Professor Hugh R Taylor AC

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.