What is the ISCLR?
The International Society for Contact Lens Research (ISCLR) is a group committed to international communication in the field of contact lens research and related sciences.
The ISCLR was established in 1978 by an international group of leading researchers, including Montague Ruben who became Founding President. Through Montague Ruben’s involvement, Otto Wichterle, the father of soft contact lenses, became Patron of the organisation.
This group recognised that keeping in touch with the latest investigations around the world is essential to the progress of research and product development. While publication concerns often prevent the communication of valuable early research results, the closed structure of ISCLR allows researchers and industry to benefit from international research efforts, and to maintain their links with the forefront of research knowledge.
ISCLR has become a crucial way in which researchers and industry in the field of contact lenses may be brought rapidly up-to-date with important developments and directions.
The ISCLR membership meets every two years at a Symposium or Scientific Meeting.
Executive Committee
The ISCLR has an Executive Committee consisting of the President, the President-Elect, four Vice-Presidents, the Secretary, and Past Presidents. The Members of the Executive Committee are also known as the Officers of the Corporation.
Current members of the Executive Committee are:
| Mark Willcox President Email:m.willcox@ier.org.au |
H. Dwight Cavanagh |
Marguerite McDonald President Elect Email:mbm2626@aol.com |
Craig Woods |
| Jean Jacob Vice President for Finance Email: jjacob@lsuhsc.edu |
Fiona Stapleton Vice President Email:f.stapleton@unsw.edu.au |
Phillip Morgan |
Brian Tighe |
Past Presidents of the ISLCR are:
H. Dwight Cavanagh 2009 - 2011
Suzanne Fleiszig 2007 - 2009
Desmond Fonn 2005 - 2007
Graeme Wilson 2003 - 2005
Deborah Sweeney 2001 - 2003
Stephen Klyce 1999 - 2001
Michel Guillon 1997- 1999
Perry Binder 1995 - 1997
Gerald Lowther 1992 - 1995
Michael Lemp 1990 - 1992
Richard Hill 1988 - 1990
Kenneth Polse 1986 - 1988
Miguel Refojo 1984 - 1986
Brien Holden 1982 - 1984
Montague Ruben – Founding President
Council
The ISCLR also has a 36 member Council, also known as the Board of Directors, which includes the Executive Committee (above), elected members (below), and Past Presidents of the ISCLR (above):
William Benjamin, Jan Bergmanson, William Bourne, Noel Brennan, Barbara Caffery, Patrick Caroline, Ian Cox, Darlene Dartt, Kathy Dumbleton, Nathan Efron, David Evans, Michael Gilmore, Michael Harris, Arthur Ho, Motozumi Itoi, Lyndon Jones, Carol Lakkis, Charles McMonnies, Carole Maldonaldo-Codina, Carol Morris, Kelly Nichols, Eric Papas, Clayton Radke, Oliver Schein, Cristina Schnider, Earl Smith, Helen Swarbrick, Loretta Szczotka-Flynn, Alan Tomlinson.
Honorary Life Members
Irving Borish, Hikaru Hamano, Antonio Henriquez, Richard Pearson, Pierre Rocher, Montague Ruben (Founding President), Otto Wichterle (Patron)
Patron
Otto Wichterle was one of the founders of the modern contact lens industry. Born and raised in the Czech Republic, he first studied mechanical engineering, but then switched to chemistry after being convinced by a friend that it would be more interesting. He developed the stable transparent gel, hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA), which was then used for making soft contact lenses, and trialled these lenses in his own eyes in 1957. Subsequent developments such as using spin casting for making contact lenses, rather than cast molding, helped develop contact lenses further.
Otto Wichterle worked within the authoritarian regimes that at various times controlled the Czech Republic. During this time, he received little financial remuneration from his invention and was forbidden to travel. He was also jailed. When Communist rule collapsed in 1989, Professor Wichterle was elected to head the Czechoslovak Academy of Science, and when the country split, he became the first President of the Academy of the Czech Republic.
Otto Wichterle worked tirelessly in support of industry and the research community as a whole, and accepted the position of Patron to the ISCLR in 1978. The ISCLR is proud to have Professor Wichterle as its Patron. His high quality research, his vision and his humanitarianism provide an ideal example to all involved in contact lens research. 