Gisborne-based senior clinical lecturer Dr Graham Wilson has been appointed Honorary Clinical Associate Professor of Ophthalmology with the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Otago, Wellington.

Education and research have always played a central part in A/Prof Wilson’s career in medicine. In 1998, he established the final ophthalmology exam course for junior doctors and in 2017 he set up the microsurgery skills course, now compulsory for ophthalmology trainees. He has also supervised 11 ophthalmology registrars from New Zealand, the UK and Malaysia at Gisborne Hospital. He said he was honoured to be recognised in this way. “It’s proof that it’s possible to contribute to ophthalmic teaching and research from a remote city on the edge of the world!”

Since 2017, A/Prof Wilson has been the principal investigator of the vision component of the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study, a unique longitudinal study of the health, development and behaviour of 1,037 subjects born between 1972 and 1973. A/Prof Wilson describes his involvement as a privilege, examining long-term vision changes, eye biomarkers indicating dementia, the effect of cannabis on the eye and more. The Dunedin Study was awarded Aotearoa’s most prestigious scientific award, the Rutherford Medal, in 2022.