Charlie Teo
Doctors may not have direct responsibility for the injustices of modern agriculture but we do have the power to help overcome them. We hold a privileged role in society; we are trusted as scientific minds and reliable carers. Our communities will listen when we explain the illness and suffering that lies hidden behind the closed doors of factory farms.
Professor Charlie Teo AM is an internationally acclaimed neurosurgeon and a pioneer in keyhole minimally invasive techniques. He was formerly a member of the Voiceless Council and became a Voiceless Patron in 2015.
Charlie graduated from the University of New South Wales medical school before relocating to the USA where he practiced for ten years. Since returning to Australia he has worked to develop pioneering procedures in his field and is now Director of The Centre for Minimally Invasive Neurosurgery at Prince of Wales Private Hospital. Each year, Charlie is invited to teach courses in his particular keyhole approach to neurosurgery at distinguished universities around the world and has been a visiting professor at over 50 institutions including Stanford University in the USA, Marburg University in Germany and the National Children’s Hospital in Peru.
Charlie dedicates 3 months every year to pro bono work in developing countries, for which he has been recognised with awards from Rotary International, including the Paul Harris Fellowship, and as a finalist in the NSW Australian of the Year awards in 2003 and 2009. In 2003 he founded the Cure for Life Foundation, which is now the largest funder of brain cancer research in Australia.
Although a respect for animals was inherent in Charlie’s upbringing, it was the reaction of one of his daughters to animal living conditions whilst on a family trip that spurred his involvement with Voiceless.