How a Masters in Orthoptics Can Open Up Your Career Opportunities

Walk wide-eyed into your future!

This article is in partnership with UTS.

You may have recently graduated from uni, or are approaching the end of your course and beginning to wonder: “what career prospects are out there for me?”

A Masters in Orthoptics (eye therapy) might just be your ticket to a rewarding career in helping to improve people's vision and quality of life. To help you toss things up, here are all the ways in which training to become an eye therapist can open career doors, according to recent graduates!

You can experience work in the public and private health sectors.

There are pros and cons to both sectors, and either way, you’re going to get a tonne of invaluable experience.

In public health, you’ll see the ins and outs of public hospitals, community-based services and affiliated health organisations.

The private system includes private hospitals, specialist medical and allied health and pharmacies.

Aida Zurich is a graduate of the Master of Orthoptics course at the University of Technology Sydney.

She works three days of the week in the public healthcare sector as an orthoptist, and another two days in the private sector.

You could run your own clinic. 

You might aspire to be in some kind of leadership role, or to be in control of your very own clinical practice!

“Orthoptists have that clinical background—they know what the clinic needs, therefore they make they make very good practice managers.”

You could specialise in ophthalmic devices or go into pharmaceutical sales. 

Ever wondered what those funky looking eye machines are when you go for an eye check? 

Prem Gunasekaran is also a graduate of the Masters course from UTS and works in opto-diagnostics, training surgeons and doctors in how to install and use machinery and products.

“My office is everywhere. I don’t really sit at a desk too much.” Prem says. “I’m mainly out in the clinic, meeting with heaps of different people!”

Aida also told us that lots of her colleagues got into the sales of ophthalmic medicine. “You need that clinical background in order to sell and pitch equipment to orthoptists and ophthalmologists,” she says. 

You can study or work overseas, as the practice of orthoptics is easily transferable to other countries. 

Aida had the incredible opportunity to travel to Oxford for a year and a half.

A degree in orthoptics is internationally recognised, so she got the registration to work. “I was able to work there at Oxford Eye Hospital and that was a highlight—just seeing how Orthoptics is internationally” she told us.

Prem also travels regionally from Sydney to install clinical devices—Wagga, Forster, Taree, Mudgee and Lithgow, just to name a few. 

You could go into research or pursue a PhD. 

“There are lots of jobs out constantly from laboratories wanting orthoptists to do clinical research with them,” Aida told us.

For Prem, submitting his PhD was the biggest highlight of his orthoptics career thus far. He told us all about his journey to higher studies.

“I did orthoptics for two years and I absolutely loved it. I loved the way the course was run, the way I was taught, all the hands-on application of it. I realised I wanted to do further study in orthoptics, so ended up doing a PhD and completed it in January this year.”

If you’re intrigued by eye therapy and what this epic Masters course can offer you, check it out on the UTS website here!

Header image: cottonbro via Pexels