Eyes wide open

Brien Holden is director of the Cooperative Research Centre for Eye Research and Technology in Sydney, a collaborative effort between industry and academia that develops new ways of correcting sight. He is also the founding chairman of the International Centre for Eyecare Education, which aims to provide glasses to the more than 100 million people worldwide who need them. Though he failed his first attempt to graduate from high school, Holden took a degree in optometry and a PhD in eye physiology. His interest in the developing world was sparked by a trip to Sri Lanka nearly 40 years ago.…