Department News

Building Healthy Communities Project

Our Department’s participants in the Building Healthy Communities project.

On Friday 26 May 2017, Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences staff and students took part in health promotion activities held in Derrimut Primary School. This is part of the Building Healthy Communities in Melbourne's West project led by Western Melbourne Regional Development Australia Committee with University of Melbourne as one of the key organisers.

We promoted key health messages on UV protection, and nutrition and eye health. Additionally, together with our colleagues from Medicine and Dentistry, we taught children about health care through fun activities in the Teddy Bear Hospital. At least 700 students of Derrimut Primary School turned up for the event with their families. Our students had a great time interacting with the school children and their parents, teaching them about eye care. It was a fun and fruitful day for everyone involved in the event!

Good Friday Teddy Eye Check Station

Staff member Christine Nearchou (middle)

On Good Friday, our Optometry students had an exciting day volunteering at the Teddy Bear Hospital. Eye checks were given to teddy bears and other toy animals, which children brought to the event. Students were able to have a taste of Paediatrics, interact with children and promote optometry. The station consisted of many activities, including mock screening and binocular vision tasks to help children overcome fears of eye consultations.

This year, many optometry students expressed interest in participating in the event. As a result, the Teddy Eye Check Station has been able to expand in size and some optometry students assisted at other stations, including Teddy Doctor and Teddy Surgery. Over $26, 000 has been raised in total at Teddy Bear Hospital for the Good Friday Appeal.

UoM Teaching and Learning Conference

Congratulations to Dr Kwang Cham who was awarded the Department's 2016 Teaching and Learning prize for "Embracing new challenges in Teaching and Learning". This award was presented at the School of Health Sciences End of Year event. In addition to his excellent daily face-to-face teaching role, Kwang has recently embarked on an interdisciplinary teaching and learning project with members of staff from Physiotherapy and Nursing.

CrowdCARE

The recently-launched, CrowdCARE (Crowdsourcing Critical Appraisal of Research Evidence) is a free online clinical tool developed by Dr Michael Pianta and Dr Laura Downie. CrowdCARE is an electronic platform that uses crowdsourcing to enable people to share and access critically-appraised research evidence, as the basis for informing evidence-based practice.

This exciting new technology can be used in your daily optometric practice, to stay up to date with the latest, best-available evidence. You can create a free account, undertake tutorials to learn how to undertake critical appraisal, and use the system to help with providing patient care.

Overseas Externships for final year students

Dr Jim Thimons , Anne Le-Pham, Victor Liu and Emily Glover.

Most of our current final year students have completed their overseas capstone experience for 2017. Students have travelled to a wide range of locations including various locations in the USA, Asia and even South Africa. We have also had exchange students come to our clinics. Most recently three students from Hong Kong and a student from Illinois College of Optometry have done externships here in Melbourne. Dr Jim Thimons continues to be a strong supporter of the overseas experience and is pictured here (left) with Anne Le-Pham, Victor Liu and Emily Glover from final year.

Myopia Management Masterclass

June’s Myopia Masterclass

The Department’s inaugural Myopia Management Masterclass was held in June 2017. This two-day, interactive course was led by Dr Laura Downie and facilitated by a team of experienced researchers and clinicians, to provide practical insights into contemporary myopia management. The program involved a combination of lectures, case scenarios, collaborative discussions and workshops. The course was extremely well received by an engaged group of local and interstate optometrists, in particular, the practical, clinic-based session that provided a hands-on experience with orthokeratology contact lens fitting; we even witnessed some impressive refractive shifts in less than half an hour of overthokeratology lens wear! Thank you to the optometrists who participated, from locally and interstate, for their engaging discussions and contributions to the program. For further information regarding this course and to register your interest please click here.

Victorian Allied Research Health Conference

Most of our current final year students have completed their overseas capstone experience for 2017. Students have travelled to a wide range of locations including various locations in the USA, Asia and even South Africa. We have also had exchange students come to our clinics. Most recently three students from Hong Kong and a student from Illinois College of Optometry have done externships here in Melbourne. Dr Jim Thimons continues to be a strong supporter of the overseas experience and is pictured here (left) with Anne Le-Pham, Victor Liu and Emily Glover from final year.

ANZAHPE Conference

Dr Kwang Cham attended and presented at poster at ANZAHPE conference in Adelaide in July 2017. The title of his poster was Optometry Transitions in Response to Allied Health Education.