The British Contact Lens Association (BCLA) has appointed Nick Rumney as Conference Programme Coordinator (CPC). Nick will officially begin his role after the Association’s Clinical Conference in June.
A Fellow of the BCLA, Nick Rumney is Managing Director of Hereford-based independent practice, BBR Optometry. Having attended the BCLA Clinical Conference for more than 20 years, Nick chaired the conference’s inaugural Clinical Grand Rounds session in 2012 and will do so again at this year’s Clinical Conference, which is being held from 6-9 June at Manchester Central.
A regular speaker and well-known throughout the profession, Nick is a founder member of the European Academy of Optometry and Optics, and a Fellow of the College of Optometrists and the American Academy of Optometry. He is also a Research Fellow at Aston University and Visiting Lecturer at Manchester University.
Commenting on his appointment, BCLA President, Dr Catharine Chisholm, said: “We are delighted to welcome Nick as our new CPC. With his wide-ranging experience, as both High Street practitioner and optometric educator, Nick brings a wealth of skills and knowledge to the role. We are confident that he will help shape the Clinical Conference to ensure that it meets the ever-evolving needs of all those involved with contact lenses and the anterior eye.
“On behalf of the BCLA Council and Executive, I’d also like to thank Chris Kerr for his sterling effort and success over the past five years in his capacity as Conference Scientific Programme Consultant,” continued Catharine.
“Under Chris’s stewardship, the conference has developed into arguably the world’s most prestigious scientific meeting of contact lens practitioners – with many new and popular features introduced to expand its appeal to the wider eyecare community. We are truly grateful to have had Chris’s expertise driving the conference forward in recent years, and we will continue that momentum into 2014 and beyond.”
On his appointment, Nick Rumney said: “Although I have been involved with clinical education and training for many years now, I remain at heart an optometrist seeing patients on a regular basis. The annual BCLA Clinical Conference is devised with everyday practitioners in mind, but I believe a perception persists that it is geared towards contact lens experts and specialists alone.
“My aim is to challenge this perception by building on the conference’s multidisciplinary approach to practical, clinical and business contact lens education, and focusing on ways to make it more appealing to younger members of the profession.
“Planning, developing and delivering the BCLA Clinical Conference is a long-term, evolutionary process that begins some 14 months in advance. This most prestigious international meeting is ripe for evolutionary change and I am very excited to be a part of this.”
