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The First Nations Eye Health Alliance (FNEHA) is the principal voice and peak body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander eye care. FNEHA is a registered charity that utilises traditional and contemporary knowledge/pathways to develop equitable health approaches that stop preventable vision loss and blindness in First Nations people. FNEHA carries the vision of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to see the enactment of equitable improvements in eye health and vision care outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Our work contributes to the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, building towards a collective national approach to empower First Nations communities so that they are healthy and flourishing.
FNEHA was born out of key discussions at the 2022 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Eye Health Conference (NASTIEHC) on Larrakia Country in Darwin, NT where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander eye health professionals from across the country called for a dedicated body to lead the advancements needed to improve eye health and vision care outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
FNEHA provides Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people working in the eye care and vision sector along with their allies, a space to connect, learn and be supported. By becoming a member of The Alliance, you can help to strengthen First Nations leadership
and voice within the eye health and vision care sector.
FNEHA Board & Secretariat 2024 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Eye Health Conference
We are an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled organisation focused
on building our vision our way. We lead from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deep
knowledge and lived experience to influence and engage our collective obligations across
the health community. Working nationally, we partner with the sector to build equitable
changes to eye health and vision care nationally for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
people.
FNEHA Board Meeting, Gadigal Country 2024
Pat Anderson AO is a Co-Patron of the First Nations Eye Health Alliance.
Aunty Pat is an Alyawarre woman known nationally and internationally as an advocate for the rights and health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people including community development, policy formation and research ethics.
Aunty Pat was Co-Chair of the Referend
Pat Anderson AO is a Co-Patron of the First Nations Eye Health Alliance.
Aunty Pat is an Alyawarre woman known nationally and internationally as an advocate for the rights and health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people including community development, policy formation and research ethics.
Aunty Pat was Co-Chair of the Referendum Council, the Co-Chair of the Uluru Dialogue, and a key advocate for the YES vote for the Voice to Parliament 2023 Australian Referendum.
Trevor Buzzacott OAM is a Co-Patron of the First Nations Eye Health Alliance.
Uncle Trevor is an Arabana man who worked closely with the late Professor Fred Hollows on the delivery of the National Trachoma program between 1976-1978.
The program screened and treated over 100,000 people across Australia for eye disease including trachoma.
Lose Fonua is the Chief Executive Officer for the First Nations Eye Health Alliance.
Lose is a Wiradjuri woman trained in leadership, public and population health and has a long professional history of working in health promotion, medical research, prevention, capability building and strategy at a local, state, and national level.
As the
Lose Fonua is the Chief Executive Officer for the First Nations Eye Health Alliance.
Lose is a Wiradjuri woman trained in leadership, public and population health and has a long professional history of working in health promotion, medical research, prevention, capability building and strategy at a local, state, and national level.
As the founding Director of consultancy company Tell Consulting, Lose's key passion is to see Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities with the requisite skills and resourcing to flourish and thrive.
Co-Chair
Shaun Tatipata is a Ngarrindjeri/Wuthathi man and Managing Director of the Deadly Vision Centre in Darwin, Board Director of IAHA NT Workforce Development Ltd and Vision 2020 Australia, and Chair of the First Nations Eye Health Alliance Board.
Co-Chair
Jaki Adams was born and raised in Garramilla (Darwin) on Larrakia Nation Lands and is of both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent, with ancestral links to the Yadhaigana and Wuthathi people of Cape York Peninsula and the Gurindji and Kungarakan peoples of the Northern Territory, and extended family ties across the Torres
Co-Chair
Jaki Adams was born and raised in Garramilla (Darwin) on Larrakia Nation Lands and is of both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent, with ancestral links to the Yadhaigana and Wuthathi people of Cape York Peninsula and the Gurindji and Kungarakan peoples of the Northern Territory, and extended family ties across the Torres Straits and Warlpiri (Yuendumu).
Jaki has some 30 years’ experience in government and non-government/international development sectors, which includes leadership roles across The Fred Hollows Foundation for the past eleven years.
Jaki has held significant roles in The Fred Hollows Foundation for the past eleven years, including eye health programming, strategic leadership, partnerships and advocacy across the Indigenous Australia Program, the Pacific, Timor Leste, Philippines and Indonesia. Jaki’s current role, as Director Social Justice and Regional Engagement, sees her leading The Foundation’s positioning in supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples having the right to sight, good health and self-determination, with a more specific focus on supporting the Uluru Statement from the Heart (Voice, Treaty, Truth), allyship accountability and health equity more broadly. Jaki is also supporting the Strategic Partnership with FHFNZ and convenes the IAPB Indigenous Peoples Special Interest Group.
In 2022 Jaki completed a Masters of Social Change Leadership through the Atlantic Fellowship for Social Equity (AFSE) and is a Global Atlantic Fellow. Her social change project focuses on Allyship Accountability from an Indigenous perspective and Jaki continues to understand what the non-negotiables are for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. In 2023 Jaki was awarded the Australian Council for International Development’s (ACFID) Outstanding Contribution to the Sector Award for her championing health equity, supporting strategic eye care relationships in Australia and across the Pacific, helping drive the agenda of the Allies for Uluru Coalition and elevating the voices of First Nations people (in Australia and internationally).
Secretary First Nations Eye Health Alliance Nick Wilson is a proud Ngarrindjeri man and is originally from South Australia. Nick now lives and works on Larrakia Country in Darwin.
Nick studied graphic design at university and has a keen interest in all things creative. Nick has worked in Indigenous health for over 13 years and has experie
Secretary First Nations Eye Health Alliance Nick Wilson is a proud Ngarrindjeri man and is originally from South Australia. Nick now lives and works on Larrakia Country in Darwin.
Nick studied graphic design at university and has a keen interest in all things creative. Nick has worked in Indigenous health for over 13 years and has experience working the community-controlled, state government and tertiary education sectors. Nick has also worked for many years in health promotion, environmental health, trachoma and currently leads up a statewide team in workforce development.
A/Professor Kris Rallah-Baker is a Yuggera/Warrongo/Wiradjuri man and Australia’s First and currently only Indigenous Ophthalmologist.
Kris holds an Adjunct Associate Professorship with QUT, is an Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne, founding member and former President of the Australian Indigenous Doctors Associat
A/Professor Kris Rallah-Baker is a Yuggera/Warrongo/Wiradjuri man and Australia’s First and currently only Indigenous Ophthalmologist.
Kris holds an Adjunct Associate Professorship with QUT, is an Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne, founding member and former President of the Australian Indigenous Doctors Association, former AMA Federal Councillor, Director on the Federal Board of the Royal Flying Doctors Service, technical advisor to the Fred Hollows Foundation, Chair of the Vision2020 Indigenous Committee, a Zeiss Key Opinion Leader, Director on the Board of the Nova Peris Foundation and Director/Owner of Sunshine Coast Ophthalmologists at Noosa and Nambour
Anne-Marie Banfield is a proud Kaurna woman from South Australia, who has been living, working and raising her family on Gunditjmara in the Southwest of Victoria for last 30 years.
Anne-Marie has extensive experience in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander eye health and has worked as Eye and Ear coordinator and Aboriginal health practit
Anne-Marie Banfield is a proud Kaurna woman from South Australia, who has been living, working and raising her family on Gunditjmara in the Southwest of Victoria for last 30 years.
Anne-Marie has extensive experience in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander eye health and has worked as Eye and Ear coordinator and Aboriginal health practitioner. Anne-Marie is the founder of Kadadjiny an Aboriginal instructional and graphic design business specialising in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander learning and education resources and material, currently lectures with The Australian College of Applied Professions, The University of Melbourne, and Latrobe University, sits on the Australian College of Optometry RAP committee and consults and presents at conferences and webinars on Aboriginal health and education.
Lauren Hutchinson is a Murrawarri woman and optometrist. Lauren was born and raised on Wiradjuri country in the central west of NSW.
She graduated from her Bachelor of Vision Science/Master of Optometry from QUT in 2017, following which, she returned to the central west, now residing back on the beautiful lands of the Wiradjuri people onc
Lauren Hutchinson is a Murrawarri woman and optometrist. Lauren was born and raised on Wiradjuri country in the central west of NSW.
She graduated from her Bachelor of Vision Science/Master of Optometry from QUT in 2017, following which, she returned to the central west, now residing back on the beautiful lands of the Wiradjuri people once again. Lauren has worked as an optometrist both in private practice and within the community-controlled sector. Lauren’s passions are in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, rural and remote and paediatric health and is committed to advocating for improving outcomes for her people in these spaces.
In her spare time you can find Lauren spending time with her beautiful nieces and nephews, on a hockey field or fishing on the Galari (Lachlan River).
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