My Professional Journey
My Uncle was my mentor as a child and the reason I became an Optometrist.
I graduated from UNSW in 1987 and worked initially for ten years in my Uncle's practice which was very busy in the Perth CBD. This environment was a great place to be exposed to all kinds of vision conditions, but not the best for extended consultation times that we require for indepth vision development assessments and Vision Therapy.
Once I entered the world of behavioural optometry it was time to move on, and open my own practice. With lots of optometric experience but not much business experience this was a huge challenge. In the end proving too much, we closed our first practice, went to work with Craig Butler in Karrinyup and, to cut a long story short, now own the practice with Paul. For this reason I am very interested in helping people who are thinking of opening their own practice, having suffered all the pitfalls of being a new business owner.
Our practice: Vision West, which opened in 1984, is located in the Perth suburb of Karrinyup, approximately 15 minutes north of the CBD. I am in partnership in the practice with Paul Clarke our Optical Dispenser. The demographic of our practice database is largely either children attending for behavioural vision care, their associated family members or contact lens patients often referred for Orthokeratology or other forms of Rigid contact lens fittings including Keratoconus.
Little known facts about John: I love sport, watching any form of motorsport, mainly F1 and V8 Supercars. And although this seems contradictory to the revhead side of me, I am also very into the advancement of environmentally friendly motoring technology, realising the world cannot go on with its head in the sand, we must look to greening our world for the sake of future generations.
I am a passionate Carlton supporter in the AFL. In terms of participation myself I love to run, and will try and do so 3-4 times per week if I can fit it in.
I am married with three children aged 16,14 and 10 years, and that certainly keeps us busy.
