Staff listing

A high-quality advisory board supports our optometry courses, and helps ensure they're aligned to industry needs. It's also a key element of the governance and continuous improvement of optometry at Deakin.

Yvonne Hewitt

Yvonne Hewitt is the Director of Clinical Education at Training at Barwon Health.

Her qualifications are in business and management, and her health sector career spans approximately 20 years. Yvonne has worked in public and private sector health organisations, including at the Executive level, leading and managing clinical and non-clinical services.

She was appointed to her current role in 2010, with the brief of establishing an integrated education and training unit for Barwon Health. The Clinical Education and Training Unit incorporates medical, nursing and allied health education and training for all phases of the pathway, from secondary school work experience and professional entry placements through transition to practice, graduate and postgraduate training, as well as continuing professional development.

Yvonne has a Bachelor of Commerce and Master of Business Administration from Deakin University, is a member of CPA Australia, an Associate Fellow of the Australian College of Health Service Managers, and a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Jayson Ward

Jayson graduated with a B.Optom (University of Melbourne) in 2000, and spent several years employed in Melbourne private practice with a strong interest in children's and behavioural optometry.

Jayson has subsequently worked as an optometrist around Australia and the world, at times as a volunteer optometrist and teaching clinician with the International Centre for Eyecare Education. This provided extensive experience within indigenous populations at home and abroad and the completion of a M.Optom (University of New South Wales).

Years of locum work culminated in Jayson's current role as optometrist and principal of Warrnambool Eyecare and Portland Eyecare in south-west regional Victoria since 2012. He currently sits as Director for Optometry Victoria and hosts optometry student placements from Victorian universities.

Peter Murphy

Peter Murphy is the Director of Eyecare and Community for Luxottica across Australia and New Zealand. The Luxottica group employs over 700 optometrists across the OPSM and Laubman & Pank brands. Peter is responsible for the overall recruitment of optometrists and management of this team, a role that has a huge impact on the quality of eye care provided to both Australia and New Zealand.

Peter is an optometrist by training and has degrees in science and optometry from the University of Melbourne. He also completed a MBA from the University of West Australia, and a Graduate Certificate in Ocular Therapeutics from the University of New South Wales.

Over his career, Peter has been a passionate supporter of the OneSight and has participated in domestic clinics in remote places in Australia such as Derby, Mooree, Doomadgee and Mornington Island. He has also participated in several overseas clinics including Fiji, Thailand, The Gambia, (Africa), and Xian, China.

Peter’s other professional interest has been to support Optometry Australia. He was on the Western Australia board of Optometry Australia for a decade, and he also served as the National Director representing Western Australia for a number of years.

Sharon Bentley

Sharon obtained her degrees in optometry at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Sharon has experience as an optometrist clinician, educator and researcher in Australia, Canada and the US.

She currently works as the Director of Clinical Services for the Australian College of Optometry, having previously worked in a number of academic positions. She has a honorary position in the University of Melbourne's Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences.

Sharon is a Board Director of Vision Australia, Chair of the Optometry Australia Low Vision Working Group, member of the Vision 2020 Independence and Participation Committee and Editorial Board member of Clinical and Experimental Optometry.

Sharon is a past Churchill Fellow. Her current clinical and research interests include public health, indigenous eye health services, patient-reported outcomes for use in clinical trials of new eye treatments, glaucoma and the impact of low vision on quality of life.