About the presenters:
Gwyn Samuel Williams, Consultant Ophthalmologist.
Gwyn Samuel Williams is a consultant ophthalmologist with an interest in medical retina based at Singleton Hospital, Swansea. He trained in ophthalmology on the Wales rotation and completed his fellowship at Moorfields Eye Hospital, London. He is also an Honorary associate professor at the University of Swansea.
He has authored a book about the practical management of inflammatory eye disease, written chapters in medical textbooks and published a novel. His interests include hiking, readingand writing and he has a special interest in medical education. He lives in Swansea.
David O'Sullivan OBE, Chief Optometric Advisor to Welsh Government
David qualified as an optometrist with a First-Class Honours degree from Glasgow Caledonian University in 1996 before completing his training in Leeds general infirmary. Following a short spell in Yorkshire he relocated to Wales in 1998 where he became a practice owner expanding from one practice to a small group of practices within Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan.
He became accredited to provide Welsh Eye Care Services (Eye Health Examination and Low Vision Service Wales) in the first cohort of practitioners for both services and has subsequently undertaken further postgraduate qualifications in glaucoma management and ocular therapeutics.
In 2001 he became the Optometric Development Officer for Carmarthenshire Local Health group, which has subsequently developed into Hywel Dda University Health Board. This was the first position of its kind in Wales and provided a link between primary and secondary care providing the platform for developing services in the community.
In 2015 he became the Optometric Adviser for Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan University Health Board and in July 2017 became the Chief Optometric Adviser for Wales, leading on the NHS Wales Future Approach for Optometry and clinical reforms for eye care in Wales”.
David was recognised in the 2024 Kings New Years Honours List, becoming an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for “Services to Eye Care in Wales”.
Rebecca John, National Clinical Lead, Wales General Ophthalmic Services
Rebecca studied at Cardiff University and qualified as an Optometrist in 2005. Since then she has worked in a variety of optometric practices to include independent practice, the hospital eye service and a year practising in Trinidad. She has also spent time in research, and teaching undergraduate and postgraduate optometry.
Rebecca is now National Clinical Lead for Wales General Ophthalmic Services and alongside this is currently undertaking two research projects with Wales Council of the Blind.
Tim Morgan, WGOS National Clinical Lead
Tim Morgan is a Wales General Ophthalmic Services' National Clinical Lead, alongside Rebecca John and Mike George. This role is employed by NHS Wales to support all 7 Health Boards.
Additionally, he is an Optometrist performer and contractor with his own practice in North East Wales.
Ruth Rhydderch
Ruth has worked as the eye clinic liaison officer in UHW since 2014 with a background in health and the third sector. Originally from West Wales she has lived in Cardiff for over 30 years. She enjoys nothing better on a Saturday afternoon than watching the best football team in Wales Cardiff City !! When not cheering on the Bluebirds Ruth can be found either at her allotment enjoying the peace, the gym taking out her frustrations at Cardiff’s latest performance or enjoying a pint at her local.
Sandy Davies.
Sandy Davies is Chair of Welsh Rehabilitation Officers Forum (WROF) the professional body representing VRS’s across Wales. She was working in the fitness industry until she had a very personal experience of sight loss. During this time, she volunteered with Wales Council of the Blind delivering awareness training across Wales and volunteered with Sight Life. Sandy trained as a Rehabilitation Officer (ROVI) in Birmingham and then went on to complete the BSc in Rehabilitation Studies in Visual Impairment. Sandy is a Vision Rehabilitation Specialist formally known as a Rehabilitation Officer (ROVI). She initially worked in London as a ROVI and then returned to Wales working in Neath Port Talbot. Sandy worked in Care & Repair as a Managing Better Caseworker and was part of the service when it was originally set up over 7 years ago. She is the Senior Practitioner in Bridgend Sensory Services and chairs the Bridgend Professionals meetings bringing Health, Social Care and Third Sector together supporting people with sight and dual sensory loss. Sandy is passionate about sight loss and is constantly working to better co-ordinate services and other professionals to the benefit of vision loss. Sandy enjoys travelling and visiting friends across the world.
Mandie Wright.
Mandie Wright worked for 5 years as a Royal Society for Blind Children (RSBC) Family Practitioner, providing emotional wellbeing and practical support to families across the West Midlands.
This provided Mandie with the unique opportunity to hear directly from blind and partially sighted children, young people and their families from the stage when a diagnosis is first suspected or diagnosed, through all of the life and family changes that this diagnosis might impact or be impacted by.
