Dr. Diane van Staden
Lecturer, Discipline of Optometry
DRILL Postdoctoral Fellow
University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Dates of Visit: December 17 – 21, 2018
Purpose of Visit
During her visit, Dr. van Staden would like to engage with academics and researchers involved in clinical training programmes and explore opportunities for collaboration in areas of mutual interest.
Biography
Dr. van Staden graduated as an optometrist from the University of Durban-Westville, South Africa in 1999. Following a brief period in clinical practice, she pursued her career interest in public health and development through which she contributed to the establishment of new optometry training programmes in Malawi, Mozambique and Eritrea in line with developments in global eye health policy.
Now an academic and researcher at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Dr. van Staden was awarded a DRILL [Developing Research, Innovation, Localisation and Leadership] Health Professions Education Fellowship in 2016. Her postdoctoral project, ‘The development of socially accountable, socially responsive model of training in optometry using a community-based, primary healthcare approach’ seeks to redefine historical models of optometry training in South Africa in line with the country’s strategy for universal health coverage.
Her research interests further include the development of professional identity, inter-professional practice models, workplace integration and health service development.