Archive for: Ophthalmic Surgeon

Dr Ming-Lee Lin, (MBBS (Hons), PhD, FRANZCO)

Ming-Lee Lin is a comprehensive ophthalmologist and Medical Retina specialist, with a particular interest in inflammatory eye disease. Her areas of expertise and special interest include cataract surgery, diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration and Uveitis.

Dr Lin graduated with honours from Monash University and received a Sir John Monash Scholarship for academic excellence. She was awarded a National Health and Medical Research Scholarship and holds a PhD for her research work in the immune system at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. She undertook her ophthalmology training at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital. Following this, Dr Lin went on to complete a cataract fellowship at Monash Health and further subspecialty training in Medical Retina and Uveitis at Moorfields Eye Hospital London.

Upon her return to Melbourne, Dr Lin was appointed as a consultant at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital and The Alfred Hospital Melbourne, where she is actively involved in ophthalmology training and the provision of public health care. She is currently a member of the Australia New Zealand Society of Retinal Specialists and the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

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Associate Professor Andrew Symons (MBBS,PhD, FRANZCO) is an Associate Ophthalmologist at Eye Surgery Associates and is a member of one of the largest Medical and Surgical teams in Victoria.  A/Prof Symons is a graduate of the University of Melbourne.  After finishing his medical degree, he pursued a PhD in genetics at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute and then training in ophthalmology at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital.  He underwent further training in medical retina, vitreoretinal surgery and ophthalmic research at the world famous Wilmer Eye Institute at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, USA.  He then worked at the University of Kansas until September 2012, becoming director of Medical Retina and Vitreoretinal surgery, Director of Ophthalmic Research, and Director of the Kansas Lions Sight Foundation.  He returned to Melbourne in September 2012 to become Head of Ophthalmology at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, and is a member of the Eye Surgery Associates Medical and Surgical Retina Group.

Associate Professor Symons has participated in clinical trials of bevacizumab, ranibizumab and other novel treatments for retinal disease.  He also has research interests in retinal vascularization and the role of endothelial progenitor cells in retinal vascularization, particularly in retinopathy of prematurity and diabetic retinopathy.

Associate Professor Symons is a fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists, a member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the American Society of Retina Specialists, the Association for Research into Vision and Ophthalmology and the International Society for Clinical Electrophysiology of Vision.  He has published many papers in the peer-reviewed literature and made numerous conference presentations.

Associate Professor Symons has participated in clinics designed to increase access to ophthalmic services in the United States.  His extracurricular interests include his family and music.

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Dr Weng Ng (MBBS(Hons), MPH, FRANZCO) is a cataract and glaucoma surgeon who holds the position of a glaucoma consultant at the Alfred Hospital and previously at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital.  He also manages most general ophthalmological conditions.  Weng graduated as a doctor in 1999 from the University of Melbourne with an honours degree. During his undergraduate training, he won the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists’ prize for Ophthalmology, Keith Levi Memorial Scholarship for Medicine and RD Wright prize for Physiology.  He completed a Master of Public Health degree from James Cook University prior to commencing his ophthalmology training.

Dr Ng performed general ophthalmology training at Sydney Eye Hospital and Prince of Wales Hospital, which was followed by a fellowship year in glaucoma and anterior segment at Royal Perth Hospital.  Dr Ng speaks fluent Cantonese and Mandarin, as well as basic Malay and Indonesian.  He consults at all three sites of Eye Surgery Associates, including a Saturday morning session at Cabrini Hospital, Malvern every four weeks.

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Associate Professor Julian Rait  OAM (MBBS(Melb), FRANZCO, FRACS, FAICD) a Principal at Eye Surgery Associates, is a glaucoma specialist and an Associate Professor in Ophthalmology at the University of Melbourne.  A/Prof Rait has served as a staff member of the Centre for Eye Research Australia and been involved in raising funds for Glaucoma research in the Department of Ophthalmology since 1991.  He was a federal councillor of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists between 1995 and 2003, and was also elected to the board of the Ophthalmic Research Institute of Australia, being the Honorary Treasurer between 1995 and 2002 and the Vice-Chairman between 2002 and 2005.

A/Prof Rait was head of the Glaucoma Unit at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital from 1993 to 2005, and subsequently was elected President & Chairman of MDA National Limited, a leading medical indemnity insurer representing 35,000 doctors, dentists and medical students across Australia.  He became a fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors in 2008 and has served on several Boards concerned with both indigenous and overseas aid.  A/Prof Rait was a Board member of the RANZCO Eye Foundation between 2009 and 2011, and has recently been appointed as the Chairman of Anglican Overseas Aid; an Ausaid accredited relief and development agency of the Anglican Church of Australia, that seeks to overcome poverty, injustice, and natural or environmental disaster in more than a dozen countries.

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Dr Ben Connell (BMBS, FRANZCO, MPH) provides a specialist cataract, refractive and corneal surgery service at Eye Surgery Associates.  Dr Connell is one of the first surgeons in Victoria to offer Laser-Assisted Cataract Surgery using the Femtosecond Laser technology.  He also provides Laser Vision Correction (LASIK), a procedure that can reduce patients dependence on glasses and contact lenses.  Corneal surgery to correct keratoconus and other corneal disease is also offered to patients under Dr Connell’s care.

He first developed an interest in ophthalmology in 1992 when he undertook a project at the Fred Hollows Foundation in Eritrea, Africa.  He then completed his undergraduate studies at the Flinders University of South Australia in 1994.

After completing his internship, Dr Connell worked at St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne.  He then undertook eye surgery training based at the Royal Victorian Eye & Ear Hospital Melbourne, in his final year as Senior Registrar.  He completed Advanced Subspecialty Surgical training at the Manchester Royal Hospital and Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, specialising in cataract surgery, laser vision correction and corneal transplantation.  He also held an Honorary Consultant Position at the Manchester Royal Eye Hospital.

Dr Connell holds an appointment at the Royal Victorian Eye & Ear Hospital as a Consultant with the Corneal Unit.

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