Dr May Ho with her Eye Health Hero award

Melbourne optometrist Dr Suit May Ho has been named an Eye Health Hero for her work including training eye health workers in Vietnam, Cambodia and Timor-Leste, reports Optometry Australia.

May was among 22 people worldwide named as Eye Health Heroes for 2018 by The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB.) The Eye Health Heroes initiative recognises and celebrates those whose work in the field and engagement with the community makes a difference in restoring sight and preventing blindness.

May is Global Education Program Manager with the Brien Holden Vision Institute and is based in Melbourne at the Australian College of Optometry. A major part of her work has been helping to change the eye care landscape in Vietnam through her pivotal role in establishing two optometry schools there.

May and early career optometrist Anagha Joshi, a staff optometrist at the Australian College of Optometry, were the only optometrists who received the award this year in Hyderabad, India.

“I was very pleased and proud, especially because the Brien Holden Vision Institute nominated me but also because it reflects the work done by the rest of the institute team and people in the countries where we worked in partnership on these projects,” said May.

The first 13 Vietnamese trained optometrists will graduate in November and will work in private practice and hospitals, and next year another 70 will graduate. “There are only 12 other overseas-trained optometrists in the whole country,” May said. “Ophthalmologists have been quite supportive. They have been knocking on our door to employ graduates. We are trying to get the profession recognised by the Ministry of Health so these graduates can work in government hospitals.”