Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences


NZ-NEC affiliated organisations

NZ-NEC affiliated organisations

Glaucoma NZ

Glaucoma New Zealand is a registered charitable trust with a mission to eliminate blindness from glaucoma in the New Zealand community. The Trust was established in 2002 and is an independent unit based within the Department of Ophthalmology. (Charities Register No. CC21421)

Glaucoma NZ takes four key approaches to preventing glaucoma blindness:

a) Research is the key to providing quality care in the short term and to finding a solution to glaucoma in the long term. Glaucoma NZ supports research into glaucoma in New Zealand by means of grants for independently assessed projects.

b) Glaucoma NZ initiates awareness programs to enhance understanding of glaucoma in the community. Early detection of glaucoma and its risk factors is critical to elimination of blindness from glaucoma.

c) Glaucoma NZ informs and educates people affected by glaucoma to avoid further loss of eyesight through improved compliance with treatments.

d) Glaucoma NZ promotes high quality glaucoma care by all health workers. A range of Professional Education programs are provided for health professionals.

Visit Glaucoma New Zealand

New Zealand National Eye Bank (NZNEB)

The New Zealand National Eye Bank, established in 1989, is a charitable organisation responsible for the supply of donated corneas and other tissues required for transplantation within New Zealand. A Board of Trustees governs the Eye Bank, and donations and grants are required to supplement direct revenue. It is an independent unit located within the Department of Ophthalmology, and the staff of three operates a 24 hour, 365 day service to coordinate eye donations from hospitals and the community. This involves screening of potential donors, discussing donation with families and obtaining consent, processing, storage and evaluation of tissue before distribution for transplantation.

Each year, an average of 240 corneas are transplanted, restoring vision to people of all ages with corneal disorders and diseases. In addition, sclera is used for reconstruction after ocular trauma or glaucoma treatment, and amniotic membrane is utilised as a ‘living bandage’ for ocular surface disorders. The NZNEB maintains the New Zealand Corneal Transplant Registry, which tracks patient characteristics and outcome for all transplants. Vital support for ophthalmic research is also a core function, with the provision of corneas, lens and retinal tissues where consent is provided.

Visit the New Zealand National Eye Bank

Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology Editorial Office

Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology is the international clinical and laboratory research journal of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists. It has a wide international circulation and is particularly well represented in Asia, Europe and North America with research papers regularly being submitted from more than fifty countries. Many members of NZ-NEC regularly perform reviews of submitted manuscripts, recruit scientific papers and contribute to key editorials.

Professor Charles McGhee is the Editor in Chief of the journal and a number of senior staff in the Department of Ophthalmology are represented on the editorial board. The journal offices are based within Ophthalmology in the NZ-NEC and run by the Managing Editor, Ms Vicky Cartwright. The journal is increasingly cited in the scientific literature and recently published the scientific abstracts and hosted the speakers’ reception of the World Ophthalmology Congress in Hong Kong. Worldwide more than 80,000 full research articles were downloaded from Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology in 2007.

Visit Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology