Professor Bennett detailed the long and laborious path that culminated in this treatment being available worldwide; including proving that the treatment worked for puppies born blind due to a spontaneous mutation in the Briard breed of dog, and then in human clinical trials commencing with a 10-year-old Belgian boy in 2008. Eventually the treatment which is a one-off therapy involving an injection of Luxturna, a new copy of the faulty gene, directly into the eye, by specialist surgeons under sedation, was approved for use in America in 2017 and in overseas countries subsequently.

The treatment first became available in Sydney in late 2020, after gaining government approval. Patients with the rare gene known as “RPE65”, sometimes referred to as Childhood Leber Congenital Amaurosis, can now be treated with Luxturna at either The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, Melbourne, or The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Sydney.

Professor Bennett, who is based in Pennsylvania, USA, is now working on potential gene therapy treatments for more than a dozen different forms of blindness. Her presentation on “pioneering treatments for blinding retinal disorders” was well received by the packed-out audience at the Melbourne Museum Theatre.

The Gerard Crock Lecture series honours the memory of renowned ophthalmologist, the late Professor Gerard Crock AO KStJ, who became the first medical specialty chair in Australia when he was appointed Melbourne University’s foundation Ringland Anderson Professor of Ophthalmology in 1963. In this position he established the university’s department of ophthalmology and played a large part in cultivating the facilities of the Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital.