18/05/2026
I had the pleasure of meeting Professor Hugh Taylor while l was completing a postgraduate diploma about images for a visual acuity chart for coastal-based Indigenous Australians.
Such a humble and kind man. It is great to see Hugh's mission for addressing trachoma has played out well. 👁
Thirty years ago, Professor Hugh Taylor refused to accept that vision loss was inevitable when he founded the Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA).
Today, that belief has helped lead to one of Australia’s most significant public health achievements – with the World Health Organization (WHO) confirming on 29 April that Australia has eliminated trachoma – once the leading infectious cause of preventable blindness.
For many years, trachoma affected Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
This milestone has been decades in the making, built on the work of communities, clinicians, researchers and supporters coming together to create lasting change.
In the 1970s, teams travelled to hundreds of remote communities, examining more than 60,000 people. Today, trachoma rates in at-risk children have dropped from 14.9% in 2009 to 1.5% in 2024.
As we celebrate 30 years of the organisation Professor Taylor founded, CERA continues to focus on preventing avoidable vision loss and translating research into real outcomes for patients and communities.
This is what progress looks like when we refuse to accept the status quo – and keep working toward a future without vision loss.
📰 For Age subscribers, a link to the article is in the comments 👇
