Congratulating Prof Lauren Ayton on receiving an Order of Australia
Congratulations to Prof Lauren Ayton who has been appointed a Member of the Order of Australia. This title recognises Lauren's outstanding contributions to the optometry and ophthalmology professions.
Lauren is a Professor in the Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences. She is a clinician-scientist with strong research interests in vision restoration, retinal pathology and clinical assessment of visual performance. She also holds roles as the Associate Dean of Innovation and Enterprise for the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, and Principal Investigator at the Center for Eye Research Australia (CERA) and Cerulea Clinical Trials Centre.
Initially she completed her PhD in paedeatric optometry and a postdoctoral position in traumatic brain injury and oculomotor function. Then, as Clinical Research Team Leader of the Bionic Vision Australia consortium, Lauren led patient selection and assessments in the first human trials of Australia’s first bionic eye device from 2010-2017. She then took a senior role as Director of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs of Bionic Eye Technologies, a startup affiliated with Harvard and Cornell Universities, from 2017-2019. Her current research focuses on inherited retinal diseases and emerging therapeutics such as gene therapy and pharmaceuticals.
A passionate science communicator, Lauren often speaks at both peer-review conferences and community engagement events, with a commitment to research translation to get effective medical products and treatment to patients as quickly as possible. She is also a radio host on 3RRR radio's Einstein A Go Go show.
