Sydney Australia, 8 October, 2019: BHVI is embarking on a new strategic roadmap for our organization. Today, we are pleased to announce Tim Fricke as acting Executive Director of our social enterprise delivering improved eye care to those most in need in Australia and across the world. Tim will manage the team while Executive Director Leigh Cleave fulfils her lifelong dream of exploring new countries for the next year.
Uniquely qualified for the complex role, Tim Fricke, is a senior research fellow with BHVI. He is an optometrist, researcher & international development practitioner and has held management and leadership roles in private, public and community health. He brings extensive pediatrics clinical experience and post-graduate research in pediatrics eye care & health economics, along with his international research into the development of local systems & skills for eyecare in developing countries.
“Vision impairment is a major contributor to global poverty. There are more than 1.22 billion people who are blind, or vision impaired simply because they do not have access to eye examinations and glasses – things most Australian’s take for granted,” says BHVI CEO, Yvette Waddell. “We believe this is a crisis which requires an urgent and massive response. At BHVI, we are committed to researching and implementing solutions to meet this crisis head on and reverse the trend towards blindness.”
“I am a passionate advocate for sight being a fundamental right for everyone, regardless of where they live and BHVI is the world leader in ensuring this vision becomes a reality. It is an exciting time to be taking BHVI to the world,” says Tim Fricke.
With a goal to eliminate vision impairment and avoidable blindness, BHVI is a social enterprise with a clear mandate and an experienced and committed team working to improve the quality of life for people all around the world. For more than 30 years, we have focused on creating superior modes of vision correction for the most common eye conditions – refractive errors. These conditions impair the vision of billions of people worldwide.
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About BHVI
BHVI was established in 1985 and six years later it launched its specialist science arm, VisionCRC. It has a long successful history of co-developing innovative ophthalmic devices, including the Focus Night & Day contact lens with Alcon / CIBA Vision. This has brought in more than $300 million in royalty income for BHVI and its global project partners.
Through our foundation, we provide child eye health care, accessible eye care and help to train and develop the optometrist workforce in Australia and across the globe.
Today, nearly all who wear contact lenses have benefited from the research and efforts of BHVI.
For further information please contact:
Emily Kucukalic
+61 403 931 360
emily@bny.com.au