Australian Of The Year Dr. James Muecke AM

South Australian ophthalmologist and blindness prevention pioneer, Dr James Muecke started his medical career in Kenya and now 56 has this year been awarded Australian of the Year for his passionate approach to fighting blindness.

His focus (pardon the pun) now is the leading cause of blindness in adults – type 2 diabetes – a spiralling epidemic that’s impacting nearly 10% of Australians. It’s the fastest growing cause of vision loss in Aboriginal people and the sixth-biggest killer in our country. James wants to challenge our perception of sugar and the impact it has in the development of type 2 diabetes – as we all are aware, diet is such a key part of our health.

“My mission this year is to go back to the root cause of diabetes and prevent this looming health catastrophe and challenge our perception of sugar and our relationship with sugar. Sugar is as toxic and addictive as nicotine.”

During the Australian of the year ceremony, the audience were beamed a video of a South Australian grandfather Neil Hansell whose story helped illustrate the importance of what Dr Muecke is doing … Diagnosed with type 2 diabetes at age 30, he lived with it for a number of years – a busy working father putting his health second – telling the audience he woke one day blind because of a lack of education and action on the effects of type 2 diabetes.

“It didn’t have to be this way. Let me be an example of the great work of Dr Muecke because seven years later I now have 30 per cent of my eye-sight back thanks to him.
“He is working tirelessly to help us understand the link between diabetes and blindness.”

Dr James Muecke has a rich history making a difference and an even brighter future doing the same…

James co-founded Vision Myanmar at the South Australian Institute of Ophthalmology in 2000. The $1 million program has since developed and operated eye health and blindness initiatives in Myanmar. Inspired by this program’s success, Dr. Muecke also co-founded Sight For All, a social impact organisation aiming to create a world where everyone can see. With 80% of world blindness avoidable – and almost 90% in poor countries – James treats blindness as a human rights issue. Doesn’t that sound incredible!

Dr Muecke donates 40 hours of personal time weekly to Sight For All, and is involved in projects in Ethiopia, nine Asian countries, and mainstream and Aboriginal communities in Australia. His leadership, determination and passion has improved eye health and helped alleviate poverty and disadvantage in the regions he’s touched.

The Australian of the year accolade awarded to Dr. James Muecke is not only recognition for his life’s work to-date, but also recognises the huge number of Aussies with visual impairment. There are currently around 2000 visually impaired NDIS Participants around Australia*, but those statistics fall short of reflecting the prevalence of blindness in our country with so many more visually impaired individuals not currently receiving disability support from the NDIS.

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*source https://data.ndis.gov.au/explore-data