Dr Ursula White completed her optometry training at Cardiff University in Wales.  She has worked in a variety of settings across the UK, New Zealand and Australia, including private practice, hospital optometry, academic teaching, and clinical research.  As a senior clinical tutor at Auckland university, she re-stablishing a student-led low vision clinic and developed  a collaborative scheme with the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind to improve access to CCTV’s for people who were blind/vision impaired.  

After moving to Brisbane in 2009 she began working at the Paediatric Low Vision Clinic, based within the Department of Education, Statewide Vision Impairment Services, a position she held for almost ten years.  Working in paediatric low vision afforded the opportunity to develop skills in assessment of patients with complex needs, including those who are non-speaking / minimally verbal, and/or intellectually disabled.   During this time, she also completed a PhD investigating falls and concerns about falling in older people with macular degeneration.  

Ursula works as a clinical supervisor in the Vision Rehabilitation Clinic at QUT and is the director of Special Eyes Vision Services: a specialised Optometry practice for children and adults with complex needs, including people who are non-speaking/minimally verbal, intellectually disabled, and/or who have ocular or cerebral visual impairment.  

She has a keen interest in developing equitable access to eye health for everyone, regardless of their abilities/disabilities, and in developing support for people affected by cerebral visual impairment.