Biographical entry Hollows, Frederick Cossum (Fred) (1929 - 1993)

Summary

Fred Hollows worked as a clinician in New Zealand for several years before specializing in ophthalmology. He moved to Australia in 1965 when appointed Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of New South Wales. Throughout his career Fred Hollows was heavily involved in improving the health of Australia's indigenous and rural people. He helped establish the Aboriginal Medical Service and The National Trachoma and Eye Health Program. Hollows was also instrumental in reducing the cost of eye care in developing countries by setting up intraocular lens factories in Nepal and Eritrea. The Fred Hollows Foundation continues to support these and other projects.

Details

After completing a Bachelor of Arts, Fred Hollows turned his attentions to the priesthood. He took up ecclesiastical studies in 1950, but after one year decided to withdraw. The next year Hollows began a medical degree in Dunedin, New Zealand and in 1961 specialized in ophthalmology. In 1965 he was appointed Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of New South Wales. During his tenure at the University he became aware of the impact of trachoma (eye disease, leading to blindness, caused by Chlamydia trachomatis) on Australia's rural and Aboriginal populations. Because Australia is the only developed country in the world where this disease still exists, Hollows fought hard to establish a national treatment program. In 1975 the Federal Government and Australian College of Ophthalmologists set up the National Trachoma and Eye Health Program and appointed Hollows as its Chairman. Over a three year period this program screened 100, 000 Australians.

In 1985 Fred Hollows was awarded the Order of Australia but refused to accept it in protest to the poor state of Aboriginal Health. Hollows was also a consultant for the World Health organization and visited many third world countries. He recognised that most blindness disorders in these countries were due to the lack of basic medical treatment, and therefore preventable. Cataracts were the commonest problem in these countries. But the high price of surgery and replacement lenses (the intraocular lens) meant treatment was not an option for most people. Hollows raised money to establish Intraocular lens factories in Nepal and Eritrea to dramatically reduce this cost ( by around 70%). In 1992 he established The Fred Hollows Foundation which continues to support expansion of these and other projects. Fred Hollows died of cancer in Sydney on 10 February 1993.

Events

1946 - 1949

Education - Bachelor of Arts (BA) completed at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand

1950

Education - Ecclesiastical studies at the Glenleith Bible College in Dunedin, New Zealand

1951 - 1955

Education - Bachelor of Medicine (MB) completed at the University of Otago in Dunedin

1955 - 1956

Career position - Medical Intern at the Wellington Hospital

1957 - 1960

Career position - House Surgeon at Auckland Hospital

1961

Education - Ophthalmology studies at Moorfields in the UK

1961 - 1964

Career position - Ophthalmic Registrar in Cardiff, Wales

1965 -

Career position - Associated Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of New South Wales

1970

Career position - Treatment of indigenous patients in Bourke, NSW

1971

Career position - First Aboriginal medical centre in Redfern, NSW

1973

Career position - Worked in South Australia

1975

Career position - Director of the National Trachoma and Eye Health Program (NTEHP)

1981

Career position - Resigned from NTEHP

1985?

Career position - Consultant to the World Health Organization

1985

Career position - Visited Nepal, Burma, Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh

1987

Career position - Visited Eritrea

1989

Life event - Naturalised

1990 - 1991

Career position - Visited Eritrea twice, Nepal and Vietnam

1992

Career position - Chair of the Division of Ophthalmology at the University of New South Wales, Prince of Wales and Prince Henry Teaching Hospitals

1992

Career position - The Fred Hollows Foundation established in Australia

1994

Career position - Intraocular lens laboratories established by the Foundation in Eritrea and Nepal

Published resources

Books

• Hollows, Frederick C. and Corris, Peter, Fred Hollows: an Autobiography, Kent Publishing, Balmain, 1993, 269 pp. Details

Online Resources

• 'Hollows, Fred', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-582761. Details