Meet The Team

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• Matthew Austen

  

  Matthew has been involved with the practice throughout his life, as his father David Austen joined Ralph Ingram and Tony Phillips as joint practice proprietor in 1972. Matthew earned his degree from Aston University in 1996 and joined the practice after qualifying the following year.
  
  He is a member of the College of Optometry, AOP and part of the Leicestershire Cataract Service Scheme. He has a special interest in dyslexia and has over 20 years’ experience in colourimetry. Presently in addition to seeing patients he manages the practice, having done this since 2012 when David retired.

• Patti Cranton

  

  Patti Cranton is American, and has lived in the UK since 1991. Prior to moving to the UK, Patti earned a Zoology degree from the University of Massachusetts (1986), a Master’s Degree in European Area Studies from Surrey University (1987), and JCAHPO Technician certification in 1990. Upon moving to the UK in 1991, Patti studied Optometry at Bradford University and earned a First-Class Honours degrees in 1995. Following qualification in 1996 she joined the practice in the September.
  
  She has a special interest in contact lenses and routinely fits contact lenses for those persons who have irregular corneas, such as in keratoconus. She is a member of the College of Optometry, the AOP, accredited in the NICE Referral Refinement Scheme, the Dry Eye Project, and the Leicestershire Cataract Service Scheme.

• Reema Chhatralia

  

  Reema is also from Leicestershire and started full time with the practice in September 2014. She graduated from Aston University in 2009 and was award the Association of Optometrists Prize in the same year. Having visited the L V Prasad Hospital Hyderabad for a placement in 2007 she gained valuable knowledge in tropical conditions and prosthetics.
  
  Having completed the acclaimed Alcon Scholarship, her key interests lie in the posterior eye. She too is a member of the College of Optometry and the AOP, is part of the NICE IOP Referral Refinement Scheme and the Dry Eye Project.

• Bhavesh Mistry

  

  Bhavesh lives in Loughborough and joined the practice in 2019. He graduated from Aston University in 2010 and as a member of the College of Optometrists, he completed the College of Optometrists Professional Certificate in Glaucoma in 2014 and Medical Retina in 2020. He is also accredited in the local Minor Eye Conditions Scheme (MECS) and part of the Leicestershire Cataract Service Scheme.
  
  Bhavesh has a secondary role at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust as a Clinical Lead Optometrist in Medical Retina where he has a special interest in Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) imaging. He regularly manages conditions such as Macular Degeneration, Retinal Vein Occlusion and Diabetic Maculopathy. An independent Prescribing Optometrist since 2016, he also manages a number of acute eye problems presenting to eye casualty.

• Nisha Lakhani

  

  Nisha is from Leicestershire and joined the practice in February 2019. She graduated from the University of Bradford in 2001 and is a member of the College of Optometry. She is also involved in both the NICE IOP Referral Refinement Scheme and Leicestershire Cataract Service Scheme.
  
  With nearly 20 years of experience Nisha is very interested in new developments in optometry, in particular the control of myopia in the young. As a result, she has undertaken training so that she can prescribe both MiyoSmart lenses and MySight contact lenses.

• Sneha Chauhan

  

  Sneha is from Leicestershire and joined the team in January 2022. She graduated from the University of Manchester in 2013 and is a member of the College of Optometrists. She is accredited in the local Minor Eye Conditions Scheme (MECS) and part of the Leicestershire Cataract Service Scheme.
  
  She has a secondary role of University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust as a Specialist Optometrist where she uses her Independent Prescribing qualification to manage conditions presenting in the Emergency Eye Department.