MEDIA RELEASE
Vision 2020 Australia CEO Jennifer Gersbeck has been named as one of the new faces of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) board.
Ms Gersbeck’s appointment comes following a review of the IAPB’s governance model which introduced a number of elected board seats to be drawn from the wider membership.
The board welcomed Ms Gersbeck’s experience at the forefront of the Vison 2020 Australia movement, where she has been passionately advocating for the elimination of avoidable blindness and vision loss in Australia and the region for the past 10 years.
On an international level she is respected for establishing a Global Consortium made up of Australian organisations conducting life-changing work across countries in Asia and the Pacific.
Over the past few years, Ms Gersbeck has led collaborative efforts on a national level to advocate and secure funding for Australia’s first National Eye Health Survey which is currently gearing up to collect data on the prevalence of blindness and vision loss across Australia.
She has also been influential in advocating to the Federal Government for the development of a National Framework Implementation Plan for Action to Promote Eye Health and Reduce Avoidable Blindness and Vision Loss.
Her appointment is timely as the IAPB continues to gather momentum around the implementation of the Global Action Plan.
Ms Gersbeck joins other distinguished leaders from high profile international eye health organisations. Other Australians on the IAPB Board include Brian Doolan, CEO of The Fred Hollows Foundation, Professor Brien Holden, head of the Brien Holden Vision Institute and founding member Professor Hugh Taylor from the International Council of Ophthalmology.
ENDS
Media Contact
Louise Rudzki, Vision 2020 Australia, (03) 9656 2020, +61 414 784 359 or lrudzki@vision2020australia.org.au