Our Team

Murray graduated as an Optometrist from The University of New South Wales in 1979. His first professional job was with Gibb & Beeman in George St Sydney, a long-established practice where he was fortunate enough to learn the traditional skills of spectacle making as well as optometry.

Murray moved to Melbourne in the early 80’s working with a group of optometrists, specialising in contact lens prescribing with contact lens laboratory Contavue and Concact lens retailer Contax. He started Associated Vision Consultants in 1986, consulting adjacent to OPSM, where he opened practices in each of the major shopping centres in Melbourne. AVC became the largest group of consulting optometrists in Australia. He also had the privilege to work in ophthalmology practices during this time.

Murray has had a wide range of experience in practice, including industrial eyecare, providing eye examinations to the Victorian Australian Defence Forces, General Motors Holden, Ford, Toyota, CSIRO and the Government Aircraft Factory. He has also provided extensive Aged Care Facility Support with a purpose-built, fully equipped Mobile Eyecare unit which he used during the late 80’s, early 90’s.

Murray was in the first group of Optometrists to complete the Ocular Therapeutics course run by the Pennsylvania College of Optometry in 1993. By 2000 this received endorsement to prescribe PBS medicines.

After the sale of AVC, Murray opened his independent private practice in Monbulk in May, 2000. Shortly thereafter, this became the first Optometry practice in Australia to host Ophthalmology with the introduction of Dr Michael Slade, 23 years ago and more recently the introduction of Associate Professor George Kong.

Murray now celebrates 45 years practicing optometry and 25 years practicing in Monbulk.

Murray has been married to Kerry for 44 years and together with their son, James, enjoy living and working in the hills. He was brought up on a farm in the Hawkesbury district in NSW and appreciates the value and rewards of hard work.

Hannah is an enthusiastic optometrist who has fallen in love with the local community of Monbulk. Hannah has been working at the practice since graduating with a Bachelor of Biomedicine with Honours and a Doctor of Optometry at the University of Melbourne in 2018.

Equipped with the latest knowledge and skills in the profession, Hannah is a highly motivated and friendly optometrist with a keen interest in disease management and children’s vision.

Hannah is supervising the optometry students at Melbourne Uni each Wednesday this year and available in Monbulk Mon, Tue, Thurs & Fri.

Outside of optometry, Hannah enjoys swimming, yoga, seeing live music, going to art galleries, watching the footy and playing table tennis. Hannah is a vegetarian and when she’s not consulting you’ll find her out the front talking about cooking and recipes with Kerry.

Bridie is a patient-focused graduate optometrist with 7 years of experience in optical dispensing services. Having recently completed studies at the University of Melbourne, she brings a wealth of hands-on experience and a strong commitment to delivering the highest standard of eye care.

Dr Michael Slade is a Melbourne trained Ophthalmologist (eye specialist) whose services include general Ophthalmolgy, cataract /squint /oculoplastics surgeries and paediatric Ophthalmology.

Michael graduated with a Medical degree from Melbourne University in 1983, and completed his Ophthalmology Fellowship with training at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear hospital in 1992.

Michael has a clinic at Yarra Ranges Optical in Monbulk every second Friday. His main rooms and surgical theatre are at Monash Specialist Centre in Clayton, and he also has a private practice in Ashburton.

Michael is a personable, family oriented, caring professional with a keen interest in cricket, AFL, cycling and skiing.

Associate Professor George Kong

A/Prof. George Kong is a comprehensive ophthalmologist and Glaucoma subspecialist with extensive experience in cataract surgery, comprehensive glaucoma management, and complex glaucoma surgery (trabeculectomy, tube shunt operations).  He is an award winning surgeon in the area of Minimally Invasive Glaucoma Surgery (MIGS).  He also performs pterygium surgery, common eyelid surgeries and ICL refractive correction surgery.
He is a Consultant ophthalmologist at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital where he is a member of the Glaucoma unit.

A/Prof. Kong completed VCE in Melbourne finishing top of the state of Victoria in Mathematics.  He then completed his medical degree (MBBS) from The University of Melbourne, Australia.  He successfully completed his PhD in 2011 supported by National Health and Medical Research Council Postgraduate Training Scholarship.  He was awarded the prestigious Eberhard Dodt Memorial Award from the International Society for Clinical Electrophysiology of Vision (ISCEV) for his work on retinal electrophysiology.

A/Prof. Kong completed RANZCO (Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists) accredited training at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital.
Subsequently, he embarked on a subspecialty Glaucoma fellowship at The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital where he gained medical and surgical expertise in the treatment of glaucoma.  He then traveled to Cambridge, United Kingdom, where he gained expertise in
the advanced management of complex cataracts and glaucoma conditions such as glaucoma caused by inflammatory eye diseases (uveitis) and children’s glaucoma.  He has also trained in laser procedures for glaucoma and in new surgical techniques of Minimally
Invasive Glaucoma Surgery.

A/Prof. Kong published over 50 international peer-reviewed journal articles, 5 book chapters and is a reviewer of several ophthalmology and optometry journals.  He was instrumental in the development of the GONE (Glaucoma Optic Neuropathy Evaluation)
website which has helped thousands of optometrists and junior ophthalmologists around the world improve their optic nerve examination techniques.  He is a co-inventor of software for visual field testing software on iPad – Melbourne Rapid Fields.  He is also the inventor of the Semi-open technique of XEN stent insertion and was awarded Best Surgical Film award at the International Glaucoma Surgery Congress in London 2020.  A/Prof. Kong was awarded the Gerard Crock Trophy in the RANZCO Annual Scientific Congress 2022 for his work on visual field home monitoring for glaucoma.

A/Prof. Kong also speaks Mandarin and Cantonese fluently.​

Current Affiliations:

A/Prof. Kong is a consultant ophthalmologist at the Glaucoma Research and Investigation Unit at Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital.
He also has appointments as a Consultant ophthalmologist at the glaucoma subspecialty and general ophthalmology clinics at Eastern Health and Monash Health.
He has an Honorary Clinical Associate Professor position at The University of Melbourne.

Kerry has been with the practice since the very beginning. She is responsible for sourcing our large range of frames from independent suppliers, choosing a diverse selection to suit all different tastes, styles and budgets.

James joined the team after completing his university studies in Economics and Law in 2012. He has been trained by Murray in lens fitting and traditional frame adjustment and provides invaluable input into all areas of practice management.

Mark started his optical career in 2016 in Tasmania and graduated as an Optical Dispenser from RMIT in 2018. Previously, Mark worked in the Hospitality industry for over 20 years so has a great deal of experience in customer relations.

In 2021 Mark along with his wife
Sharon moved to Melbourne to be close to family and was keen to continue working within a close-knit community, so Yarra Ranges was a perfect fit.

Customer service and providing a wonderful experience is extremely important to Mark.

Outside of work, Mark enjoys going to local markets, the cinema, theatrical plays, sporting events, especially at the MCG, and watching his beloved Hawthorn Football Club.