Jan E. Lovie-Kitchin is an Australian optometrist, former professor at Queensland University of Technology and founder of the university's Vision Rehabilitation Centre. She was the co-developer of the Bailey-Lovie visual acuity chart.
Lovie-Kitchin obtained her first degree from the Department of Optometry at the University of Melbourne in 1973 and got her master's three years later at the same place, under the guidance of Professor Ian Bailey, who had been the first optometry clinician to work at the Kooyong Low Vision Clinic in Melbourne. [1] [2] In 1976, she and Bailey created the Bailey-Lovie visual acuity chart, which is now used worldwide, particularly in research settings. The chart was described in 2009 as the most popular redesign of the Snellen chart. [3]
By 1980, she became a clinical optometrist at the Victorian College of Optometry. Later she moved to Queensland, where she became a lecturer at the School of Optometry at Queensland University of Technology. In 1985, she published her first textbook. [1] In 1992, Lovie-Kitchin was promoted to an associate professor and she completed a Ph.D. four years later. [1]
In 1998, Lovie-Kitchin and Stephen G. Whittaker received the Garland W. Clay Award from the American Academy of Optometry (AAO), which is given to the authors of the most influential paper over the preceding five years in the journal Optometry and Vision Science . [4] Lovie-Kitchin and Whittaker conducted research into the relationship between visual acuity and reading, coining the term acuity reserve to describe the difference between the threshold print size and the reading acuity. [5] The AAO also named Lovie-Kitchin a Research Low Vision Diplomate in 2003. [6] She was named a life member of the Australian College of Optometry in 2014. [7]
Lovie-Kitchin was a consultant at the Kooyong Low Vision Clinic in Melbourne and the Low Vision Care Centre in Brisbane. In 1993 she founded the QUT Vision Rehabilitation Centre and in 2007 became a director of Vision Australia. Since retiring from her academic post in 2006, she has served as an adjunct professor at QUT and is a chairwoman of the University Human Research Ethics Committee. [1]
Optometry is a specialized health care profession that involves examining the eyes and related structures for defects or abnormalities. Optometrists are health care professionals who typically provide comprehensive eye care.
Visual acuity (VA) commonly refers to the clarity of vision, but technically rates an animal's ability to recognize small details with precision. Visual acuity depends on optical and neural factors. Optical factors of the eye influence the sharpness of an image on its retina. Neural factors include the health and functioning of the retina, of the neural pathways to the brain, and of the interpretative faculty of the brain.
A Snellen chart is an eye chart that can be used to measure visual acuity. Snellen charts are named after the Dutch ophthalmologist Herman Snellen who developed the chart in 1862 as a measurement tool for the acuity formula developed by his professor Franciscus Cornelius Donders. Many ophthalmologists and vision scientists now use an improved chart known as the LogMAR chart.
An eye chart is a chart used to measure visual acuity comprising lines of optotypes in ranges of sizes. Optotypes are the letters or symbols shown on an eye chart. Eye charts are often used by health care professionals, such as optometrists, physicians and nurses, to screen persons for vision impairment. Ophthalmologists, physicians who specialize in the eye, also use eye charts to monitor the visual acuity of their patients in response to various therapies such as medications or surgery.
Vision therapy (VT), or behavioral optometry, is an umbrella term for alternative medicine treatments using eye exercises, based around the pseudoscientific claim that vision problems are the true underlying cause of learning difficulties, particularly in children. Vision therapy has not been shown to be effective using scientific studies, except for helping with convergence insufficiency. Most claims—for example that the therapy can address neurological, educational, and spatial difficulties—lack supporting evidence. Neither the American Academy of Pediatrics nor the American Academy of Ophthalmology support the use of vision therapy.
The LEA Vision Test System is a series of pediatric vision tests designed specifically for children who do not know how to read the letters of the alphabet that are typically used in eye charts. There are numerous variants of the LEA test which can be used to assess the visual capabilities of near vision and distance vision, as well as several other aspects of occupational health, such as contrast sensitivity, visual field, color vision, visual adaptation, motion perception, and ocular function and accommodation (eye).
The Optometric Extension Program Foundation (OEPF) is an international, non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the discipline of optometry, with recent emphasis on behavioral optometry and vision therapy.
