Charles MCGHEE, MD
New Zealand

Professor Charles NJ McGhee

Professor Charles McGhee ONZM FRSNZ PhD DSc FRCS FRCOphth FRANZCO is a pre-eminent eye surgeon and vision scientist who is internationally recognised for his clinical and research contributions to ophthalmology. He has been recognised by the Ophthalmologist (UK) as one of the 100 most influential ophthalmologists in the world on several occasions, being ranked in the top-ten in 2024. The top-quartile journal, the Asia Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology, recently recognised him as one of 20 living “EyeCons” who have significantly influenced the development of ophthalmology in the 21^st Century.

Charles, the Maurice Paykel Professor and Chair of Ophthalmology, University of Auckland (1999 - present), remains extremely active in clinical and surgical practice, providing a tertiary service for complex corneal disease including transplantation, anterior segment reconstruction and ocular surface / iris tumours. He has trained >100 corneal and anterior segment fellows with 41 completing doctoral research theses. He co-founded and became Director (2008) of the NZ National Eye Centre, University of Auckland, that includes >160 staff and postgraduate students across Ophthalmology, Optometry and Molecular Vision, all collaborating widely on eye research and teaching, extending from the laboratory to the community.

He was President of the Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology (2017-19) and Chair of the ANZ Cornea Society (2015-18). He is Vice President of Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis (AOI), member of the International Intraocular Implant Club (IIIC), and President of the Academy of the Asia Pacific Professors of Ophthalmology (AAPPO) that has a major mentoring role in the Asia Pacific. He is also Past President and Honorary life-President of the British Society of Refractive Surgery, which he co-founded. In the mid-nineties he was a member of the international board that developed C-LASIK, that established and standardised the most popular form of microkeratome LASIK procedures internationally. He is past Chair of the Scientific Committee of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists.  He has given a number of invited named lectures including: Asia Cornea Society Medal (ACS), Ida Mann Lecture (RANZCO), BSRS Charles McGhee Lecture, Sir Norman Gregg Medal (RANZCO), the Douglas Coster Medal (ANZ Cornea Society), Khodadoust Memorial Lecture (ISO), and the Mark Tso Golden Apple (ICO)

Charles has 808 research outputs, including three textbooks and >450 peer-reviewed (SCI) scientific papers/chapters. His personal research interests have generated >$33 million in competitive grants and philanthropic funding to complete clinical and research projects, including several community projects assessing disease and equity of access to eye health care. He has an H-index of 55 (Scopus). He is on the editorial board of several journals and is past Editor in Chief of Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology (a top quartile journal) and is currently an Associate Editor of the Asia Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology. The high quality of his research led to recognition and election to fellowship of the prestigious New Zealand Royal Society (FRSNZ). His extensive work in ophthalmology and eye care was also acknowledged by the award of “Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit” (ONZM) by Queen Elizabeth II.