"developing the visual system to work with grace and ease"
Meet Dr Chea
Dr Jennifer Chea graduated from UNSW (University of New South Wales) with first-class honours in 2000. She's spent the 26 years since then working out how eyes and brains actually work together, not just whether you can read the chart on the wall. A Graduate Certificate in Ocular Therapeutics and a Masters of Optometry deepened that early interest in children's vision. What changed the direction of her career was training in behavioural optometry through ACBO and the OEPF. That training taught her to look at vision as something the whole visual system does, not just the eyes on their own.
In her first year in practice, a young boy named Aiden came in with a lazy eye. Over time, and with the right kind of therapy, it improved enough that he avoided strabismus surgery altogether. It's a small thing to some people. Dr Chea still thinks about it. It's the kind of outcome that made her want to keep doing this work.
What she loves most is watching kids grow in confidence as their vision problems get sorted out. She's been part of this community long enough to see patients grow up. Some she first examined as children are now bringing in their own kids. That's continuity of care: whole families, looked after from childhood into motherhood.
Outside the practice, Dr Chea is mum to three gorgeous girls and an adorable cavoodle named Pinky, who firmly believes she's one of the kids too. She's usually found at musical theatre or dance rehearsals with the girls, cheering on the Bulldogs (rugby league) and the Sydney Thunder (cricket), or just relaxing with a good cup of tea.
Book Now26+
years in practice
Australasian College of Behavioural Optometrists
Member
Optometry Australia
Member
Orthokeratology Society of Oceania
Member. Fitting OrthoK lenses for 10+ years.
Credentials
- 2000
BOptom (Hons): Bachelor of Optometry, First Class Honours
Graduated from UNSW (University of New South Wales) with first-class honours. In her first year in practice, a young boy named Aiden came in with a lazy eye. With the right therapy, it improved enough that he avoided strabismus surgery altogether, the kind of outcome that made her want to keep doing this work.
- 2008
Graduate Certificate in Ocular Therapeutics + Masters of Optometry
Postgraduate study at UNSW, deepening an early interest in children's vision and pushing further into how eyes and brains actually work together, not just whether a child can read the chart on the wall.
- 2015
ACBO-accredited Practical Vision Therapy program
Completed the ACBO (Australasian College of Behavioural Optometrists) accredited Practical Vision Therapy program. This is the training that changed the direction of her career, toward treating vision as something the whole visual system does, not just the eyes on their own.
- 2016+
OEPF Clinical Curriculum + Acquired/Traumatic Brain Injury course
Completed all four core courses of the OEPF (Optometric Extension Program Foundation) Clinical Curriculum, plus its Acquired/Traumatic Brain Injury course. This is the training behind the Neuro-Optometric Assessment service. Around the same period, she also began fitting orthokeratology (OrthoK) lenses, tracked with a biometer and corneal topographer at every review, 10+ years running now.
- Today
26 years in practice, still the only optometrist here
No rotating roster, no head office. Some patients she first examined as children are now bringing in their own kids, the kind of continuity of care that only comes from staying in one practice, in one community, for this long.