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OPTOMETRY EDITORIAL
Amblyopia and the H Barry Collin Research Medal Clin Exp Optom 2014; 97: 385
Barry L Cole PhD BSc LOSc FACO Chairman Editorial Board Professor Emeritus The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
The most recent recipient of the H Barry Collin Research Medal is Australian optometrist, Robert F Hess. It was presented to him at the Southern Regional Congress (SRC) on 3 March 2014 by Professor Barry Collin, in whose honour the award was created in 1977. Optometry Australia (formerly Optometrists Association Australia) awards the Medal to recognise outstanding contributions to the advancement of knowledge in optics, vision science or clinical optometry by Australians or others who have a significant connection to Australia. The lead paper in this issue is adapted from the paper Professor Hess read to the SRC after the presentation of the medal to him.1 Professor Hess hails from Queensland. He qualified in optometry at the Queensland Institute of Technology, obtaining his Diploma of Applied Science (Optometry) in 1970 but he has not spent much time in that sunny state since then. He obtained a Masters degree at the University of Aston in the UK and his PhD degree at The University
DOI:10.1111/cxo.12174 of Melbourne in 1976, working in the National Vision Research Institute. He then worked at Cambridge University for 14 years as the Meres Senior Fellow for Medical Research at St John’s College and then as the Wellcome Senior Lecturer in the Department of Physiology. He is now Professor of Ophthalmology at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, as Director of Research. He has published prolifically and is renowned for his work on the nature of visual processing in spatial localisation, temporal coding, motion coding and stereopsis and has made singular contributions to unravelling the neural mysteries of amblyopia. There is a full profile of him in this issue written by Donald E Mitchell,2 another highflying Australian optometrist, who was the recipient of the Collin Medal in 2012.3 A Google search for ‘Hess Amblyopia’ shows that he has been in the news recently with a new treatment of amblyopia based on video games. His paper in this issue reports on its efficacy. The new treatment takes a novel approach of directly targeting suppression. It can be home-administered using an iPod device and can be effective for adult amblyopes.
3. Cole BL. Professor Donald E Mitchell. The H Barry Collin Research Medallist 2012 Foundation Director of the National Vision Research Institute of Australia. Clin Exp Optom 2013; 96: 433–435.
RECIPIENTS OF THE H BARRY COLLIN RESEARCH MEDAL H Barry Collin AM (1977) Brien A Holden OAM (1988) Gerald Westheimer AM FRS (2009) Jack D Pettigrew FRS (2010) Anthony J Adams (2011) Donald E Mitchell (2012) Robert F Hess (2013) REFERENCES 1. Hess RF, Babu RJ, Clavagnier S, Black J, Bobier W, Thompson B. The iPod binocular home-based treatment for amblyopia in adults: efficacy and compliance. Clin Exp Optom 2014; 97: 389–398. 2. Mitchell DE. Professor Robert F Hess DSc PhD MSc DipOptom. Awarded the H Barry Collin Research Medal for 2013. Clin Exp Optom 2014; 97: 456–458.
© 2014 The Author Clinical and Experimental Optometry © 2014 Optometrists Association Australia
Clinical and Experimental Optometry 97.5 September 2014
385
A N D
E X P E R I M E N T A L
OPTOMETRY EDITORIAL
Amblyopia and the H Barry Collin Research Medal Clin Exp Optom 2014; 97: 385
Barry L Cole PhD BSc LOSc FACO Chairman Editorial Board Professor Emeritus The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
The most recent recipient of the H Barry Collin Research Medal is Australian optometrist, Robert F Hess. It was presented to him at the Southern Regional Congress (SRC) on 3 March 2014 by Professor Barry Collin, in whose honour the award was created in 1977. Optometry Australia (formerly Optometrists Association Australia) awards the Medal to recognise outstanding contributions to the advancement of knowledge in optics, vision science or clinical optometry by Australians or others who have a significant connection to Australia. The lead paper in this issue is adapted from the paper Professor Hess read to the SRC after the presentation of the medal to him.1 Professor Hess hails from Queensland. He qualified in optometry at the Queensland Institute of Technology, obtaining his Diploma of Applied Science (Optometry) in 1970 but he has not spent much time in that sunny state since then. He obtained a Masters degree at the University of Aston in the UK and his PhD degree at The University
DOI:10.1111/cxo.12174 of Melbourne in 1976, working in the National Vision Research Institute. He then worked at Cambridge University for 14 years as the Meres Senior Fellow for Medical Research at St John’s College and then as the Wellcome Senior Lecturer in the Department of Physiology. He is now Professor of Ophthalmology at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, as Director of Research. He has published prolifically and is renowned for his work on the nature of visual processing in spatial localisation, temporal coding, motion coding and stereopsis and has made singular contributions to unravelling the neural mysteries of amblyopia. There is a full profile of him in this issue written by Donald E Mitchell,2 another highflying Australian optometrist, who was the recipient of the Collin Medal in 2012.3 A Google search for ‘Hess Amblyopia’ shows that he has been in the news recently with a new treatment of amblyopia based on video games. His paper in this issue reports on its efficacy. The new treatment takes a novel approach of directly targeting suppression. It can be home-administered using an iPod device and can be effective for adult amblyopes.
3. Cole BL. Professor Donald E Mitchell. The H Barry Collin Research Medallist 2012 Foundation Director of the National Vision Research Institute of Australia. Clin Exp Optom 2013; 96: 433–435.
RECIPIENTS OF THE H BARRY COLLIN RESEARCH MEDAL H Barry Collin AM (1977) Brien A Holden OAM (1988) Gerald Westheimer AM FRS (2009) Jack D Pettigrew FRS (2010) Anthony J Adams (2011) Donald E Mitchell (2012) Robert F Hess (2013) REFERENCES 1. Hess RF, Babu RJ, Clavagnier S, Black J, Bobier W, Thompson B. The iPod binocular home-based treatment for amblyopia in adults: efficacy and compliance. Clin Exp Optom 2014; 97: 389–398. 2. Mitchell DE. Professor Robert F Hess DSc PhD MSc DipOptom. Awarded the H Barry Collin Research Medal for 2013. Clin Exp Optom 2014; 97: 456–458.
© 2014 The Author Clinical and Experimental Optometry © 2014 Optometrists Association Australia
Clinical and Experimental Optometry 97.5 September 2014
385