Now as Head of Family Support, the focus of supporting the family system as opposed to the child or young person in isolation is firmly integrated into our support offer and Mandie has helped to grow this original team of 3 to a team of 14 Family Practitioners based across England and Wales in addition to a Clinical Lead, Clinical Supervisor, Advice Officer and a Family Activity Coordinator.
Dr Claire Nollett.
Dr Claire Nollett (Cardiff University) is a mental health researcher with experience of supporting people with depression and anxiety in the NHS. Claire is committed to promoting accessible, compassionate, and person-centred care and supporting individuals across diverse communities. Her recent work focuses on vision impairment and mental health, and she is known for her thoughtful approach and strong advocacy for mental health equity. Claire continues to contribute to the field through research and collaborative initiatives that aim to improve outcomes and reduce stigma.
Richard Bowers.
Richard is best known to seasoned conference delegates as the man with the roving microphone, but he has another life as an installation artist. His most recent exhibition was a multi-medial work entitled Fourteen Short Operas About Fourteen Long Operas - a poetic exploration of links between European culture and history in the 19th and 20th centuries. Music is central to his work and he has collaborated with musicians from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and elsewhere. His works have been supported financially by the Arts Council for Wales, Chapter Arts and others, and his current work - Eight Voices in Darkness - is a collaboration with Dr. Claire Nollett of the Centre for Vision Services Research at Cardiff University.
Sarah Schumm GOC-01-20997 BSc MCOptom, Prof Cert Glauc, Prof Cert Med Ret
Sarah Schumm graduated from Bradford University in 2003, completing her PQEs in 2004. Working as an optometrist in primary care, she gained her EHEW accreditation and then went on to complete her Professional Certificate in Glaucoma in 2017, and Independent Prescribing in 2021. She is currently awaiting her IP CFA. She completed her Professional Certificate in Medical Retina in 2025 and is currently studying for a PhD in Research with Swansea University.
Sarah completed a Clinical Fellowship with Health Education Improvement Wales (HEIW) in 2020, gaining a Post Graduate Certificate in Clinical Leadership from Swansea University which led to her Chair of Optometry Wales role (2021-2023). Following on from the successful negotiations with the Welsh Government, Sarah became Optometry Training Lead in 2022 in HEIW. She continues to work as a primary care optometrist two days a week.
Sarah is a Level 2 accredited swim coach and qualified Sports Team Manager. In her spare time, she volunteers as a swimming coach, specialising in coaching swimmers with disabilities with Swim Wales.
Prof. Barbara Ryan MBE
Barbara is Professor of Optometric Practice at Cardiff University and the Director of the newly established Health Care and Research Wales funded Centre for Vision Services Research. Barbara practices as an optometrist one day a week in Aneurin Bevan Health Board.
Anna Tylor
Anna Tylor was born severely sight impaired and has been a life-long advocate of disability rights. Her early career included working on employment programmes, and she has also worked in service settings delivering training and development activities. She was involved in leading the roll out of equalities legislation and has worked on inclusion programmes – including with the City of London Police, and in the banking and retail sector. She is a trained mediator with a master’s degree in Sociology and Social Policy.
Anna established the UK educational collection, now known as RNIB Bookshare, to offer blind and partially sighted people – and other disabled learners – equal access to the curriculum. She became Chair of RNIB in 2020.
In recent years, Anna has campaigned tirelessly for improvements to the All-Wales Accessible Communication and Information Standards which were originally launched in 2013 and aimed to ensure that patients with communications needs receive accessible information and appropriate communication support, so they can access services independently.
Driven by her own experiences with inaccessible medical information while undergoing treatment for breast cancer in 2022. Anna has had first-hand insight into the toll inaccessible information can take on someone’s mental health and is determined to establish consistent equity in this area.
Nia Greer
Nia is the North Wales Services Manager for Vison Support, a vision impairment charity delivering services in North-East Wales, Chester and Cheshire West and Halton. Nia has worked in the sight loss sector for 12 years in various roles such as Sight Loss Advisor – delivering services and holistic assessments, Low Vision Practitioner and Community Engagement Officer. Nia, who is registered blind lives in Conwy with her husband and 6-year-old twin boys. Over the years both personally and throughout her career Nia has seen the impact of emotional support services and the power of peer support and is proud to be managing services that change people's lives.
