A one-day symposium, convened by world-leading ophthalmologist Professor Helen Danesh-Meyer CNZM will explore the role of optometrists in the co-management of glaucoma patients.
Themed “The Role of Optometrists and Real-World Glaucoma” this interactive symposium for all health professionals and students in Australia and New Zealand will be pragmatic, empowering, and unapologetically focused on excellence in front-line decision-making.
interactive symposium for all health professionals and students in Australia and New Zealand will be pragmatic, empowering, and unapologetically focused on excellence in front-line decision-making
The symposium – which can be accessed in person and online – has been accredited by the Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians Board of New Zealand for 6.9 CPD Points and for 4.5Ti CPD hours from Optometry Australia.
Register Now
This one-day glaucoma symposium will take place from 9am – 4:45 pm NZST on Sunday 13 July 2025.
You can attend in person at The Maritime Room, Viaduct Harbour, Auckland, or online via Zoom. Find out more and register here.
Immersive and Interactive
The day will be divided into five parts:
Keynote Address – The Role of Optometrists and Real-World Glaucoma presented by Dr Aparna Raniga who will speak on ‘Leading meaningful intervention at every stage of the disease’.
Session One – Understanding the Landscape presented by Aaron Wong (Early Diagnosis), Mia Zhang (Intraocular pressure isn’t everything), Keliopy Matheos (Glaucoma vs mimics), Divya Perumal (The art of gonioscopy), and Mark Donaldson (Normal tension glaucoma).
Session Two – Testing with Purpose presented by Tui Homer (Case illustration), Antony Suter (Clinical red flags), Graham Reeves (Optical coherence tomography), Hannah Kersten (Intraocular pressure measurement), Hussain Patel (Visual fields).
Session Three – Treatment in the Trenches and Tough Calls presented by Dr Aparna Raniga (Surgical treatment of glaucoma), Hussain Patel (Drops vs SLT), Michael Merriman (Glaucoma suspect), Ben Hoy (compliance and glaucoma education).
Session Four – Case Battles – Real Life Rapid Fire presented by Claire McDonald, Hannah Kersten, Martina Kang, Ross Tayler, Jason Xu, Prof. Helen Danesh-Meyer (rapid fire cases) and student David Choi (scholarship presentation).
Professor Helen Danesh-Meyer
Professor Helen Danesh-Meyer MBhB, Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Philosophy, FRSNZ, FRANZCO, is an international authority in glaucoma and neuro-ophthalmology. She was the first female professor of ophthalmology and the youngest professor in a surgical specialty in New Zealand. Prof Danesh-Meyer has received numerous awards and research grants, and published more than 120 articles. Several aspects of her clinical research have influenced and altered clinical management strategies in the international arena, in particular her work on imaging of the retinal nerve fibre layer in Alzheimer’s Disease and chiasmal compression. She pioneered quantitative evaluation of the optic nerve and its morphological changes. In 2025 she was named as one of The Ophthalmologist’s Power List top 10 international glaucoma specialists.
Dr Aparna Raniga
Dr Aparna Raniga is a Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists, and a subspecialist glaucoma and cataract surgeon with two years of dedicated post-fellowship training in Switzerland and Canada.
Dr Raniga graduated from the University of Otago (NZ) with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB) in 2006. She then completed specialist training in Ophthalmology with the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (FRANZCO) in 2015. She completed her final year of training as the Eye Casualty Senior Registrar at the Sydney Eye Hospital.
Dr Raniga is the first RANZCO Fellow to complete a one-year fellowship in glaucoma surgery and uveitis at the prestigious Bern University Hospital. Her second glaucoma fellowship was at the Ivey Eye Institute, University of Western Ontario.
