Eye Health Hero: Luke Weinel

Luke joined the eye banking community in 2018, when he become an Eye Bank Coordinator in Adelaide, Australia. As an early career eye banker, Luke has quickly risen to the rank of Deputy-Chair of the Eye Bank Association of Australia and New Zealand (EBAANZ), the peek eye bank organisation for Australia and New Zealand.

Luke is the youngest ever executive of the Association. His tenacity and natural zeal is complimented by professional qualifications and experience in medical-science, intensive care and now statistics. He is implementing new initiatives for special interest groups in Australian and New Zealand, leading research in this field, collaborating widely, liaising on behalf of the sector directly with external stakeholders, and is directly engaged in national practice reform.

“Being able to restore sight and improve the quality of life for others, while also giving the community the opportunity to carry out their final wishes is what drives me to excel in my role. My role, activity within EBAANZ and research, enables me to help develop eye banking practices on an international scale and help to provide a platform for national sharing of information, support and collaboration, with the ultimate goal of continuing to serving the community with the best possible ocular transplantation service.”

-Luke Weinel

In his workplace, Luke is directly engaged in donor corneal tissue recovery and local and national allocation of corneas to meet transplant and research demand across the Australia. He assists his eye bank with practice reform, and assists in the preparation of regulatory and license audits that are conducted by the regulatory body, the Therapeutic Goods Agency.

Luke has indicated he is committed to serving donors and recipients and is an asset to the sector. The wider members of the sector are confident that in his hands, the future of eye banking in Australia and New Zealand will be bright and prosperous.