“To win was the icing on the cake”

I can’t believe I won.

I was over the moon to be nominated, but to win was the icing on the cake.

Originally, I completed a degree in engineering. However, after working in the field for a year I realised that I was more interested in being in a patient-centred and healthcare-related profession.

I retrained as an optometrist, completing optometry as my second degree. For me, optometry combines some of the technical problem-solving skills that I learned from engineering, with the communication skills that come with being in a patient-facing profession.

Watching their progression as they develop their clinical and communication skills, as well as their confidence, is particularly rewarding

The most rewarding part of being a lecturer is seeing students develop.

You get to see them from their first year of study when they do not know how to handle an ophthalmoscope, to when they are in the clinics seeing patients in their third year. Watching their progression as they develop their clinical and communication skills, as well as their confidence, is particularly rewarding.

Sharing my tips for being the best possible lecturer, I would encourage others to be yourself. 

I would also suggest embracing and developing your own approach. Finally, I have found that using examples of patients who I have seen in the hospital where I also work has helped provide validation to some of the teaching that I do – it helps students to realise that there is another world out there where they will be helping people. 

I really enjoy my job.

I simply want to carry on what I am doing. 

For more information on the AOP Awards 2020, visit the AOP website. Nominations are now open.