published over 250 papers and contributed several book chapters. From 2004-2008, he served as Chair of the Board of Trustees, President and CEO of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, where he played an important role leading VISION 2020: The Right to Sight, the global initiative to eliminate avoidable blindness by the year 2020.

Dr Rao’s vision and determination to improve access to eye care knows no boundaries. With his team at LVPEI he has succeeded in delivering high quality, low-cost sustainable eye care to the Indian population, and in doing so has developed a successful model that is now being adopted in developing countries around the world to deliver basic eye care to people in need.

Dr Rao holds Doctorates Honoris Causa from the University of New South Wales and the University of Melbourne.