2012 Lans Distinguished Award:
Dr. Noel Alpins

Noel Alpins, MD, FACS, is an active cataract and refractive surgeon and is the medical director of NewVision Clinics in Melbourne, Australia. Dr. Alpins has spoken widely on cataract and refractive surgery topics and has been a keynote speaker at many Australian and international meetings. He pioneered small-incision cataract surgery in Victoria and is a founder and current member of the Excimer Laser & Research Group. He is also an associate fellow at the University of Melbourne, where he completed his Diploma of Ophthalmology in 1977 and FRACS prior to commencing practice in general ophthalmology.

He is on the Royal Australian and New Zealand College Ophthalmologists scientific program committee. He is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, Ocular Surgery News, Eurotimes and the International Scholarly Research Network (ISRN) series of journals. He has published widely in these and other ophthalmic information journals and has authored more than 20 book chapters.

Dr. Alpins has developed new techniques in the treatment and analysis of astigmatism. He has developed the ASSORT computer program for astigmatism calculation for toric implants and vector analysis and for outcomes analysis of cataract and refractive surgery. Among other recognitions, Dr. Alpins received the 2006 Gold Medal from the International Academy for Advances in Ophthalmology and gave the Council Lecture at the 2010 Annual Scientific Congress of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (RANZCO). He has been an Australia Day Ambassador since 2011.