Our Doctors

New South Wales

Dr Patrick Versace
MB, BS, FRANZCO, Dip. Anaes.

Dr Versace is a specialist refractive and cataract surgeon. He completed his medical and surgical training at the University of Sydney, and then did further training in London. He was the first surgeon in Australia to perform wavefront-guided laser treatments, and he conducted the early clinical trials resulting in the introduction of these techniques. He has performed many thousands of refractive surgery procedures, both laser and intraocular. As an investigator and surgical trainer for a number of refractive surgical procedures, he has certified many surgeons in Australia and abroad. He has been a speaker at numerous local and international conferences, and he has authored numerous textbook chapters and scientific papers.

Dr Versace holds a clinical research and teaching position at the Prince of Wales Hospital and University of NSW, where he is a clinical lecturer in ophthalmology, and he is also a consultant ophthalmologist to the Royal Australian Navy. He is actively involved in clinical research into existing and new refractive surgery techniques, and he has been a clinical investigator for a number of clinical trials, including the first wavefront guided LASIK investigation, the implantable 'contact lens', and the Crystallens accommodating IOL.

When asked by patients if he would have laser surgery done on himself, the answer is easy for Dr Versace - "I have had LASIK, with a fantastic result that changed my world!"

Dr Christopher Rogers

Dr Christopher Rogers is the pioneer of laser refractive surgery in Australia. In 1991 he bought the first excimer laser used for vision correction surgery in Australia. He is past-chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology at the Royal North Shore Hospital and at the Mater Misericordiae Hospital. He is now an Emeritus Consultant.

Dr Rogers has served as Chairman of the Contact Lens Committee for the Royal Australian College of Ophthalmologists, and Chairman of the Corneal Transplanting Surgeons Committee. From 1989 to 2000, Dr Rogers was a member of the Qualifications and Education Committee of the New South Wales Branch of the Royal Australian College of Ophthalmologists. He was the College's representative to ACCORD (Australian Council for the Coordination of Research and Donation) from 1988 to 1999. He has served on the Advocacy Committee of the International Society of Refractive Surgery.

Dr Rogers has published and lectured widely on the subject of refractive surgery. He is on the Medical Advisory Board of IntraLase Corp., and he is an adviser to various other laser technology companies. Dr Rogers is also the managing partner at Vision Eye Institute, Chatswood, Cremorne and Bondi Junction

Dr Michael Lawless

Dr Michael Lawless graduated in Medicine from the University of Sydney in 1980. He trained in Sydney, then undertook a Corneal and External Diseases Fellowship with Professor Doug Coster in Adelaide, and a second Fellowship in Corneal and Refractive Surgery at the Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital in New York. He specialises in refractive surgery, corneal transplants, and cataract and intraocular lens surgery.

Dr Lawless is the Medical Director of Vision Group, and is a Consultant in Ophthalmology to the Australian Defence Force and to the New South Wales Rugby Union. He is known around the world for his contribution to ophthalmic surgery, has published over sixty publications in the peer reviewed literature and written thirty text-book chapters. He is Associate Editor of Ocular Surgery News and serves on the editorial board of Cataract and Refractive Surgery Today. He is a recipient of the Honour Award for Educational Achievement from the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

Dr Lawless has been invited to perform live surgery on many occasions, including at the American Academy of Ophthalmology conference in Florida in 2002, the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery meeting in California in 2003, and the Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology conference in Malaysia in March 2005.

Dr Lawless has been active in public communication, and has been interviewed numerous times by all the prime time commercial news networks and the ABC, has appeared on the Midday Show, The Today Show, the Sunrise programme and on radio programmes, including ABC Radio's The Health Report. Dr Lawless' opinion has also been sought by the press, and he has been quoted extensively by the Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, Choice Magazine, and the Australian Financial Review.

Dr Gerard Sutton

Dr Gerard Sutton was the inaugural Laser Refractive and Corneal Fellow at The Eye Institute in Sydney in 1994. His areas of expertise are keratoconus surgery including Intacs intrastromal rings, corneal transplantation, laser refractive surgery, and modern cataract surgery. He completed his surgical training at the Sydney Eye Hospital, where he is now the Senior Staff Specialist in corneal surgery.

