MEET OUR SPEAKERS
Luke Arundel
Luke graduated with Honours in Optometry from QUT in 1998 and has worked extensively in Australia and Ireland. He currently holds fellowships with the BCLA, CCLSA and IACLE and became an Adjunct Associate Professor of the University of Missouri, St Louis, USA in 2008.
He has been a guest lecturer at state and international contact lens conferences and at the University of New South Wales, University of Melbourne, Deakin and Queensland University of Technology schools of Optometry. He is currently employed as Chief Clinical Officer for Optometry Australia and provides professional services assistance to members in Medicare Professional Services Review trials, audits, investigations and medico-legal matters along with leading development of resources and special projects.
Dr Kristin Bell
Dr Kristin Bell is a comprehensive ophthalmologist.
She is the Director of Surgery and Head of the Eye Department at the Royal Hobart Hospital and Chair of the Tasmanian Eye Health Network.
She is the RANZCO Vision 2030 and Beyond Clinical Lead, and chairs the RANZCO Tasmanian Branch, STP, and Regionally Enhanced Training Network Education committees.
She has a strong interest in health advocacy – in particular, fair, and equitable access to health services regardless of postcode, ethnicity, or income.
Damon Hannay
Damon graduated Optometry from QUT in 2006 with First Class Honours and the University Medal. He returned to QUT in 2009 to complete his ocular therapeutics before moving to Launceston, Tasmania to work as a clinical optometrist. In 2016 he became an Optometry Director at Specsavers Launceston and now leads a team of 9 optometrists.
Damon has a special interest in advanced contact lens fitting (including keratoconus and orthokeratology) as well as the management of glaucoma. He is passionate about collaborative care and has been proactively involved in setting up a glaucoma shared care model in Northern Tasmania. In 2024 he completed the Advanced Certificate in Glaucoma through the ACO and in early 2025 he received Advanced Practice Recognition in Glaucoma from Optometry Australia.
Prof David Mackey
Prof David Mackey AO is a medical graduate of the University of Tasmania who trained in ophthalmology at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital. After his doctorate these on Leber hereditary optic neuropathy at the University of Melbourne he did fellowships in genetic eye disease in Baltimore US and London UK.
After returning to Australia in 1994 he set up the Glaucoma Inheritance Study in Tasmania (examining 2,000 people with glaucoma and 3,000 of their relatives) in 2000 he started the Twins Eye Study in Tasmania and Brisbane (examining 2,000 twins and 200 siblings).
In 2009 he moved to Perth as Managing Director of the Lions Eye Institute and ran eye examinations on the Raine Study (1,350 20-year-olds) on the Busselton Healthy Aging Study (5,000 baby boomers) and more recently 5-8 year olds from the ORIGINS and Raine Generation-3 cohorts.
He is currently Vice President of the Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology and is on the Council of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences and the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists.
Nicholas Willson
Nick graduated from the University of Canberra in 2023 and serves as a committee member for ECOVSAT and SAVSAT, and a board member of OTAS. In late 2025, he completed the ACO’s advanced certificate in children’s vision, with a grant from the Tasmanian Optometry Foundation. Today, he’ll be speaking about his experience with the course and how that support contributed to his development.