Bhavin Shah is a multi-award-winning, global pioneer in eyecare and founder of Central Vision Opticians.
He has always been a problem solver, technophile and innovator.
Bhavin Shah graduated from UMIST (University of Manchester) in 1996. Since he qualified as an Optometrist in 1997, he has been dedicated to delivering exceptional eye care to his patient community. With a passion to understand and explain the unexplained, he delved deeper into understanding complex vision conditions and challenges to help people better use their eyes to achieve their full visual potential. By studying behaviour optometry further, he was able to explore the link between vision, learning and information processing. His passion for technology and innovation as well as improving children’s vision have resulted in his national recognition as Contact lens practitioner of the year (2019 and 2020), and for his own practice, Central Vision Opticians to be recognised as Children’s contact lens practice of the year (2018), Technology practice of the Year (2020).
His passion for linking vision with learning, coupled with his unique approach to solving complex problems using innovation led to him specialising in Behavioural Optometry and myopia management. His practice in Finchley, North London has been pioneering the use of technology to help children who are short sighted to slow the deterioration in their eyes. He regularly speaks to international audiences of eye care professionals and the public about vision, visual development and myopia to help make a global impact to learning and reducing the rate of preventable blindness.
A brief history of his achievements in the industry and in technology are:
1996 graduated in Optometry BSc (hons) from UMIST
1997 Institute of Optometry – Student Award
1997 Qualified as an Optometrist
1997 Resident Optometrist
1998 Gained a qualification and experience in website development
1999 Developed a training programme for pre-registration optometrists
2003 Gained Computer Network Engineer Qualification
2005 Started a role as practice manager
2008 Started Behavioural Optometry training
2009 Founded Central Vision Opticians
2010 Accredited as a Cataract and Glaucoma practitioner
2011 Accredited Behavioural Optometrist (BABO)
2012 Became a member of The Rotary Club of UK
2012 Ran Edinburgh Marathon and raised £2k for guide dogs for the blind
2013 Dyslexia and vision advisor for Barnet Parent Partnership
2014 Co-founder Okimo Visual Tracking Tech Start-Up
2015 Second place on “Just a Minute” start-up pitch contest
2016 Co-founder Chooz.pics tech start-up
2016 Introduced Myopia Management into practice
2017 Early pilot practitioner for MiSight Contact lenses
2018 Lead Central Vision Opticians to win Children’s Contact lens Practice of the Year
2018 Speaker at British Contact Lens Association annual meeting
2018 Accepted on the British Library Innovating for Growth Programme
2019 Won the AOP award for Contact Lens Practitioner of the Year
2019 Became a Business Mentor for British Library
2020 Small Business Expert for Metro Newspaper
2020 Eye Technology Expert for Daily Mail
2020 Global speaker on the subject of Visual Tracking
2020 Awarded Contact Lens Practitioner of the Year
2020 Accepted on Goldman Sachs 10k Small Business Programme
2021 Global speaker for British Library, Global Myopia Symposium, BCLA, Dyslexia Explored
2022 More to come....