James Sunter Muecke was born on 1963 and is an Australian ophthalmologist working in Adelaide, South Australia.
21 Facts About James Muecke
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James Muecke was the 2020 Australian of the Year, having been South Australian of the Year.
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James Muecke was sworn in as South Australia's new Lieutenant Governor on 27 January 2022, succeeding Brenda Wilson.
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James Muecke lived in Washington, DC, as a child while his father worked for the Australian embassy.
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James Muecke attended Canberra Grammar School from 1976 to 1981.
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James Muecke later trained as an ophthalmologist at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and subspecialty training in eye cancer in London.
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James Muecke began his career working in Kenya for 12 months.
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James Muecke returned to South Australia and became an eye surgeon, working in private practice and as a visiting consultant at the Royal Adelaide and Women's and Children's Hospitals.
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In 2000, James Muecke founded Vision Myanmar at the South Australian Institute of Ophthalmology.
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James Muecke received the University of Adelaide's Vice-Chancellor's Alumni Award in 2019.
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In November 2019, James Muecke was named South Australian of the Year for 2020.
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James Muecke had planned to speak at events around the country throughout the year, but the COVID-19 pandemic meant most of his presentations outside Adelaide were delivered online.
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On being appointed Australian of the Year, James Muecke immediately advocated for a tax on sugary drinks in the fight against Type 2 diabetes, which is the leading cause of blindness among Australian adults.
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James Muecke advocated for TV commercials for unhealthy products to be limited to certain hours, and asks supermarket chains to curb their "predatory sales and marketing tactics", without success.
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James Muecke brought his concerns to the Health Minister Greg Hunt.
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James Muecke was credited by Hunt in the launching of a new ten-year National Diabetes Plan in November 2021.
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James Muecke is a key contributor to Australian Community Media's "Silent Assassin" series on the causes and consequences of Australia's type 2 diabetes epidemic.
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In 2016, James Muecke had to stop conducting surgeries due to an inherited neurological condition impacting use of his right hand.
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On 20 January 2022, the Premier of South Australia, Steven Marshall, announced that James Muecke would be the state's new Lieutenant Governor, succeeding Brenda Wilson.
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James Muecke is married to Mena, a former architect who is Sight for All's events director, and they have two sons.
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James Muecke is a keen amateur photographer and has held exhibitions and self-published a coffee table book, which helped fund a children's eye unit in Myanmar.