Global Ambassador: Fabrizio Zaveri

Tell us about yourself:
I am currently a researcher and lecturer in Optometry and contact lenses at the University of Milano Bicocca in Italy. I had education as an optometrist but later on, I decided to continue my studies in the psychology of perception and visual neurosciences, a field I was extremely passionate about. I dedicated over 25 years to teaching in the field of contact lenses and optometry and now I feel that higher education is something I love deeply and I feel extremely lucky to do this job.

What encouraged/inspired you to join the BCLA? 
Contact lenses have always been a passion for me. About 20 years ago, I attended my first BCLA conferences, and immediately I saw in this association a stimulating group of researchers and clinicians; in other words a great opportunity for professional development and growth.

What do you hope to achieve by representing the BCLA as a Global Ambassador? 
It is an honour and a privilege to represent BCLA as a Global Ambassadors, but I do not aim to achieve something for myself. Instead, I would like to support and serve the association to allow my colleagues all around the world to find in the BCLA what I found many years ago, a boost for the development of their own career.

Biography: 
Fabrizio Zeri is a researcher and lecturer at the University of Milano-Bicocca and Visiting Research Fellow at Aston University in Birmingham. He was educated and achieved his Diploma in Optometry at the Istituto Superiore di Scienze Optometriche of Rome. He graduated in Experimental Psychology at “Sapienza University” of Rome where also gained his PhD in Cognitive Neurosciences. He has been President of the Società Optometrica Italiana (Italian Optometric Association) and founder and secretary of the Accademia Italiana di Lenti a Contatto (Italian Contact Lens Academy). He is a FIACLE, FBCLA, FEAOO and FHEA. In 2014 he achieved a two-year Marie Curie research grant, in 2017 he was awarded with the Irvine Fatt memorial Lecture by British Contact Lens Association and in 2019 received the IACLE Europe/Africa – Middle East Contact Lens Educator of the Year Award. He has published over 50 papers as well as having written 1 book and contributed chapters to 5 books. He has given over 100 lectures at conferences in the fields of Ophthalmology, Optometry, Contact lenses and Vision Sciences.