Prominent New Zealand ophthalmologist Dr Aparna Raniga is promising to “reframe the narrative” for optometrists who feel like their role in glaucoma care sits in the shadows of referrals and rigid hierarchies.
Dr Raniga is the keynote speaker at the 2025 Glaucoma NZ Professional Education Symposium, to be held in Auckland and online on Sunday 13 July.
The one-day event, which is also open to Australian optometrists and orthoptists, is hosted by Glaucoma NZ and convened by world-leading ophthalmologist Professor Helen Danesh-Meyer.
Dr Raniga’s keynote address will call optometrists to lead glaucoma care with strategy, empathy, and evidence, offering a roadmap for clinicians.
Expect pragmatic tips on:
- Risk stratification that fits into short appointment times,
- Reading the silent cues of progressive disease (even when the patient ‘feels fine’),
- Building compliance through persuasive communication, not pressure, and
- Navigating real-world barriers like limited funding, patient fear, and psychological disconnect.
“Most blindness from glaucoma is preventable,” said Pippa Martin, the General Manager of Glaucoma NZ, the symposium host.
“But prevention only works if it translates into action. That’s why we do what we do – so the research doesn’t just sit in a journal. It lands in clinics. In consult rooms. In lives.”
Dr Raniga’s keynote address will call optometrists to lead glaucoma care with strategy, empathy, and evidence, offering a roadmap for clinicians.
Registrations are open for the CPD-accredited symposium, with both New Zealand and Australian optometrists, nurses, orthoptists, and technicians invited to attend.
Find out more about Glaucoma New Zealand at glaucoma.org.nz/
