Dr Edwin E Howell, research fellow in the Victorian College of Optometry and the National Vision Research Institute (NVRI)

Historical Significance: Dr Howell studied physiology at the University of Melbourne and embarked on a PhD degree in physiology which he did not complete. He researched in Cambridge University on a'post-doc' even though the PhD was not completed, working with Dr Fergus Campbell. When this came to an end he was appointed as a Research Fellow in the Victorian College of Optometry in Professor Cole's laboratory in 1975. He then moved to work in the National Vision Research Institute as a Research Officer (1976 - 1982) where he formed a fruitful partnership with Robert Hess, a Queensland optometrist who was then studying for a PhD in Melbourne. Hess subsequently became Professor of Ophthalmology at McGill University and Director of the Department of Ophthalmology's research centre. Both Howell and Hess were ideas men but Robert Hess was the doer and they made a good team, publishing a number of important papers together. Edwin Howell completed his PhD but then decided that optometry was so interesting that he enrolled in the optometry course, in which he was at the time both student and part-time lecturer! He abandoned research in favour of optometric practice when he completed his optometry course, but continued to be an ideas man in the fields of binocular vision and behavioural optometry. He taught in optometry undergraduate courses at both Melbourne University and the University of NSW and was a leading figure in the the Australian College of Behavioural Optometrists. See Keith CG, Howell ER, Mitchell DE, and Smith S: Clinical trial of the use of grating patterns in the treatment of amblyopia. Br J Ophthalmol 64:597, 1980 for the paper reporting one element of Dr Howells's work