Optometry NSW/ACT’s committees ensure that our services are led by optometrists, for optometrists.
Committee members bring a range of expertise and skills to the role and provide leadership and operational insights to advance specific projects and activities, and to support the work of the secretariat.
ECONA – our Early Career Optometrists NSW/ACT engagement committee – was established by Optometry NSW/ACT in 2019 to engage with early career optometrists, or ECOs (= final year optometry students and graduates with less than 10 years of professional experience).
Guided by insights from ECONA, Optometry NSW/ACT supports, engages with, and represents early career optometrists in NSW/ACT. In a shifting landscape, ECOs now have a vastly different set of challenges to face, including:
The founding committee consisted of 9 members, Margaret Zhong (Chair), Lowana Littlechild, Lauren Hutchinson, Jack Phu, Alex Koutsokeras, Sue Kweon, Phoebe Wong, Daniel Rafla and Wendy Saw.
Since then it has established three distinct sub-committees, each with a different focus: Student Engagement, Conference Engagement and Rural & Regional Engagement.
Q: What is the purpose of Early Career Optometrists NSW/ACT (ECONA)?
A: The Early Career Optometrists committee acts as a bridge, or conduit, between the team at Optometry NSW/ACT and our early career optometrists (ECOs) and students. ECONA engages with ECOs in many ways, by taking part in planning and delivering CPD and social events to empower more ECOs to expand their scope of practice and/or enter new career pathways. The optometrists who make up our ECONA committees come from a range of backgrounds, including corporate, independent, academia and final-year undergraduate students.
Q: How can I get involved with the Early Career Optometrists NSW/ACT committee?
A: Vacancies are clearly advertised via Optometry NSW/ACT communications to all early career members as they come up. As long as you’re a member of Optometry NSW/ACT within your first 10 years since graduation, we welcome you to apply for positions on our Early Career Optometrists NSW/ACT committee as they become available. Keep an eye on your inbox and our social pages.
Q: What sort of services does Optometry NSW/ACT offer Early Career Optometrists?
A: Early Career Optometrists NSW/ACT guides our team at Optometry NSW/ACT to better understand the unique challenges of our early career members so we can provide support where it’s needed. You can speak to the highly specialised team at Optometry NSW/ACT about the following:
Call (02) 9712 2199 or email vision@oaansw.com.au whenever you need our help.
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