Professor Isabel Oliver, Chief Medical Officer for Wales; Honorary Professor, University of Bristol; Honorary Professor, Centre for Global Health, University College London.
Isabel is a public health physician and epidemiologist who is dedicated to securing better health outcomes for all.
Isabel has left the post of Director General of Science and Research and Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) at the UK Health Security Agency to take the Welsh CMO post.
As UKHSA CSO, Isabel led the Science Group of the organisation and was accountable for the range of health security functions and services delivered by the group including microbiology and infectious diseases laboratories, protection from radiation, chemicals and environmental hazards including climate change and behavioural sciences. The group comprisedapproximately 2,500 staff in 4 directorates. Isabel was responsible for UKHSA’s three scientific campuses at Colindale in London, Porton Down in Wiltshire, and Chilton in Oxfordshire as well as a network of regional laboratories providing NHS and public health services. Isabel the science strategy and scientific profession of UKHSA developing partnerships with industry, academia and public sector organisations to secure health and prosperity. In this role, Isabel also established a Centre for Climate and Health Security to protect health in the context of our changing climate and Centre for Vaccine Development and Evaluation and a Diagnostics Accelerator to ensure we have the diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics that we need to protect health from current and future threats.
Isabel was responsible for knowledge, research and evaluation in UKHSA ensuring that the organisation has the evidence needed to protect health from all hazards. Her own academic interests include the evaluation of public health interventions and services and was co-director of the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit for Behavioural Sciences and Evaluation at the University of Bristol where she is an Honorary Professor. Isabel is also an Honorary Professor at the Centre for Global Health at University College London.
Isabel started her career working in acute hospital medicine in the West Midlands and the South West of England. After a few years, Isabel decided to pursue a career in public health to have a greater impact in improving and protecting health and reducing inequalities. She led work to assess the prevalence of mental health problems in Somerset and ensure that health services met the needs of the population. Her first consultant posts were as regional epidemiologist and consultant in public health in the NHS South West Strategic Health Authority where Isabel was responsible for improving access to sexual health services and strengthening surveillance.
Isabel became Regional Director for the Health Protection Agency in South West England in 2008, leading a transformation of local health protection services to ensure services of consistent high quality delivered efficiently and effectively.
In 2013, Isabel moved to Public Health England where she established the Field Epidemiology Service for England, learning lessons from the influenza H1N1 pandemic. This service was critical in the response to COVID-19 in England, enabling surveillance and contact tracing in the country. In April 2020 she took up the post of Director of the National Infection Service of Public Health England leading the organisation’s work for the surveillance and control of all infectious diseases. During the COVID-19 pandemic Isabel was also a senior clinical and public health adviser to NHS Test and Trace.
Isabel was born in Madrid, Spain and relocated to the UK in 1992 for personal reasons. In her free time Isabel enjoys running and growing organic vegetables in her allotment.
Gareth Davies
Gareth was registered Severely Sight Impaired (Blind) in 2014 due to Retina Pigmentosa resulting in him having only 10% “good vision” remaining. During his 10 years with RNIB Gareth has played a key role in the design of the Referral to Treatment Time model in Wales, the implementation of NaviLens across the packaging and transport industry and wrote the Accessible Stadium Best Practice Guidance (2024) for the Premier and English Football Leagues.
Gareth comes from Abergavenny in Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) where accessing the landscape helped him accept and overcome the mental health impact his sight loss diagnosis had on all aspects of his life at that time. Gareth’s lived experience of how accessing a National Park and their benefits for mental health and wellbeing was a key driver in the design of See Cymru Differently which focuses on making the Welsh National Parks and National Landscapes accessible for blind and partially sighted residents and visitors, the project also aims to reduce the number of people within the Welsh agricultural community from losing their eyesight by promoting Eye Health and Eye Safety in this sector.
Gareth is an accomplished athlete having played international rugby in Europe and Japan for Visionally Impaired teams and has been a driving force behind Cardiff Rugby’s Visually Impaired Team with him winning the Cardiff Rugby Hero Award in 2024 for his contribution to community rugby.
James Ledger.
I'm a full-time international T11 100m sprinter and Sport Production Apprentice at the BBC. I was born with bilateral coloboma and nystagmus, conditions that have shaped my perspective and journey through life. Sport has always been a powerful force for me — not just as a career path, but as a tool for transformation, confidence, and connection. My experiences on the track have taught me resilience, focus, and the importance of representation. These values now carry over into my work at the BBC, where I’m passionate about storytelling and using media to amplify underrepresented voices in sport. I believe everyone has a story worth sharing, and I’m driven to help others tell theirs. Whether I’m training for the next race or working behind the scenes in broadcasting, my goal is to inspire, inform, and create impact through both sport and storytelling.
