The end of June saw the final of the UK&I OptiStudent™ Awards, an annual competition for optometry students across Europe, organised by global contact lens manufacturer, CooperVision.
Representing Cardiff University, third year optometry student, Cherilyn Tan, was announced as this year’s winner with her project on the impact of contact lens handling methods. The project looked at how different contact lens handling methods could be used to minimise lens contamination and reduce adverse ocular signs and symptoms, potentially helping solve the issue of contact lens discomfort experienced by many contact lens wearers.
Cherilyn Tan.
Originally from Singapore, Cherilyn has dreamed of becoming an optometrist since childhood. She has a clear passion for learning about ocular diseases and treatments and wishes to use her career to really make a difference in people’s lives.
Speaking of her win, Cherilyn said: “I feel incredibly thankful to be the winner of this competition, which wouldn’t have been possible without all the help I received from Dr. Louise Terry and my other supervisors, as well as the participants who were involved in my research project.
“Being a contact lens wearer myself, I have experienced firsthand the difference they can make, and I hope my findings can help fellow contact lens wearers have the same positive experience with their contact lenses.”
Cherilyn’s winning project was supervised by Dr. Louise Terry, Research Fellow, Lecturer & Optometrist at Cardiff University, who commented: "This competition is a fantastic opportunity for students to showcase the hard work they've put into their research projects, and to get a flavour of what a career in research is like. It was a privilege to supervise Cherilyn, and we all wish her the best of luck in the EMEA final."
Professional Services Consultant, Neil Harvey, who hosted the national event said: “It was a pleasure to, again, host the UK&I round of the CooperVision OptiStudent™ awards where members of the UK&I Professional Affairs team heard undergraduate students present from Aston and Cardiff universities on their research projects. It’s fantastic to hear the enthusiasm from these future eye care professionals and how they may view their projects as contributing to future research, as well as how it might be useful in clinical practice. Our congratulations go to Cherilyn, and we look forward to seeing her present at the European final later this year.”
The next stage of the competition will take place in October at CooperVision’s Centre of Innovation in Budapest, Hungary, where other national finalists will come together to showcase their contact lens or anterior eye-related research projects for a panel of esteemed judges; Dr Elena Garcia Rubio, Director of the Institute of Optometry in Madrid; Dr. Stefan Bandlitz, Head of School at the Cologne School of Optometry; Professor James Wolffsohn, Professor of Optometry at Aston University and Dr Byki Huntjens, Senior Lecturer at the School of Health and Psychological Sciences of City St George’s, University of London.
