Staff

Melbourne Laureate Professor Hugh Taylor is the Harold Mitchell Professor of Indigenous Eye Health at the University of Melbourne. Previously he was Head of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Melbourne and the Founding Director of the Centre for Eye Research Australia Prior to that, he was a Professor of Ophthalmology at the Wilmer Institute at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore with joint appointments in the Departments of Epidemiology and International Health.

Professor Taylor's research interests include blindness prevention strategies, infectious causes of blindness and the development of health policy. His current work particularly focuses on Aboriginal eye health and the elimination of trachoma. Professor Taylor has written 30 books and reports including a recent book on trachoma, and more then 600 scientific papers. He has received multiple international awards and prizes. In 2001, he was made a Companion in the Order of Australia. He is President - Elect of the International Council of Ophthalmology, former Vice President of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, and Deputy Chairman for Vision 2020 Australia.

Mitchell Anjou is an optometrist and public health practitioner whose motivating professional interest is the provision of eye care for people who have difficulty realising care. Mitchell is a Senior Research Fellow, Academic Specialist in the Indigenous Eye Health group. After completing his optometry and research masters degrees, he worked for the Australian/Victorian College of Optometry for over twenty years as Clinic Director and Senior Fellow in the Optometry Department of the University of Melbourne.

Mitchell served for over 10 years on the Optometrist Registration Board of Victoria and is now an appointed member of the Registration and Notifications Committee of the Optometry Board of Australia. He is a Fellow of the Australian College of Optometry, founding member of the Public Health Optometry Group, Director of the Optometry Council of Australia and New Zealand and was honoured in 2013 as a Member in the Order of Australia award for significant service to optometry and public health.

Jasmin joined The University of Melbourne in 2014 as the Administration Assistant at Onemda and has worked at Indigenous Eye Health since 2015. She has a background in both administration and sales.

Judy Carrigan completed a BScHons PhD at Monash University and a BA at the University of Melbourne. Prior to joining the Indigenous Eye Health group in 2008, she worked for Professor Hugh Taylor at the University of Melbourne Department of Ophthalmology and Centre for Eye Research Australia at the Royal Victorian Eye & Ear Hospital. Judy's role as Research Administrator in the IEH involves assisting Professor Taylor with his work and the administration of the Group's activities.

Rachael Ferguson joined Indigenous Eye Health in 2010 as Multimedia Administrator. Rachael has a Diploma of Arts - Applied Photography and Certificate in Vocational Photography. Having developed an interest in health promotion and social marketing, working closely on the production and distribution of The Trachoma Story Kits, her work at the IEH involves creating and developing high quality publications for educational resources used widely for presentations, posters, printed reports, invitations, brochures and other online and media environments. Rachael also maintains the IEH website and social network sites.

Rosamond Gilden started in the role of Research Assistant with Indigenous Eye Health (IEH), University of Melbourne in June 2016. Upon completion of her masters in Orthoptics, Rosamond worked as an Orthoptist in both the public and private sector. Rosamond joined the Centre for Eye Research Australia in 2014 as Clinical Coordinator for the National Eye Health Survey. In her role with IEH, Rosamond is part of the Roadmap team that helps to support implementation of the Roadmap to Close the Gap for Vision.

Lauren Jeffs started in the role of Research Assistant with Indigenous Eye Health (IEH), University of Melbourne in March 2017. Lauren works with the health promotion team to help support the elimination of trachoma in Australian by 2020. Previously Lauren worked as a Research Assistant with Menzies School of Health Research located in Darwin. Prior to that she worked as a Public Health Nutritionist in remote regions of Australia with Queensland Health and Katherine West Health Board. Lauren has a BHSc and GCertHlthProm, and is currently studying an MPH.

Fiona Lange has a BHSc and has recently completed her MPH at Melbourne University. She has an extensive background in community development, health promotion and social marketing. Fiona has worked in local Government, education, health and hospital settings developing innovative health promotion to increase access, equity and value diversity using community and arts based health promotion approaches. Fiona works with Government services, Aboriginal controlled health services, NGOs and individuals to develop engaging health promotion and multi media social marketing strategies that are being used to support the elimination of trachoma in Australian by 2020.

Philip Roberts started in the role of Senior Research Fellow with Indigenous Eye Health (IEH), University of Melbourne in October 2016. Philip previously lived in Darwin for 13 years and his most recent role was General Manager of Remote Area Health Corps – an organisation that places and supports urban based health professionals to work in remote communities in the Northern Territory. Prior to that he worked in government and economic consulting in the Territory with a strong focus on Indigenous economic development and infrastructure. In a former life, Philip worked for 16 years in banking with JP Morgan and Chase Manhattan Bank in Sydney, New York and London.

Tessa Saunders commenced in the role of Research Fellow with Indigenous Eye Health (IEH) at the University of Melbourne in November 2017. Tessa has over 10 years experience working in primary health care program management in Tasmania and Victoria - with a particular focus on collaboration for health system improvement. She has also worked for State Government and within the university sector. Tessa was awarded her PhD in 2009 (University of Tasmania) and completed a Master of Public Health at Monash University in 2017. In her role with IEH, Tessa is working with the IEH team to support regional implementation of the Roadmap to Close the Gap for Vision (2012) across Australia.

Nick Schubert started in the role of Senior Research Fellow with Indigenous Eye Health (IEH), University of Melbourne in January 2016. Nick has a background of rural health workforce policy and program delivery across Australia at community, state and national levels. He is also currently undertaking a part-time PhD in rural health sciences exploring global approaches to rural medical generalism. In his role with IEH, Nick is working with a number of regions and jurisdictions across Australia to support the implementation of the Roadmap to Close the Gap for Vision (2012), as well as working on a number of key underpinning projects in support of this work.

Emma Stanford has a BA, BSc and Graduate Diploma in Environmental Science from Monash University. Emma has several years experience working in health from a government, hospital and medical research perspective. Emma has worked as a policy adviser to two Federal Health Ministers, she has worked in communications at the Royal Women's Hospital and as Executive Officer for the Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes. Emma is a Research Fellow in the Indigenous Eye Health group involved in the communications, policy development, advocacy and government liaison aspects of the work of the Group.

Carol recently joined the Indigenous Eye Health group as Translation Research Scholar Health Promotion. Carol has a strong interest in public health and completed her MPH at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 2005. Carol's work experience spans a number of areas including Aboriginal health, community development, health promotion, nutrition and dietetics, and chronic disease. She has worked in numerous countries such a Australia, Ireland, South East Asia, Mongolia and Africa, in education, Aboriginal community control, local government, and NGOs, empowering through grassroots level approaches. Her work at Indigenous Eye Health focuses on the development of health promotion and social marketing strategies to improve Indigenous eye health outcomes.