Fiona Stapleton trained as a hospital optometrist in the UK, was awarded her PhD from City University and Moorfields Eye Hospital in London and undertook a postdoctoral fellowship at University College London.

She was formerly Head of School of Optometry and Vision Science at UNSW (2007-2019). She is a Scientia Professor at UNSW and was Associate Dean (Enterprise) Faculty of Science (2018-2021).

She is currently President of the International Society for Contact Lens Research, and in the last 5 years, the 2017 recipient of the Tony Adams award for Evidence Based Optometry, the 2018 recipient of the American Academy of Optometry Glen A Fry Award, 2018 Don Korb Award from the American Optometric Association, 2018 Barry Collin Medal from the Australian Optometric Association and she presented the Geoff Woodward Memorial Award Lecture at the UK Hospital Optometry meeting in 2019.

She was nominated to the Australian Academy of Science, Technology and Engineering in 2018 and to Life Fellowship of the British College of Optometrists in 2019. She has published more than 270 peer reviewed papers and is part of the editorial boards of 5 international journals.

Fiona is a clinical scientist who leads a research group in basic and translational investigation in the fields of corneal infection, ocular microbiology, dry eye and contact lens related disease.

Her research has improved understanding of the epidemiology and pathophysiology of sight threatening ocular disease, contributing to the development and commercialisation of strategies to prevent and treat such responses. She has held numerous leadership and committee roles in public health eyecare in Australia.

Isabelle Jalbert is a university leader, academic and clinician-researcher (optometrist and public health practitioner) who continued to maintain disciplinary research in ocular surface whilst developing an internationally acknowledged profile as a leader and innovator in professional optometric education and public health optometry.

Isabelle is a Canadian trained OD and therapeutic optometrist and Associate Professor at the School of Optometry and Vision Science at UNSW Sydney, where she heads a program of research and education focused on improving the delivery of evidence-based eyecare in Australia and teaches therapeutic management of anterior eye diseases.

Isabelle has attracted over $2.3 million dollars in research and scholarly funding from diverse sources including the Australia Government, NGOs and Foundations, and industry.

She has received many awards in recognition of her achievements including the Dallos Award, the Garland W Clay Award, the June Griffith Fellowship, and the 2020 UNSW Vice-Chancellor Award for Teaching Excellence.

A/Prof Jalbert has authored more than 11 book chapters, 70 refereed papers and supervised 14 PhD students.

She was guest co-editor for a Special Issue on Ocular Therapeutics for Clinical Experimental Optometry and is an Editorial Board member on several leading journals.

Lisa Keay is the Head of School at the School of Optometry and Vision Science, UNSW Sydney and an Honorary Professorial Fellow at The George Institute for Global Health, UNSW Sydney.

She is a public health researcher, with expertise in epidemiology, health promotion and injury prevention. She trained as an Optometrist, has a PhD and MPH from UNSW Sydney and completed a research fellowship at the Dana Center for Preventive Ophthalmology, Johns Hopkins University.

Her research activities focus on patient-centred healthcare, rehabilitation, and the prevention of injury in older people with vision impairment.

She has a program of research in safe mobility for older drivers. Considering links between cataract-related vision loss and falls risk, she is generating evidence for benefits of timely provision of cataract surgery.

She is leading also investigating a novel program for preventing falls for older people with low vision in a large-scale randomized trial.

Her health systems research includes evaluations of new models of care for chronic eye diseases in Australia and refractive error correction in low-income settings.

Melinda Toomey is a therapeutically endorsed optometrist whose career has been diverse involving clinical practice, clinical supervision, optometry leadership, and optometry education.

As a UNSW Scientia PhD Scholar, Melinda is investigating methods to improve the delivery of glaucoma care by Australian optometrists. Her research interest areas include evidence-based practice, eyecare service delivery, public health optometry, and clinical practice guidelines.

Melinda has the following qualifications: post-graduate Master of Optometry, Master of Business Administration, Graduate Certificate of Ocular Therapeutics and a Certificate of Public Health and Eyecare Leadership Melinda was selected for UNSW’s Women in Maths and Science 2021 and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry.

Rajendra is an optometrist trained in Nepal and South Africa. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry and Ezell Fellow (2019).

He has over 10 years of experience in clinical practice, program coordination, teaching and research in various parts of the world including Nepal, Maldives, Malawi, Eritrea, Vietnam and Australia.

He has research interests in evidence-based practice, implementation science, refractive error and visual impairment, eye care in marginalized communities and patient-centred eye care delivery.

Rajendra is a Scientia PHD Scholar at School of Optometry and Vision Sciences, UNSW Sydney. His current research focuses on improving eyecare services for people with diabetes in Australia.

