Dr Alex Gentle was appointed Professor and Chair in Vision Science at Deakin University from January 2012. Deakin, based in Geelong, announced its intention to establish an optometry course in 2010 and the first optometry students enrolled in 2012. Dr Gentle was the second academic appointment to the new optometry program at Deakin, with his primary responsibility the design and delivery of a novel optometric curriculum.

Dr Gentle completed his optometry qualification at the City University in London in 1994 and his pre-registration year was at Moorfields Eye Hospital, London. He moved to the University of Wales in Cardiff for his PhD studies, completing the degree in 1998.

He moved to Australia in that year to become a post-doctoral research fellow in the Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences at the University of Melbourne and was later, in 2002, appointed to the academic staff of the Department, becoming a senior lecturer in 2006.

He completed his postgraduate qualification in ocular therapeutics at the University of Melbourne, in 2003, teaching into the course thereafter. At that time he was also involved in the embedding of therapeutics teaching in the undergraduate optometry program. His research is related to the origins of myopia, focussing particularly on the biology of the sclera in refractive error and the mechanisms regulating ocular growth and its control. His didactic and clinical teaching duties, and his service activities in the profession, continue to reflect his ongoing interest in ocular disease and therapeutics.