Gunnedah optometrist recognised for decades of service to his community

Gunnedah optometrist Tim Duffy has received the 2017 Lederer Award in recognition of his outstanding work over many years in providing rural eye and vision health to his local community.

For decades Tim was the only eye health practitioner in this NSW rural town, leading to a very busy schedule and wide scope of practice. For one day in each week he has travelled 100 kilometres to and from Coonabarabran, looking after this community and especially those with chronic conditions who could not travel elsewhere for care. Independently, he has built a positive, effective and productive clinical network with the Gunnedah GPs and the nearest ophthalmologists in Tamworth and Armidale.

More recently he has successfully attracted a number of new graduate optometrists to join his rural practice, and the practice has expanded to include the town of Narrabri. He also provides quality rural placement experiences for senior students from the various optometry schools in Australia.

The Lederer Award is presented by the New South Wales Division of Optometry Australia to optometrists in recognition of their excellence in one or more of the following areas: clinical practice; community volunteer work; committee service; teaching; organizational management.

It commemorates the work of Professor Josef Lederer, the foundation Professor of Optometry at the University of New South Wales, recognised for his leading work in the development of the Lederer Lens, a low-cost device which enabled partially-sighted people to read. He was also instrumental in the development of the discipline and establishment of the School of Optometry at UNSW.

Previous Lederer Awards have been made to distinguished city-based educators, researchers and professional leaders.