Julian Rait is currently an Associate Professor in Ophthalmology at the University of Melbourne and a member of a group ophthalmic practice.

Julian served as a federal councillor of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists between 1995 and 2003, and was a member of the Board of the Ophthalmic Research Institute of Australia between 1995 and 2005.

Julian has also been the President of MDA National, a doctor-owned medical indemnity insurance organisation since 2008, having been a Councillor of MDA National since 2004. He is a fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and has also served as the Medical Indemnity Industry Association representative on the competence and performance working party of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.

A/Prof Rait has been involved in surgical foreign aid programs continuously since 1987 and he has been an affiliated physician with both the Himalayan Cataract Project (HCP) and the Nepal Glaucoma Eye Clinics Association (NGEC), and has been involved in blindness prevention in developing countries throughout his career.