From Aston to India

As many friends and colleagues know I have an interest in the way optometry and primary eye care is practiced and taught around the world. I visited a couple of eye hospitals and eye training institutions in Pakistan in 2003 (such as the Al-Shifa Eye Trust in Rawalpindi) and started working with them to help improve their training. At Al-Shifa I was involved in moving the training from a two-year diploma to becoming a three and now a four-year bachelors programme.

It was largely my interest in seeing primary eye care develop globally that got me more involved with the International Association of Contact Lenses Educators (IACLE). Over the years I have had the opportunity to visit many countries where optometry and primary eye care is still developing. I have had the opportunity to speak at optometry conferences in many countries including Argentina, Barbados, China, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Greece, India, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, South Korea and Spain.