Lucy Mathen (born 1953) is an Indian-born British

ophthalmologist Ophthalmology ( ) is a surgery, surgical subspecialty within medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Followin ...

and former journalist. Having initially worked for the BBC, she retrained as a doctor and launched Second Sight – a non-profit organisation aimed at curing cataract blindness in India's poorest state, Bihar.

Life

Mathen began her career as a print journalist, working for the ''Surrey Mirror'' in the mid-1970s.Barnes, Simon (2003-04-18)
Land where folly and courage run hand in hand
''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

''. Retrieved on 2011-10-01. She became the

British Broadcasting Corporation #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

's first ever female

British Asian British Asians (also referred to as Asian Britons) are British citizens of Asian descent. They constitute a significant and growing minority of the people living in the United Kingdom, with 6.9% of the population identifying as Asian/Asian Brit ...

to front a major national television programme in 1976 when she began working for '' John Craven's Newsround'' (the BBC's children's news series). Ahmed, Samira (2011-09-30
Newsround, racism and me
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''. Retrieved on 2011-10-01 She was the programme's first dedicated reporter – others, such as the anchorman

John Craven John Raymond Craven, (born 16 August 1940) is an English journalist and television presenter, best known for presenting the BBC programmes '' Newsround'', ''Countryfile'' and '' Beat the Brain''. Early life Craven was born in Leeds, West Rid ...

, also appeared in other presenting roles for the BBC. She worked on ''Newsround'' from 1976 to 1980. During this period,

Samira Ahmed Samira Ahmed (born 15 June 1968) is a British journalist, writer and broadcaster at the BBC, where she has presented Radio 3's ''Night Waves'' and Radio 4's '' PM'', ''The World Tonight'', '' Sunday'' and '' Front Row'' and has presented the ...

, now a prominent British Asian broadcaster, found Mathen an inspiration. During the making of a documentary on women in Afghanistan in 1988, a conversation with a local doctor made her reconsider her journalistic role: "I suddenly felt like a bit of a fraud. That's when I vowed that if I were ever in a war zone again, I would be a medic and not a reporter". At the age of 36, she retrained as a doctor at St George's Hospital Medical School in London. St. George's Hospital Medical School. She chose ophthalmology as her specialty. After taking part in a surgical training course in India in 1996, she saw the effects of blindness caused by

cataracts A cataract is a cloudy area in the lens of the eye that leads to a decrease in vision. Cataracts often develop slowly and can affect one or both eyes. Symptoms may include faded colors, blurry or double vision, halos around light, trouble w ...

. She launched a non-profit organisation – Second Sight – in December 2000 to bring eye surgeons into the rural north India where the problem was most acute. In 2012 she received the inaugural Karen Woo award from the British Medical Journal for the charity's work in Bihar. In 2020, in spite of the Covid pandemic and lockdowns, over 43,000 people had their sight restored by Second Sight working with small community eye hospitals all over the state of Bihar. The total number of blind people who have benefitted from the charity's work is now almost half a million. She has written about her change of career and the first 10 years of the charity's work in a book called ''A Runaway Goat: Curing Blindness in Forgotten India''. A sequel called ''Outgrowing the Big: Sight for India's Blind and A New Way of Seeing the World'' was published in June 2019. Award-winning journalist Simon Barnes, reviewing OTB called the book a 'triumph' -'humanity is the super-power that has allowed the charity Second Sight to punch way above its weight in 18 years.' OTB is dedicated to Mathen's greatest inspiration - her late mother Monica. She wrote her obituary which appeared in The Guardian newspaper in 2018. The book is also dedicated to Mark Rees, her partner of 49 years. They have one son Calum and one daughter Leyla. It was Leyla who introduced her to playing football which she still plays regularly and has incorporated the encouragement of women's football in India as part of a programme discouraging

child marriage Child marriage is a marriage or similar union, formal or informal, between a child under a certain age – typically 18 years – and an adult or another child. * * * * The vast majority of child marriages are between a female child and a ma ...

. She is also a keen

runner Running is a method of terrestrial locomotion allowing humans and other animals to move rapidly on foot. Running is a type of gait characterized by an aerial phase in which all feet are above the ground (though there are exceptions). This is ...

and completed three

London Marathon The London Marathon is an annual marathon held in London, United Kingdom, and is the 2nd largest annual road race in the UK, after the Great North Run in Newcastle. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically held ...

s and a half-marathon, and a triathlon raising money for Second Sight in the process.Marathons
Second Sight. She plays bass guitar in the band Startled Saint which she and Mark formed with friends in the 1970s. In 2017, she launched the FAME project, which aims to eliminate

vitamin A deficiency Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) or hypovitaminosis A is a lack of vitamin A in blood and tissues. It is common in poorer countries, especially among children and women of reproductive age, but is rarely seen in more developed countries. Nyctalopia (ni ...

and the resulting

blindness Visual impairment, also known as vision impairment, is a medical definition primarily measured based on an individual's better eye visual acuity; in the absence of treatment such as correctable eyewear, assistive devices, and medical treatment� ...

in children in economically backward areas of India. FAME stands for Food,

Vitamin A Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin and an essential nutrient for humans. It is a group of organic compounds that includes retinol, retinal (also known as retinaldehyde), retinoic acid, and several provitamin A carotenoids (most notably bet ...

Measles vaccination Measles vaccine protects against becoming infected with measles. Nearly all of those who do not develop immunity after a single dose develop it after a second dose. When rate of vaccination within a population is greater than 92%, outbreaks of ...

, and Education. In July 2022 Mathen's Medical School - St George's University of London- conferred on her an honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine (DSc(Med)) for services to Ophthalmology.

References

External links

Second Sight
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mathen, Lucy 1953 births Living people British television journalists Indian women television journalists Indian television journalists BBC newsreaders and journalists Newsround presenters British people of Indian descent British ophthalmologists Women ophthalmologists Indian radio presenters Indian women radio presenters