Associate Professor Helen Swarbrick gained her optometric qualifications at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, completing a Diploma in Optometry in 1974 and an MSc in Psychology in 1978. Following eight years in private optometric practice in New Zealand and England, Assoc Prof Swarbrick settled in Australia, taking up a position as Research Optometrist at the Cornea and Contact Lens Research Unit, School of Optometry, University of New South Wales. In 1991 she received her PhD degree for a thesis on the topic of rigid gas-permeable contact lens adherence during overnight lens wear. In 1995 Assoc Prof Swarbrick was appointed to the School of Optometry and Vision Science, UNSW, with responsibility for contact lens education at the School, and she has recently received promotion to Associate Professor. Assoc Prof Swarbrick’s current primary research interest is the corneal response to orthokeratology (or corneal refractive therapy) for the correction of refractive errors. In 2004, at the Second Global Orthokeratology Symposium (GOS) in Toronto, Assoc Prof Swarbrick was awarded the Rodger Kame Memorial Award in recognition of her efforts, innovation and research in the field of orthokeratology and corneal reshaping.

Associate Professor Swarbrick has received two consecutive research grants from the Australian Research Council (2004 and 2007), based on the significant findings of research in orthokeratology that she has published and presented at international meetings, to conduct further studies in different aspects of orthokeratology. The recent ARC Linkage Grant was designated to investigate the effect of overnight orthokeratology on myopia progression and safety of the modality.

Having completed both a Bachelor of Optometry (Hons) in 1987 and a Bachelor of Industrial Design (Hons) in 1995, Edward Lum is currently a research optometrist within the ROK Group at the School of Optometry and Vision Science, UNSW. Mr Lum is a highly experienced optometrist, having worked in a number of private practices before joining the ROK Group in 2005. He is also an experienced researcher, having worked at the Cooperative Research Centre for Eye Research and Technology (CRCERT). He is also committed to education, both in providing training through a position as Visiting Clinical Supervisor (1992-1994) and as a Guest Lecturer (1998-2001) at UNSW. He has co-authored papers on topics such as soft toric contact lens performance, soft contact lens packaging solutions, instrumentation for measuring BVP on soft contact lenses, and tear meniscus radius measurements.

Kathleen Watt completed a Bachelor of Optometry (Hons) in 1990 at the University of New South Wales. She joined the ROK group at the School of Optometry and Vision Science, UNSW, as a research optometrist in 2003. She has been a Clinical Supervisor at the UNSW School of Optometry and Vision Science Optometry Clinic since 1991, and is involved in both undergraduate and post graduate clinical education. She is also working in private practice in Sydney. Her interest in orthokeratology has been in the area of microbial keratitis, particularly in Australia.

Ahmed Alharbi completed a Bachelor of Applied Medical Science (majoring in optometry) from King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. After working as a staff optometrist, he commenced his postgraduate studies at the School of Optometry and Vision Science at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. He completed his Master of Optometry in 2000. In 2005, Ahmed received his PhD degree from UNSW. Dr Alharbi’s main interest is the underlying changes in human cornea induced by orthokeratology lens wear.

Helen O’Shea has a career background in administration and IT desktop support & training, and has worked for both the corporate sector and community based organisations. Helen joined the ROK group in February 2005 and is working part time for the group. She is also working for the Eastern Suburbs Community College in the adult education area teaching MS Office applications.

Arzu completed a bachelor degree in applied science from the University of Western Sydney in 1998, majoring in biological sciences. After working for three years as a research assistant at the Cooperative Research Centre for Eye Research and Technology, responsible for laboratory, biochemistry, and microscopy duties, she joined the Institute for Eye Research at the University of New South Wales, Sydney Australia, as a clinical coordinator, involved in contact lens related clinical trials. Arzu has co-authored a number of papers on the topic of microbial interaction with contact lenses. Arzu joined the ROK group as a research assistant in July 2007 to carry on duties related to microbiology and microscopy.

Paul Gifford joined the ROK group as a full time PhD student in 2005. He completed his undergraduate training at City University, London in 1994 and became a member of the College of Optometrists (UK) in 1995. Since qualifying he has worked in various specialist and research based practices throughout the UK. Continued training has seen him successfully complete the American Academy of Optometry fellowship exams in 2003 and submit an MSc thesis with City University, London in 2005. Work from his MSc thesis is to be presented as a poster at the annual meeting of the British Contact Lens Association in June 2005, and has been submitted as a paper which is currently under review.

After completing a Diploma of Ophthalmic Optics in 1994 from the College Of Daegu Health, South Korea, Jeong Ho went on to complete a Bachelor of Science in 1999 from University Of Yeungnam, South Korea, majoring in mathematics. Since graduating, he has worked in private optometric practice in Korea, gaining valuable experience in the prescribing and dispensing of optical appliances.

Gavin Boneham completed a BSc 1982 (University of New South Wales), BOptom 1986 and PhD 1997. He works four days at his Sydney CBD practice which specialises in contact lens work especially orthokeratology. The other day is spent lecturing and coordinating a distance learning Master’s course at the University of New South Wales. He is a member of the Optometrists Association of Australian and the Contact Lens Society of Australia and is President of the Orthokeratology Society of Australia. He has published papers on the limbal vasculature, electrophysiology of lymphatic endothelial cells and corneal topography.