Pioneering eye doctor receives international recognition

30 May 2005

One of the highest honours in ophthalmology has been awarded to Professor Frank Billson AO, Director of the Save Sight Institute at the University of Sydney.

Professor Billson has been awarded the Jose Rizal Medal by the Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology, for his leadership role in the development of ophthalmology in Australia over the past 27 years at the main teaching hospitals in Sydney and by fostering research at the University's Save Sight Institute.

Prof Billson received the award recently at a ceremony in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Professor Billson has had a longstanding commitment to developing ophthalmology in Asia with particularly in Bangladesh and in Sri Lanka. In Australia he has been very active in his contributions to charitable organizations including St John's Ambulance and the Royal Blind Society. He has served in all leadership positions in the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmology as well as being active on the Asia-Pacific Academy and the International Council of Ophthalmology.

The medal commemorates the life and work of the Chinese-Filipino ophthalmologist Jose Rizal (1861-1896). Rizal was also a scholar, poet and nationalist who campaigned against Spanish oppression in the Phillipines and was later acknowledged by Ghandi for his campaign for reform without violence.