Michele Claudel (Founder & Trustee)

Michele was born in 1945 in New York, and brought up in Switzerland, France and the UK. As well as being the founder of IRIS, Michele has shown a lifelong interest in voluntary work. She has worked for Casa de Deus orphanage in Sao Paulo and Centre Social Protestant and Fréres de nos Fréres in Geneva. “I made my first trip to Cambodia in 1992 when that devastated country was under a UN mandate for the first “free & fair” elections, after the removal from power of the Khmer Rouge. I was deeply moved by the plight of the Khmer people and the ethnic tribes, particularly in the field of healthcare. A representative of a volunteer medical service indicated that there was a gap in the proposed government national healthcare plan concerning eye care, in the fields of education, prevention and medical and surgical treatments. From this equation the concept of IRIS was born.”

John Stewart (Founder & Trustee)

John Stewart has strong ties to Asia. Paradoxically, these ties go back to World War II and the years he spent in Japanese POW camps on the River Kwai. Born in London John became a photographer, working first for Harper’s Bazaar then Vogue in New York before settling in France in 1965. For the past 15 years John has devoted himself exclusively to private, non commercial photography and his work is exhibited in museums and galleries all over the world. It was after a journey to Cambodia in 1995 when he had decided to produce prints that would be sold to help a charitable cause that he met Michele Claudel. Since that time the two IRIS founding directors travel separately or together to visit the various country programs. John Stewart has published books on his war experience, on an elephant school in Thailand and on his work as a photographer.

John Sandford-Smith (Trustee & Consultant)

Since retiring from his position as Consultant Ophthalmologist in Leicester in October 2000, John has become more involved in practical medical work and post graduate teaching in developing countries, with visits to Burma, The Yemen, Tanzania, Malawi, Pakistan, India and Cambodia.

Andy Richards OBE (Trustee & Consultant)

Andy currently acts as Emeritus Consultant. Previously he was Consultant Ophthalmologist at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading and has a long standing interest in helping ophthalmology in developing countries.

Roger Biggs (Director of Programs)

Having spent 20 years in the UK and international arena developing sport for disabled people, Roger and his wife Kathleen first went to Cambodia in 1999 to undertake voluntary work. Following two years spent as an adviser to a number of organizations, Roger was recruited by IRIS to manage all aspects of its Cambodia program and to explore what opportunities there were to expand the organization’s work into other developing countries. Apart from overseeing development programs IRIS is currently supporting in Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Nepal, Roger’s role encompassed supporting eye care initiatives in Lao PDR and assisting IRIS trustees with fundraising, policy development and forward planning.