Michael Bradbury BSc (Hons) MCOptom Dip TP (IP) Prof Cert Med Ret
Michael is an experienced independent prescriber (IP) Optometrist with a demonstrated history of working in the optometric practice industry. He is highly clinically experienced with previous hospital glaucoma, AMD and complex contact lens management experience along with many years of executive leadership experience within both large multiple & independent optometry businesses. He also holds a Professional Certificate in Medical Retina and has held clinical teaching roles in North Wales IP Teach & Treat clinic. Currently, as the Regional Optical Committee Engagement Officer for North Wales, South West Wales and South East Wales, he works with professionals across Wales to promote the ROCs and ensure that they can work with NHS Health Boards as effectively as possible in order to deliver WGOS services for patients and practices in the best way possible.
Tim Morgan, WGOS National Clinical Lead
Tim Morgan is a Wales General Ophthalmic Services' National Clinical Lead, alongside Rebecca John and Mike George who are also presenting at this conference. This role is employed by NHS Wales to support all 7 Health Boards.
Additionally, he is an Optometrist performer and contractor with his own practice in North East Wales.
Nik Sheen GOC-01-15847 PhD, MSc, MCOptom
After qualifying as an optometrist through the College of Optometrists’ pre-qualifying examinations, Nik gained experience in independent and multiple practices before completing an MSc at Bristol University in Clinical Ophthalmology and Optometry. He then pursued doctoral research at Cardiff University, focusing on stereoscopic techniques in the diagnosis of glaucoma, before taking up a lecturing role at the same institution. His research has included work in glaucoma, diabetes, and ongoing contributions to education in optometry research.
Nik went on to become Clinical Lead for the Eye Health Examinations Wales service and, in 2012, was appointed Director of the Wales Optometry Postgraduate Education Centre (WOPEC). In this role, he co-developed online and practical training programmes, delivered education across the UK, and presented internationally. He has contributed through the General Optical Council’s Education and Registration Committees and continues to assess international applications for entry onto the UK optometry register.
In 2021, Nik was appointed Optometry Lead at Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW), where he is responsible for workforce development, education, and training across the eye care sector in Wales. Outside of his professional life, Nik lives in the Welsh countryside with his wife and their three children.
Wales Vision Forum
The purpose of the Forum is for organisations representing people with sight loss to come together to share, discuss and outline work programmes and priorities to enhance joint working and reduce duplication to maximise our collective reach and impact.
The Forum is a platform for sharing information, sharing good practice and expertise, consulting and identifying opportunities to support service and campaign planning.
The group will also focus on the work of relevant work-streams in the sight loss sector. Task and finish groups will be established for specific areas of work, as agreed at meetings or via email by a majority.
http://wcb-ccd.org.uk/wales-vision-forum
Optometry Wales
Optometry Wales is the professional umbrella organisation for the primary care eye health profession in Wales. We represent and work on behalf of all community optometrists, opticians and dispensing opticians across Wales.
We are funded by contributions from each of the Regional Optical Committees in Wales, and from the UK optical bodies.
Our key working partners are Welsh Government, the Welsh Optometric Postgraduate Education Centre (WOPEC), NHS Wales, the voluntary sector and the Welsh Optometric Committee (WOC).
Working in partnership with all of these organisations and bodies we are committed to excellence in eye care in Wales.
UCAN Productions
UCAN Productions (Unique Creative Arts Network) is an award-winning cooperative founded in 2005 to address the lack of performance and creative opportunities for blind and partially sighted children, young people and adults in Wales. Since then, the organisation has grown to over 700 visually impaired members of all ages.
UCAN Productions develops specialised drama workshops and theatrical performances that challenge the perceptions of the sighted world. By improving physical and vocal confidence and raising the aspirations of its members, UCAN has proved, many times, that visual impairment is no barrier to success in the world of performing arts and beyond.
Centre for Vision Services Research
The Centre for Vision Services Research is dedicated to improving health and care services for individuals that access eye care services or have sight problems.
Our work will drive service transformation and global innovation in eye care, supported by government, industry, the voluntary sector, and professional bodies.
If people want to get involved in research or have ideas for research projects, the Centre for Vision Services Team would love to talk to you.