KZ: Hi Dr Flora! What inspired or influenced your decision to study optometry?

F: In high school, I was really interested in STEM subjects – I loved maths, chemistry and physics. So I always knew that I’d wanted to become someone who worked in the health industry. I had a family friend who was an optometrist and told me what it was like to be one. But it wasn’t until I went to university where I studied a subject called, “Vision Science – how the eye sees the world” where I became truly fascinated. The eye is such an interesting organ in the human body, it works so hard for us to see everyday, and when things are going well, we don’t pay much attention to just how amazing it is to be able to see the world, and in colour too.

KZ: Why have you focused on finding new ways to diagnose and treat glaucoma?

F: Glaucoma is an eye condition that can cause blindness slowly over time. It can be very sneaky, many people can have glaucoma without even realizing it. We don’t have a cure for it yet and there’s still so much we don’t understand about it. Luckily, we have become better at diagnosing glaucoma over the years, and we do have some good treatments. And that’s why it’s important to get your eyes checked by the optometrist every couple of years, especially as you get older. But glaucoma is also in my family as well. So I’m really interested in finding new treatments for glaucoma, to try and protect people’s eyesight for longer.

KZ: Are you working on any other projects that you can share with K-Zoners?

F: We are always working on a bunch of projects at the same time! Aside from a big study looking at new treatment for glaucoma, I’m also working on a project that looks at whether we can understand more about the health of the brain just by looking inside the eye. We are also working on a project about diabetes as diabetes can affect the health of the eye too, and seeing how optometrists can support people living with diabetes and teach them how to look after their eyes.  

KZ: Did you study any subjects or courses, take part in any activities or have any hobbies as a child that helped with your career?

F: When I was a kid, I already loved maths, I really enjoyed timestable races in class and math was really cool to me cause it was logical and made a lot of sense to me. Even though I grew up in Melbourne, I didn’t learn English or my ABCs till Grade 1 so it took a lot longer for me to enjoy writing, but math didn’t need that cause it was all numbers and I really loved that. Playing team sports really helped me too. I played softball in primary school and it helped me learn good teamwork, but also the importance of communicating to each other well during a game. This has been really helpful because as a researcher, you should never work alone, good teamwork is key!

Want to read more of our interview with Dr Flora Hui? Grab the January 2024 'Pizza, Camera, Action' issue, on sale now!