Queensland optometrist Associate Professor Peter Hendicott has been elected president of the World Council of Optometry (WCO) for the next two year-term, starting in October 2021.
“It is indeed an honour and it is humbling to feel that colleagues internationally feel that I am someone who can participate at this international level,” A/Prof Hendicott told Optometry Australia.
“My main aim is to work toward increased recognition, improved education and regulation, as through this optometry will make a greater difference to people.
“WCO’s vision is of a world where optometry makes high quality eye health and vision care accessible to all people, achieving this through the development of optometry around the world and supporting optometrists to promote eye health and vision care as a human right through advocacy, education, policy development and humanitarian outreach.”
A/Prof Hendicott said that over the next few years, optometry needed to respond to changes in demographics and the challenges presented in eye care including increasing myopia, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy and other diabetes-related ocular complications, and the WCO has a role to play in this context.
