CHARTER LECTURE in collaboration with BCLA

Myopia management: Current evidence and future directions

About the session

CPD ref: C-108304

Description

This keynote lecture will look at where we are now with respect to the evidence and interventions available to support myopia management in optometric practice, consider areas of uncertainty, and explore opportunities for future research and clinical practice.

Target audience

  • Optometrist
  • Dispensing optician.

Domains and learning outcomes

Clinical practice

s.5 Keep your skills and knowledge up to date

  • Understands the current evidence (and gaps in evidence) in relation to myopia management interventions
  • Understands recent developments and innovations in myopia management.

s.7 Conduct appropriate assessments, examinations, treatments and referrals

  • Able to identify patients suitable for intervention, to select the appropriate interventions and able to judge the success of any intervention.

Communication

s.2 Communicate effectively with patients

  • Able to recognise and apply tools with which to effectively communicate with parents and children regarding myopia management.

Speaker

Professor Kathryn Saunders PhD BSc FCOptom

Kathryn is an optometrist who graduated from Cardiff University in 1988, undertook pre-registration training at Moorfields Eye Hospital, London and registered as a qualified optometrist in 1989. She has a PhD in Vision Science from Cardiff University, is a Fellow of The College of Optometrists and is the Academic Lead for Optometry & Vision Science at Ulster University in Northern Ireland. 

Kathryn coordinates and teaches on several undergraduate and postgraduate modules, including Paediatric Optometry and the Professional Certificate in Paediatric Eye Care, a fully online professional short course in paediatric eye care accredited by The College of Optometrists in the UK. She runs a paediatric/special needs visual assessment clinic in the Ulster Optometry Clinic, regularly providing eye care for pre-school children and those with special needs. This clinic also provides training to undergraduate optometry students.

Kathryn has a special interest in paediatric vision and visual development. Her research focuses on two areas of clinical practice: refractive development and management in typically developing children and the visual assessment and optometric management of children with developmental disability. 

Research funding from the Nuffield Foundation, the Wellcome Trust, NIHR and industry has led to over 100 peer reviewed scientific papers and fruitful collaborations with scientists and clinicians from around the world. With strong support from fantastic colleagues at Ulster, she leads the Northern Ireland Childhood Errors of Refraction (NICER) Study, the largest prospective study of eyes and vision in childhood in the UK and Ireland, funded by Ulster University and The College of Optometrists.