Dr David Cockburn OAM DSc hon causa MAppSc LOSc FVCO Councillor of the Victorian College of Optometry

Historical Significance: David Cockburn obtained his LOSc in 1950 and established his practice in his home suburb of Hampton. He became a VCO councillor in 1954 and served on Council in two terms for many years and was Treasurer from 1958 to 1966. He was the foundation chairman of the Board of Continuing Education from 1976 until 1991 and a leading lecturer in continuing education for even longer. He taught in the undergraduate course from 1957 for more than 30 years. He lead the profession in adopting slit lamp examination, rertinal photography, tonometry, gonioscopy, fundus lens examination, lacrimal lavage and foreign body removal laying the foundations for optometric practice to embrace therapeutics in the late1990s. He advocated an expanded role for optometry at the interface between systemic disease and eye disease. He advocated mandatory continuing education for optometrists. He raised funds to establish the National Vision Research Institute (NVRI) and was the foundation chairman of the Board of the NVRI. He did clinical research, obtained a research masters degree and published numerous papers. He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 1982 and an honorary DSc degree by the University of Melbourne in 1987. See his profile Clin Exp Optom 2003; 86: 1: 57-62 which is also on this web site under the tab 'People who made history'.