In 1994 Dr Sutton completed advanced surgical training in laser refractive, cataract, and corneal transplantation surgery at St Thomas' and Moorfields Eye Hospitals in London, and at the Friedrich Alexander University in Erlangen, Germany, having received the DAAD and RACO Sigma Scholarships. He was the first Australian to complete overseas fellowship training in laser refractive surgery.

Dr Sutton is a consultant to the Royal Australian Navy, and was the Chief Ophthalmologist for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. Formerly, he was the Australian representative on the International Council of the International Society of Refractive Surgeons.

Dr Sutton is currently a faculty advisor for the Australian and British Journals of Ophthalmology. He is the Chief Surgeon in New South Wales for the artificial cornea, as well as being the representative for The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists on the Australian Council of Healthcare Standards for LASIK. He was the first surgeon in Australia to perform LASIK using the IntraLase femtosecond laser, and the first to insert the Intacs intrastromal rings for keratoconus. He was also the first surgeon in Australia to perform a corneal transplantation using the IntraLase system. He has published over 50 peer-reviewed papers and textbook chapters.

In 2005 Dr Sutton was the invited speaker for the AMA national meeting in Alaska, and he continues to teach corneal and cataract surgery in developing countries such as Burma (Myanmar) and Cambodia.

Dr. Colin Chan

Dr. Colin Chan is refractive, cataract and corneal surgery specialist. He underwent extensive fellowship training in refractive and corneal surgery at the Boxer Wachler Vision Institute in Beverly Hills, California. He trained under internationally renowned refractive surgeon, Brian Boxer Wachler, former director of refractive surgery at Jules Stein, UCLA. Dr. Chan also held a specialist appointment at the University of California, Irvine. He is one of a handful of eye surgeons in Australia who have completed an international refractive surgery fellowship.

Dr. Chan is well recognized in the field of refractive surgery. He is a reviewer for a number of ophthalmology journals, is a regular panellist and speaker at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons annual meeting and has many peer reviewed publications. He co-authored the American Board of Eye Surgery certification standards for the implantable contact lens.

He also has a special interest in new treatments for keratoconus, a progressive corneal disease, including the corneal collagen cross linking treatment and Intacs. He helped pioneer these new treatments with Dr. Boxer Wachler in the United States and has lectured widely on keratoconus.

Dr. Chan graduated in medicine from the University of Melbourne with Honours. He underwent specialist ophthalmology training at The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital and Sydney Eye Hospital. During his training, he was awarded the inaugural NOSA Young Investigator award for his research on the treatment of Giant Cell arteritis, a rapidly blinding disease. He then undertook a Comprehensive ophthalmology year as Senior Registrar at Royal North Shore Hospital where he also taught as a Clinical Associate of the University of Sydney.

Dr Paul Hughes

Dr Paul Hughes is an internationally trained microsurgeon who has specialised in cataract surgery for over twenty years and has successfully performed over 10000 LASIK procedures.

In the early eighties he travelled overseas to learn the Russian technique of radial keratotomy (RK) and commenced performing the procedure shortly afterwards. However, with the development of the excimer laser in the late eighties he felt that this was the way of the future.

As the principal surgeon and medical director of Vision Eye Institute, Hurstville (Southline) Dr Hughes prides himself on the personal treatment he is able to offer his patients.

He is a Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists, the Royal Australian College of Surgeons. He is a member the American Academy of Ophthalmology as well as being a member of the American, European and Australian Societies of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons. Dr Hughes is also a member of the International Society of Refractive Surgeons.

Dr Hughes frequently lectures internationally at ophthalmic conventions and is published in peer reviewed journals.

Dr James Genge

Dr James Genge is an ophthalmic microsurgeon and internationally trained Corneal, Refractive and Cataract Surgery Subspecialist.

Dr Genge graduated in Medicine from the University of NSW, obtaining a further medical research degree with overseas experience in Burma on a scholarship. His specialist training was at Sydney Eye Hospital, and then undertook advanced surgical training with a Corneal and Refractive Surgery Fellowship at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London. He specialises in laser refractive surgery, corneal transplants, and modern cataract and refractive intraocular lens surgery.

Dr Genge has numerous publications in the peer reviewed literature and frequently lectures at ophthalmology conferences on refractive surgery, corneal transplantation and cataract surgery.

He is a fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmology. He is a member of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons and the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons.