Dr Andreas Kreis, Long Term Advisor Ophthalmologist

Before making the bold move to Australia, Dr Andreas Kreis has actually spent most of his life in Switzerland where he graduated as a medical practitioner in 2001. With a wide array of experience from working as a group doctor on Swiss army mountaineering expeditions in the Swiss alps to a private practitioner in Lausanne, he finished his specialisation in Ophthalmology in 2006 and moved ‘down under’.

In Melbourne, he worked with the Centre for Eye Research Australia and the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital where he began to know the Timor Leste Eye Program. He began to know it so well that he decided to celebrate becoming an Australian citizen by moving to Timor Leste to work for us!

“I always had an interest in international medicine and during my ophthalmology specialist training it became very clear that a project like the East Timor Eye Program was something that I would like to become involved with. Upon visiting Dili, the beauty of the country, the culture, the people and the pride but also humbleness that every single patient had when confronted with their fate made a great impression on me. Very soon it became clear that with my skills and experience I could try and contribute to the almost endless amount of work in eye care that Dr Marcelino and the whole ETEP team are facing every day.”

Dr Mark Ellis, Maliana Team Leader

Dr Mark Ellis has been a long standing supporter of ETEP. Since 2006, Dr Ellis has led a team of nurses and optometrists to deliver specialist eye care services to the town of Maliana located in the Bobonaro district of Timor Leste. In 2004, Maliana’s estimated population was 12,200 and due to its close proximity to the border of Indonesia, the town was a centre location for intense violence during the war for independence.

“It is a pleasure to go over there and help people who can’t see to make their way through doors by giving them back their dignity and independence”

During his annual visits to Maliana, Dr Ellis works closely with national eye care nurses, anaesthetic nurses, ophthalmic assistants and medical students to transfer skills and knowledge in order to promote future work force sustainability.

Dr Ross Littlewood, Maubisse Team Leader

ETEP is lucky to have within its ranks Dr Ross Littlewood with his rich surgical global background from Jerusalem, British West Indies, the Kimberley region of Western Australia and now Maubisse, Timor Leste. Currently, he is the Chairman of the RANZCO Rural and Indigenous Committee and has been leading ETEP’s Maubisse eye team since 2008.

Maubisse is located in the Ainaro district with an estimated population of 4,947 (2004). Over the last three years, Dr Ross Littlewood has seen a dramatic change in Maubisse, from the desperately inadequate infrastructure of the hospital and its disorganised and squalid conditions in the beginning, to the now clean, safe and equipped hospital premises, which provide greater confidence in hospital service’s ability to operate safely and effectively.

When a 13 year old young girl walked into Maubisse hospital seeking medical attention from the visiting eye team, she was diagnosed with a serious visual impairment and a dangerously high level of pressure in her eyes. With the help from Dr Ross Littlewood and his team, a specialist surgical procedure stopped her from losing her remaining sight completely. This is Ross Littlewood’s fondest memory with the Program.

In the future, Dr Ross Littlewood hopes to see a self-sufficient group of trained Timorese eye care workers providing care for their own people in properly equipped eye clinics nationwide. 

Barbara Anderson, Nurse Coordinator

If ETEP’s surgeons are the heart of the operation then Barbara is the blood that keeps the program running. Across the last seven years, Barbara has been a part of an astounding 31 ETEP visits to Timor Leste. During this time, Barbara has not only acted as the leading theatre nurse, but has also designed curriculum and taught courses in Operating Theatre technique for the Eye Care nurses from all districts of the nation.

“It is a privilege and honour to work with the wonderful and dedicated people in the ETEP family. We all love the people in Timor Leste. They graciously and quietly get on with their lives, no matter how difficult. They are beautiful family people, kind , gentle and uncomplaining. We all feel blessed that we can use our skills to help improve their lives”

Along with her dedication for the ETEP, Barbara brings with her a rich experience in international development in nursing. In the 1990′s, Barbara joined the Mercy Ship with Baucau Team Leader, Dr John Kearney, which took them to PNG, Tonga and Vanuatu. From  2001 until  2004, Barbara was a volunteer with the United Nations as a UN Medical Clinic Administrator in Kosovo where her work was awarded with an Order of Australia. Barbara has also worked in the Army Field Hospitals of Russia, Germany, Britain, USA, France, Morocco and Denmark.

Our Supporters

For more than ten years, Airnorth Airlines and Qantas Airlines have provided support and assistance to the ETEP and the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons by transporting over 20 medical volunteer teams per year including the equipment and supplies needed to treat thousands of patients in-country. These visits provide specialist consultations and life-changing surgery to communities in Timor Leste which would otherwise be unavailable or highly inaccessible.

ProVision is a an official corporate sponsor of Optometry Giving Sight, a global fundraising initiative targeting the prevention of blindness and impaired vision due to uncorrected refractive error. ProVision Optometry teams form invaluable members to each visiting eye team to Timor Leste to provide primary eye care services and training for local staff.

Perth’s Eye Surgery Foundation is a charitable trust set up by a group of Ophthalmologists dedicated to eye surgery. The foundation distributes a proportion of its profits to Ophthalmic related charities, research and education. For the last three years, the foundation has supported the mobilisation of ETEP team members and purchase of necessary medical supplies.

St John Ambulance Australia has supported the ETEP over the last four years by supporting the mobilisation of ETEP team members and purchase of necessary medical supplies. Each year a team of St Johns Ambulance also accompanies the team to assist them, train local ambulance personnel and help deliver first aid to orphanages in the district of Oecussi.

In 2011, Max Fabre Foundation provided a generous donation to support the purchase of medical consumables and other medical supplies needed to deliver cataract surgery and perform eye examinations in Timor Leste, the area of greatest need in the Program.