10 HOMEGROWN BUSINESSES MAKING TOWNSVILLE PROUD
“MY WORK IS INCREDIBLY REWARDING; MORE THAN I COULD POSSIBLY HAVE ANTICIPATED.” DR IAN REDDIE
NORTH QUEENSLAND RETINA “When people are referred to me they are often very frightened about going blind,” says Dr Ian Reddie, retinal specialist and owner of North Queensland Retina. “To be able to help these people when they are very vulnerable and scared is a real privilege and a great responsibility.” As an ophthalmologist and subspecialist Vitreoretinal Surgeon, Ian performs surgery on the retina – the light-sensitive tissue inside our eyeballs – to treat conditions like detached retina. “The retina is very delicate tissue and as a consequence the surgery is also very precise.”
North Queensland Retina Suite 1, 132-134 Ross River Road, Mundingburra 4775 6686 reception@townsvilleeyecare.com.au www.townsvilleeyecare.com.au
He also specialises in medical retina, treating non-surgical disorders of the retina such as macular degeneration and diabetes. “The range of work I get to do is really very broad; in a regional area you have to be at the top of your game.” The Townsville Grammar School graduate (class of ’87) spent a decade studying and practising law as a commercial litigator in Brisbane before he pursued a lifelong desire to be a doctor. To become a subspecialist retinal surgeon, it took Ian another 13 years of study, specialist training and exams, including a highly competitive Ophthalmology training programme at Prince of Wales Hospital
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in Sydney, where Dr Fred Hollows had been based. “I wanted to be a vitreoretinal surgeon – this is surgery deep inside the eye. Only a handful of people around Australia are able to do this type of surgery, and I knew from my experiences in Townsville [Ian spent time at Townsville Hospital’s eye department in 2005 working under Dr Graeme Kelly, whom he later joined in partnership at Townsville Eye Care] that the NQ community badly needed local access to retinal surgery – and not have to be transferred to Brisbane when dealing with often time-critical retinal disease.” As the only fellowship-trained medical and surgical retina specialist based permanently in Townsville, Ian supervises eye specialists in training. “They arrive from Brisbane, where their studies are based, and they get to see how good life can be in a regional centre, both professionally and personally.” This is the reason Ian says he himself returned to North Queensland, the region that helped shape him. “I wanted to serve the community by bringing a unique set of skills to the area. “Also, the more of the world I saw the more I realised how special NQ is.”