Louise Allen

Lecturer at Liverpool University, currently carrying out PhD research around the ophthalmic care of children with special educational needs (SEN) and cerebral visual impairment (CVI).

 

Mr Richard Bowman

Consultant Ophthalmologist at Great Ormond Street Hospital with expertise in CVI.

 

Dr Naomi Dale

Professor Naomi Dale - Professor of Paediatric Neurodisability in Developmental Neurosciences, University College London and consultant clinical psychologist/neuropsychologist (until recently Co-lead of the Developmental Vision Clinic at Great Ormond Street Hospital for many years). Naomi is Principal Investigator /Co-Lead of the European Academy Childhood Disability commissioned international consensus group, which has completed development of international evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for the screening, assessment, diagnosis and classification of childhood onset cerebral visual impairment (CPG-CVI, in press for publication). A number of parents/adult users from the CVI Society contributed as stakeholders.

 

Dr Valery Kircher

Valery is a certified orientation and  mobility (O & M) specialist and Teacher of the Vision Impaired in Virginia, USA. Valery has presented at several conferences on orientation and mobility and brain based vision impairments. She has recently developed an assessment tool for orientation and mobility specialists to use to determine how best to accommodate students with CVI   in instructing O&M  skills and techniques. Valery has earned  several degrees, her doctorate being from the University of Pittsburgh.

Valery has travelled from the USA to attend the convention twice before as a delegate and says  she is honoured to present her research to participants at the CVI Society  Annual Convention 2026!  

 

Dr Peter Lindsay

Peter is a retired General Practitioner and hospital practitioner in outpatient paediatrics. He was a  tutor, lecturer and course organiser, organising student, trainee and colleague education in general practice. He has written nationally and internationally about the care of people affected by learning disability and has written about medical education , neurodiversity, the care of children and other aspects of primary care BUT only recently has been told about CVI by patients and their families. He now hopes to encourage his general practice and nursing colleagues to learn about CVI faster than he did.!

 

Dr Jonathan Waddington

Lecturer in Psychology and Academic Director of Research and Knowledge Exchange at Plymouth Marjon University. Drawing on both personal and professional experience of vision impairment, his work sits at the intersection of neuroscience, education, and rehabilitation. He has worked across academic, charitable, and technology sectors, with a particular interest in functional vision, participation, wellbeing, and the social experiences of children and young people with visual impairments.

 

Professor Cathy Williams

Cathy's clinical role is as a Consultant Paediatric Ophthalmologist at Bristol Eye Hospital. Cathy has an interest in children with both visual and neurodevelopmental difficulties and runs a specialist clinic for them.
Cathy also led the CVI Project Study.  

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