
Rupal Lovell – Patel
Vice President
Rupal completed her BSc Optometry degree at University of Bradford, UK in 1997 and the MCOptom in 1998. Since then, she has spent most of her time in academia whilst still working in clinical practice on a part-time basis. As a typical academic, she has completed several other qualifications along the way.
Since presenting at the inaugural meeting of the Academy in 2009, Rupal has been actively involved in EAOO activities and has had the pleasure of working as part of the Education Committee from 2017 to 2022. She has been looking after the Fellowship programme since 2018 but was an assessor since 2011 to 2017, when she received her Fellowship of the EAOO. She is also a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry and the College of Optometrists. She is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in the UK.
She is involved in academic development of optometry and ophthalmic dispensing courses in the UK and support education&training in a few of the African countries via her involvement with Vision Action (previously known as Vision Aid Overseas).
Currently, she is the Academic Lead for Vision and Audiological Sciences within the School of Medicine and the learning & teaching lead for the School.