| The work of Professor Angus Turner, McCusker Director of Lions Outback Vision, is attracting well-deserved attention from media across Australia. From the medical community to general interest publications, here is a round-up of recent coverage, which focuses on his artificial intelligence (AI) powered retinal screening tool. |
 Professor Angus Turner |
Medicus and AMA Western Australia: AI-powered retinal screening tool
Professor Turner and the Lions Outback Vision team were the focus of the cover story in the April–May 2026 edition of Medicus, the award-winning journal of the Australian Medical Association (WA), distributed to more than 4,500 doctors and decision-makers across the state. The story featured in the journal’s First Nations Health edition — a significant recognition of the program’s impact on Aboriginal communities in regional and remote WA.
| Titled “They have their eye on an even bigger prize”, the article charts how Lions Outback Vision’s AI-powered retinal screening tool — developed and proven during the State Government’s Pilbara Challenge — is now being scaled into a broader offering through social enterprise spin-off Ninox Vision. The Pilbara Challenge trial achieved a 17-fold increase in diabetic retinopathy screening uptake and, with prize funding from the WA Future Health Research and Innovation Fund, Ninox Vision is now offering GP practices across Western Australia a free one-year trial of the technology*. This trial will allow a health assistant or receptionist to photograph a patient’s retina in minutes, with an AI-generated diagnosis delivered instantly to the GP’s electronic medical record. |
 The Medicus cover story image |
A companion piece on the AMA Western Australia website, published in April 2026, provides further detail on the rollout — including that the technology has already been supplied to clinics in Perth, Albany, the Kimberley, and Darwin, with Professor Turner aiming to have 25 practices signed up and 100 more to follow over the following year.
Read the Medicus article.
Read the AMA Western Australia article.
* Note: since the Medicus story was published, Ninox AI has been registered as a charity and is now providing free AI diagnostics.
The Mandarin: AI and healthcare in Australia
The Mandarin, a leading publication for Australia’s public sector, featured Ninox Vision as one of four digital health innovations spotlighted in its 2026 Care Economy special report.
| The article, “How AI and data are reshaping Australian health care”, examines how digital health teams around the country are using artificial intelligence and data to improve care delivery, predict health crises, and expand access to treatment in remote communities. |
 The Mandarin, national media |
The piece traces how years of working across remote Western Australia led Professor Turner to the Pilbara Challenge, the $5 million prize win, and the subsequent transfer of Google Health’s ARDA (Automated Retinal Disease Assessment) AI tool to Ninox Vision, as well as his goal to scale the solution nationally.
R.M. Williams OUTBACK magazine: Supporting rural communities
| Professor Turner was profiled in the June/July 2026 edition of R.M. Williams OUTBACK magazine — one of Australia’s most-read titles for rural and regional life. In a piece titled “Eyes on the prize”, he speaks about the personal and professional journey that led him to Lions Outback Vision. |
 R.M. Williams OUTBACK Magazine, rural media |
Born in rural South Africa to a family of doctors, he cites his grandfather — a GP serving remote communities in the Eastern Cape — as a formative influence: “There was something powerful about living inside the community you served. Not just doing a job and leaving, but being woven into the fabric of people’s lives.”
Professor Turner also features in the 2026 edition of OUTBACK Great Australians, recognising Australians making an outstanding contribution to life beyond the cities. To coincide with the coverage, he appeared on the OUTBACK podcast, where he discussed his commitment to bringing world-class eye care to remote communities in Western Australia.
Read an excerpt of the OUTBACK article.
Listen to the OUTBACK podcast.
Digital Health Festival: Start Up Show Down winner
In May 2026, Ninox Vision took out the Start Up Show Down at the Digital Health Festival in Melbourne — Australia’s leading event for health innovation, bringing together more than 8,000 leaders across clinical technology and policy.
| Professor Turner was joined by Dr Ramya Raman, a Perth-based GP using Ninox Vision in her practice, who presented on the tool’s impact on vision care in regional communities.
Congratulations to Professor Turner and the entire Lions Outback Vision team on this well-deserved recognition. |
 Professor Angus Turner with Dr Ramya Raman at the 2026 Digital Health Festival |
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