Amanda Vanstone - Opening SpeakerThe organising committee of OA 2018 are delighted to announce that Amanda will be the conference opening speaker.
Ms Vanstone is a lawyer and former South Australian senator who held several ministerial portfolios during her term. After retiring from politics, she served as the Australian ambassador to Italy.
Ms Vanstone is currently the Chair of Vision 2020, Royal Flying Doctors Service and Samstag Museum Advisory Board. In addition to her roles as Chair, she is also Director of the Port Adelaide Football Club, a Board Member of Drinkwise Australia and the Governers Institute of International Trade, and a Member of the Referendum Council on constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the Adelaide Festival Board.
Katie Billing - Featured SpeakerKatie Billing is a consultant ophthalmologist at the Womens’ and Childrens’ Hospital and Flinders Medical Centre in Adelaide, Australia. She has a special interest in paediatric ophthalmology and retinopathy of prematurity, running the ROP screening service at Womens’ and Childrens’ Hospital. Dr Billing was awarded her medical degree from the University of Adelaide and undertook ophthalmology training in South Australia. She is the Director of Training in the South Australian Ophthalmology Network.
Marion Rivers - Featured SpeakerMarion studied Orthoptics at Sydney Eye Hospital and has worked in many fields of orthoptics in a variety of settings. She has been head of the department in many hospitals in Australia and the UK. Marion spent many years at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne and also held a private practice in Sydney.
She represented Orthoptists for many years on the Orthoptic Board of Australia and has held several positions on Federal Orthoptic Council including President and Secretary. She has the distinctive honour of being President of orthoptic association branches in 3 states. Marion has represented the profession at government health and education enquires. Marion was Orthoptic Australia’s International Orthoptic Association Representative for 4 years. She was elected a Fellow of OA in 1989.
Over many years she has presented scientific papers at local and international level and lectures at universities as a guest lecturer. In 2000 she joined Vision Australia as the paediatric orthoptist for NSW, travelling the entire state. She has an ongoing interest in paediatrics, particularly with children who are blind or have low vision. She retired from Vision Australia in 2014 as Client Service Manager for NSW. Marion moved to Victoria and consulted to a local area health authority on the introduction of NDIS. She was re-elected president of OA in November 2017 and now sits on committees for Vision 2020 and Allied Health Professions Association.
- Featured SpeakerAssociate Professor Barnett has dual fellowships in neonatal/perinatal medicine and clinical genetics and is the head of the Paediatric and Reproductive Genetics Unit at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Adelaide. He is the clinical lead of the NHMRC funded Genomic Autopsy Project. A/Prof Barnett’s neonatal/perinatal training and Clinical Genetics training was done at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Adelaide and at the Hospital for Sick Children, in Toronto, Canada. He has research interests in prenatal genetics, fetal pathology and rare childhood diseases and has over 80 publications in peer-reviewed journals and has written multiple book chapters. He is the Clinical Genetics lead for the oculogenetics clinic at The Women's and Children's Hospital.
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Diana Jelovic - Featured SpeakerDiana graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Applied Science (Orthoptics) in 1997. Diana has worked as a clinical orthoptist in many paediatric and general ophthalmic practices. In March 2017, she joined the team at The Children’s Medical Research Institute at Westmead, as Genomic Eye Coordinator.
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Professor Michael Goggin - Featured SpeakerProfessor Michael Goggin is an associate professor in ophthalmology at the University of Adelaide and a consultant ophthalmologist at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital (TQEH) in Adelaide where he also has a private practice. He has a special interest in cataract and refractive surgery. He has a long-term research interest in clinical optics and particular in the surgical management of astigmatism. He trained in Dublin has been researching and publishing since before his arrival in Australia with over 70 peer reviewed publications. He holds a Master of Surgery from the University of Adelaide based on his research in refractive surgery.
The bulk of his more recent research efforts have been focused on improved planning and augmented outcome from toric intraocular lens implantation. A specific innovation he has introduced is a method of adjusting for the likely effect of posterior corneal astigmatism on total corneal astigmatism while measurement of posterior corneal astigmatism remains inexact.
He teaches the techniques of refractive cataract surgery to registrars and fellows and is the supervisor of training for RANZCO at TQEH. He has participated in teaching and training projects in Myanmar and Cambodia and continues to publish and present his research internationally. He has served on a number of RANZCO committees in curriculum development and, more recently, therapeutics and has contributed to College guideline development.
Dr Jamie Craig - Featured SpeakerProfessor Jamie Craig is a Consultant Ophthalmologist specializing in the care of glaucoma patients. He is a clinician-scientist with a strong track record in clinical and genetic research. As a NHMRC Practitioner-Fellow, he seeks to translate his laboratory-based research into clinical practice. Specific research interests include the genetic susceptibility to all forms of glaucoma, congenital cataract, and diabetic retinopathy. He has skills in clinical diagnosis and disease management, as well as having made important discoveries on the genetic etiology of glaucoma and other ocular conditions. He is experienced in patient recruitment, and has pioneered strategies to develop a National Registry of cases with extremely severe vision loss from glaucoma: The Australian and New Zealand Register of Advanced Glaucoma (ANZRAG). This work has led to genome-wide association studies for identification of genes associated with glaucoma susceptibility. A similar approach is now underway for blindness due to diabetic retinopathy: Registry of Advanced Diabetic Retinopathy in Australia (RADAR). Having completed a D.Phil. in the analysis of complex traits by genome wide linkage approaches, he maintains a detailed understanding of strategies to enhance power by careful case selection, and the utilization of clinical information to refine analyses. Being responsible for direct patient care, he attaches a high priority to applying research outcomes to better models of patient care.
Dr Tim Greenwell - Featured SpeakerDr Tim Greenwell is an ophthalmologist and uveitis specialist from South Australia. Upon completing his ophthalmology training, Dr Greenwell undertook a 15-month subspecialty fellowship in medical ophthalmology & uveitis in Oxford, UK. Dr Greenwell works at several sites across Adelaide, including at the Women’s & Children’s Hospital where he helped establish the paediatric uveitis multidisciplinary service.
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Dr Jane Wells - Featured SpeakerDr Wells is a uveitis and medical retina specialist at The Canberra Hospital and also has a fractional appointment at Flinders Medical Centre in Adelaide performing cataract surgery and teaching. Dr Wells was an optometrist before undertaking her Medical degree at Flinders University in Adelaide. She trained in ophthalmology through the South Australian training network of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists and has undertaken Fellowships in uveitis and medical retina at Flinders Medical Centre and at Manchester Royal Eye Hospital in the UK.
Dr Wells has a passion for teaching and has been involved in teaching medical, nursing, orthoptic and optometry students and professionals in Australia and the UK for the past 20 years.
Dr Jern Yee Chen- Featured SpeakerDr Jern Yee Chen is an ophthalmologist who specializes in cornea, cataract and anterior segment surgery. She grew up in Adelaide and obtained her medical degree from the University of Adelaide. She undertook specialist Ophthalmology training in New Zealand before travelling overseas for advanced surgical training at St Paul’s Eye Unit in the UK, the Storm Eye Institute in the USA and the Singapore National Eye Centre in Singapore. She is a Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists. She currently consults in Adelaide at Eyemedics and Flinders Eye Clinic.