An optometrist is an individual who provides a service related to the eyes or vision. It is any healthcare worker involved in eye care, from one with a small amount of post-secondary training to practitioners with a doctoral level of education.
The Illinois College of Optometry (ICO) is a private optometry college in Chicago, Illinois. Graduating approximately 160 optometrists a year, it is the largest optometry college in the United States and the oldest continually operating educational facility dedicated solely to the teaching of optometrists. The college complex incorporates more than 366,000 square feet (34,000 m2) including an on-site eye care clinic, electronically enhanced lecture center, library, computerized clinical learning equipment, cafeteria, fitness center, and living facilities.
The School of Optometry and Vision Science is one of the professional schools at the University of Waterloo. It is a school within the university's Faculty of Science and is the larger of the two optometry schools in Canada. The School is the only English speaking Optometry School in the country; the Francophone Université de Montréal program operates in Quebec.
The Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry & Vision Science at the University of California, Berkeley is an optometry school at the University of California, Berkeley. It offers a graduate-level, four-year professional program leading to the Doctor of Optometry degree (OD), and a one-year, ACOE-accredited residency program in clinical optometry specialties. It is also the home department for the multidisciplinary Vision Science Group at UC Berkeley, whose graduate students earn either MS or PhD degrees.
A logMAR chart is a chart consisting of rows of letters that is used by ophthalmologists, orthoptists, optometrists, and vision scientists to estimate visual acuity. The chart was developed at the National Vision Research Institute of Australia in 1976, and is designed to enable a more accurate estimate of acuity than do other charts. For this reason, the LogMAR chart is recommended, particularly in a research setting.
The Australian College of Optometry (ACO) is an Australian non-profit working to improve the eye health and well-being of various Australian communities. Established in 1940, the ACO's goal is to deliver public health optometry, vision research and professional education.
Konrad Pesudovs is an Australian optometrist and outcomes researcher in ophthalmology; recognised as the leading optometrist researcher worldwide in terms of H-Index and total citations. He is SHARP Professor of Optometry and Vision Science at the University of New South Wales (2020-). He was the Foundation Chair of Optometry and Vision Science at Flinders University from 2009 to 2017.
Nathan Efron is an Australian and British optometrist and an author of numerous research papers and nine books.
Susan A. Cotter is a professor of optometry at the Southern California College of Optometry (SCCO) at Marshall B. Ketchum University where she teaches in the classroom and clinic, works with the residents, and conducts clinical researches. Her scientific work is related to related to clinical management strategies for strabismus, amblyopia, non-strabismic binocular vision disorders, and childhood refractive error.
Heiko Pult is a German research optometrist, specialising in research in dry eye, contact lenses, tear film and visual acuity. He is the CEO of Horst Riede GmbH in Weinheim, Germany, and also heads a research group, Dr Heiko Pult - Optometry and Vision Research, also based in Weinheim. He is also Professor at Cardiff University, lecturer and author of numerous papers, articles and books.
Louise Littig Sloan was an American ophthalmologist and vision scientist. She is credited for being a pioneer of the sub-division of clinical vision research, contributing more than 100 scientific articles in which she either authored or co-authored. Her most notable work was in the area of visual acuity testing where she developed and improved equipment. Sloan received her Ph.D. from Bryn Mawr College in experimental psychology. She spent a short period of time in both Bryn Mawr's experimental psychology program as well as the Department of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School. The majority of her career, however, was spent at Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute where she directed the Wilmer Laboratory of Physiological Optics for 44 years. In 1971, Sloan was the second woman awarded the prestigious Edgar D. Tillyer Award by Optica (formerly Optical Society for her many achievements in the field of vision.
The MNREAD acuity chart or Minnesota low vision reading chart is a text based chart used to measure near visual acuity in people with normal or low vision. It can also be used to measure maximum reading speed, critical print size and the reading accessibility index of a person. Digital and printed types of charts are available.
Near visual acuity or near vision is a measure of how clearly a person can see nearby small objects or letters. Visual acuity in general usually refers clarity of distance vision, and is measured using eye charts like Snellen chart, LogMAR chart etc. Near vision is usually measured and recorded using a printed hand-held card containing different sized paragraphs, words, letters or symbols. Jaeger chart, N notation reading chart and Snellen's near vision test are the commonly used charts for measuring and recording near visual acuity. Near vision testing is usually done after correcting visual acuity at a distance.