Associate Prof Gerald Liew is an academic ophthalmologist with expertise in diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration, retinal vein occlusions and other retinal disorders.

He is a Consultant Ophthalmologist at Retina Associates in Sydney, Staff Specialist at Westmead Hospital, Visiting Medical Officer at the Children’s Hospital, Westmead, and Associate Professor with the University of Sydney and University of NSW.

Gerald is an expert on the diagnosis and management of diabetic retinopathy and is involved in many clinical trials, including leading several on new treatments for diabetic retinopathy.

Dr. Terry Ho is a clinician, educator and researcher. He is a Lecturer at the University of Canberra, an Adjunct Lecturer at UNSW Sydney, and a Fellow of America Academy of Optometry.

Terry is currently building on his background in evidence-based healthcare delivery, patient-centred outcomes, public health and vision and ageing research.

He has held leading roles in overseeing and managing multiple Government-funded projects, covering evidence-based healthcare delivery, health economics and patient-centred outcomes research during his post-doctoral training in Australia and Singapore.

He has sophisticated in managing and leading research projects in various study designs, including observational studies, randomized clinical trials, data linkage analysis and systematic literature reviews.

As an early career researcher, he has published several peer-review papers in epidemiology, evidence-based healthcare delivery and quality of clinical practice guidelines on highly ranked international journals (e.g., Ophthalmology, Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle).

Terry has also dedicated to contribute to the research community and his recent peer review for TVST has been recognised as "Exceptionally Good Review", an assessment given to only a few of the most thoughtful, expert and helpful reviews received by the journal in 2021.

In addition to his teaching and research experiences, he has shown an excellence in scientific communication, which is evident by the first place in the 3 Minutes Thesis competition at the Health Beyond Research & Innovation Showcase 2016 and first place in the Vice Chancellors Research Pitch Challenge 2017.

He has also worked as an optometrist in a diverse clinical settings in Hong Kong.

Dr Louise Wiles is a researcher and clinical physiotherapist whose special interests include: developing indicators of appropriate/quality care, e-health, and consumer engagement.

Louise has a seven-year history of research project design, data collection, interpretation of results, and publishing in the fields of developing guideline-derived indicators, appropriateness (quality) of care, qualitative (stakeholder) perspectives, and evidence-based practice.

Louise’s work on the CareTrack Kids project (NHMRC Partnership Grant APP 1065898) saw the development, testing, evaluation and analysis of over 450 quality indicators that were applied in a large-scale medical record audit of nearly 7,000 Australian children.

As Project Manager for the STANDING Collaboration study (NHMRC Program Grant Creating safe, effective systems of care: The translational challenge; APP1054146), Louise tested a new method for developing indicators for appropriate/quality care with expert stakeholder panels, and led an evaluation of this approach using multi-methods analyses.

In addition, she has led a stakeholder engagement process for a systematic review of the methods and effects of consumer engagement in health care policy, research and services (publication pending).

Louise has eleven years’ clinical experience working as a physiotherapist in both public and private healthcare sectors, mostly in intensive care settings.

Associate Professor Peter Hibbert has a 18-year history of research and policy implementation in patient safety and measurement of evidenced-based care.

Previously, he worked in clinical practice as a physiotherapist for 12 years. For the last five years, he has been a Stream Lead at the Australian Institute of Health Innovation at Macquarie University.

He is also Senior Visiting Fellow at the School of Optometry and Vision Science, at UNSW.

Prior to his current role, he was an Associate Director at the National Patient Safety Agency in the United Kingdom.

He has written over 100 refereed publications and has also written more than 100 reports for governments and health services assessing the safety/quality of the health system.

A/Professor Hibbert was heavily involved in the development of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) International Classification for Patient Safety. He was a key contributor to the first two population level studies in Australia (CareTrack Australia and Kids) that measured the level of evidence-based care delivered to patients.

He was also Program Director for Matching Michigan, at the time the largest central line infection reduction program in the world.

Associate Professor Peter Hibbert has a 18-year history of research and policy implementation in patient safety and measurement of evidenced-based care.

Previously, he worked in clinical practice as a physiotherapist for 12 years. For the last five years, he has been a Stream Lead at the Australian Institute of Health Innovation at Macquarie University.

He is also Senior Visiting Fellow at the School of Optometry and Vision Science, at UNSW.

Prior to his current role, he was an Associate Director at the National Patient Safety Agency in the United Kingdom.

He has written over 100 refereed publications and has also written more than 100 reports for governments and health services assessing the safety/quality of the health system.

A/Professor Hibbert was heavily involved in the development of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) International Classification for Patient Safety. He was a key contributor to the first two population level studies in Australia (CareTrack Australia and Kids) that measured the level of evidence-based care delivered to patients.

He was also Program Director for Matching Michigan, at the time the largest central line infection reduction program in the world.