Professor Hugh R Taylor AC

Melbourne Laureate Professor Emeritus Hugh Taylor has retired from being the head of IEHU in 2022 which he started in 2008. Between 2000 and 2008 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 book on trachoma, and more than 700 scientific papers. He has received multiple international awards and prizes. In 2001, he was made a Companion in the Order of Australia. He has been President of the International Council of Ophthalmology, Vice President of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, and Chairman of Vision 2020 Australia.