New Year Honour for world-leading eye surgeon

Jan 6

Jan 6 New Year Honour for world-leading eye surgeon

Warm congratulations to Professor Helen Danesh-Meyer of Auckland, who has been appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Described by the Eye Institute clinic as “a world-leading New Zealand eye surgeon”, Professor Danesh-Meyer is a longstanding member of the Aotearoa Bahá’í community.

The official citation for her honour reads:

DANESH-MEYER, Professor Helen Victoria

For services to ophthalmology

Professor Helen Danesh-Meyer has had a ground-breaking career as the first female Professor of Ophthalmology and the second female Professor in any surgical speciality in New Zealand.

Professor Helen Danesh-Meyer — photo from University of Auckland website.

Professor Danesh-Meyer has been the Sir William and Lady Stevenson Professor of Ophthalmology with the University of Auckland since 2008 and has been the Head of Academic Neuro-Ophthalmology and the Glaucoma Research Unit of the New Zealand Eye Centre. She is the Chair and co-founder of Glaucoma New Zealand, founded in 2003, recognised as the official advocacy organisation for patients with glaucoma. The organisation has provided the unmet need for the professional education of optometrists, lifting clinical standards of care through courses and online seminars. She has served as the Chair of Women in Ophthalmology for the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists, introducing innovative polices that have reduced inequities and promoted diversity and inclusion in clinical and scientific training. Her research has yielded key insights into the causes and improved management of glaucoma and other leading causes for blindness in New Zealand, including discovering the measured thickness of the nerves in the retina as a guide to the ideal timing for pituitary gland surgery. A discovery by Professor Danesh-Meyer showed the thinning of retinal nerves is a feature of dementia, laying foundations for novel diagnostic tests.

Helen moved to New Zealand at age 14 with her illustrious parents, Drs Ali and Mahtaban Danesh, when her father took up a research position at Otago University. According to a 2003 article in “North and South” magazine, she “spent most of her ‘thinking years’ in Dunedin and considers herself ‘mentally a kiwi.’”