Welcome

Cassandra joined Optometry South Australia Board in 2017, and played a key role in the formation and development of the Early Career Optometrists South Australia group. 

Cassandra is a Deakin University graduate who now lives in Adelaide. She works with the policy and advocacy team at Optometry Australia; clinically in an ophthalmology practice and is a writer for the education website Myopia Profile. She is also an associate lecturer at Flinders University and undertaking research in children's vision.

Meet our Guest speakers

Natalie is a British-trained orthoptist who undertook her orthoptic studies at the University of Liverpool. She then went on to complete her Master's degree at the University of Sheffield. She has been practicing in Adelaide since 2013, when she moved from the UK to commence work in ophthalmology at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital and Flinders Medical Centre. She took up the position of lead orthoptist at Women’s and Children’s Hospital in 2017.

Since taking on this role, Natalie has increased the scope of orthoptics to include orthoptist-led clinics, vision screening clinics, contact lens education for parents and children, and prosthetic eye support. Additionally, she oversaw the optometry pilot undertaken at the hospital in January 2023, investigating how optometry could support a multidisciplinary eye care team in a secondary and tertiary eye care setting.

Natalie has also co-established Adelaide Orthoptics, an independent, orthoptist-led clinic in North Adelaide. This clinic provides a wide range of services to all ages and includes detection, assessment and management of amblyopia, strabismus and other eye movement disorders, double vision and eye strain. The service also includes driving assessments and rehabilitation of hemianopic visual field loss.

Dr Jaz Aujla is a comprehensive general ophthalmologist, with subspecialty fellowship training in medical retina. He grew up in Brisbane and completed optometry at QUT in 2007. This was followed by medical school at University of Queensland and ophthalmology training based in South Australia. In 2019, Jaz was awarded the KG Howsam medal for the top performance in the final RANZCO fellowship examinations.

Jaz is now based in Adelaide and currently works in private practice at Specialist Eye (Golden Grove and North Eastern Community Hospital) and Hills Eye Centre (Mount Barker). His public hospital appointment is at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Jamie Craig, an ophthalmologist-scientist, is a Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professor at Flinders University and a Senior Consultant at Flinders Medical Centre. As an NHMRC Level 3 Investigator Grant holder, his research focusses on the molecular genetics of blinding conditions including glaucoma, congenital cataract and diabetic retinopathy. He established and leads two national ophthalmic disease registers, ANZRAG (advanced glaucoma) and RADAR (diabetic retinopathy), which have identified disease-causal and disease-associated genes, driven changes in clinical practice, and improved patient outcomes. He has published over 440 peer-reviewed articles and co-founded Seonix Bio to commercialise the glaucoma polygenic risk profiling saliva test.

Jolly graduated from the University of Sydney in 1996 and trained in ophthalmology at Sydney Eye Hospital and Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital from 2001 to 2004. Thereafter he undertook fellowship training in medical and surgical retina for 2.5 years. He is involved in research and training in medical retina and vitreo-retinal surgery at the South Australian Institute of Ophthalmology and the Royal Adelaide Hospital. He has published papers in peer-reviewed journals and is also a reviewer for ophthalmic journals. His main interests include macula degeneration, macula surgery, diabetic eye disease and uveitis.

Jolly is a Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists, the Australian and New Zealand Society of Retinal Specialists, the American Society of Retinal Specialists, and the Oceanic Retina Association.

Dr Aanchal Gupta is an expert refractive, cataract and corneal surgeon at IVISION LASER. She performs all forms of vision correction including SMILE, LASIK, PRK, phakic implantable lens surgery and refractive lens-based surgery.

She was recently awarded the very prestigious fellowship to the World College of Refractive Surgery and Visual Sciences which has been awarded to only select refractive surgeons around the world.

She was the first surgeon in South Australia to perform several new procedures including new presbyopia correcting IOL implants, PresbyMAX, CAIRS, DMEK, DSO and topography-guided PRK with cross-linking.

Dr Gupta is a RANZCO College Councillor, a Senior Clinical Lecturer at the University of Adelaide, and is the Australian and New Zealand Ambassador for the World Refractive Surgery Alliance.

Hirdesh, a passionate optometrist and seasoned professional with over 19 years of experience in the optical industry, serves as the Professional Development Manager at Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Australia & New Zealand since 2019. In this pivotal role, he focuses on enhancing optometry clinical education, driving growth in the contact lens category, and improving visual and lifestyle outcomes for patients.

Hirdesh's journey in the optical industry has been marked by diverse roles, including Professional Services Manager, Contact Lens Buyer, Optometry Learning & Development Consultant, and Clinical Optometrist. His comprehensive experience blends both professional and commercial acumen, evident in his successful initiatives and projects throughout his career.

Dr Bao Nguyen is a Lecturer and Research Fellow at the Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences at The University of Melbourne. Her expertise is human visual neuroscience, spanning healthy development and ageing, neurodegeneration and neurological disorders. She is a passionate advocate for optometry education, previously serving on the Education Committee and as an Education Consultant for Optometry Australia. She was the first optometrist to be awarded the BioMedVic Early Career Clinician Researcher Award and is a current recipient of a Momentum Fellowship at The University of Melbourne.

Mitch is a seasoned low vision optometrist with over 12 years’ experience. He is passionate about finding unique solutions for patients with low vision as part of the multidisciplinary team at See Differently (formally the Royal Society for the Blind). Mitch also consults at Optical Superstore and oversees their optometry division in SA, VIC, NSW and WA.

Dom Willson

Dom owned and managed a successful independent optometry practice employing dozens of optometrists, dispensers and admin staff over a 21-year period, and has also worked as both employee and locum for corporate and independent practices in city and country locations. He has worked everywhere from a grind lens lab in Oxford in the UK, to a bush clinic in a tin shed in remote NT.

Now in his role as Professional Services Advisor for Optometry Australia and drawing on his broad clinical and practice ownership experience, Dom regularly provides OA members with advice in diverse areas such as employment contracts, salary negotiations, working as a locum, Medicare item number usage, and many other topics.

Dom has recently moved from NSW to Adelaide to live and looks forward to getting to know the South Australian optometry scene!

Michael Yapp

Michael is currently the Head of Clinical Operations at the Centre for Eye Health (CFEH) and has been working at the Centre since its inception in 2009.  Prior to this, Michael had a diverse range of clinical experience, working in private practice before undertaking locum work Australia-wide and in the UK, as well as running an optical charity and working in two different ophthalmology practices.

Michael’s interest in optometric education started early in his career when he was a staff optometrist at UNSW. Since then, he has continued to be involved in a wide variety of optometric education programs both through his work at the Centre and invitations to speak at Optometry conferences in Australia and overseas. 

Most recently, Michael has taken on a concurrent role at Optometry Australia, advocating for the advancement of the Optometry profession with the ultimate goal of developing future opportunities for collaborative care and enhanced scope of practice for optometrists.