Dr Alexis “Ceecee” Britten-Jones (formerly Alexis Ceecee Zhang; also known as Ceecee) is a Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne, Australia. She is also an Australian AHPRA-registered optometrist.
Dr Ceecee Britten-Jones completed her Bachelor of Optometry at the University of Auckland, where she graduated with First Class Honours and was awarded both a Senior Scholar Award and a Dean’s Medal. She then completed her PhD at the University of Melbourne, where she undertook an investigator-initiated randomized clinical trial evaluating omega-3 fatty supplementation for diabetic neuropathy, using corneal nerves as a biomarker.
Dr Ceecee Britten-Jones’ research focusses on improving the diagnosis and management of inherited eye diseases, particularly related to genetic sequencing.
You can read more about her research on the research projects page.
Dr Ceecee Britten-Jones has research expertise in genomic variant interpretation, clinical study design and systematic reviews. She is currently learning about advanced image analysis using R and Matlab, commercialisation and translation of ocular therapeutics, and qualitative research methods.
Dr Ceecee Britten-Jones has clinical interests in corneal diseases and specialty contact lens fitting for corneal ectasias. Her other affiliated engagements include being a member of the Clinical Genome X-linked inherited retinal diseases Variant Curation Expert Panel and steering committee member of the Cochrane Collaboration Early Career Professionals Network. Dr Ceecee Britten-Jones is also a mentor to students and optometry clinicians, and a 2021-2022 veski Victoria Fellow.
Current positions
Research Fellow – Ocular Genomics
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University of Melbourne
Honorary Research Fellow
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Centre for Eye Research Australia
Clinical Optometrist
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Australian College of Optometry
Education
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
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University of Melbourne
Bachelor of Optometry (First class honours)
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University of Auckland
Research interests
Inherited Retinal Diseases
Inherited retinal diseases are the leading cause of blindness in younger adults in Australia. Dr Britten-Jones is working on several clinical projects to improve the diagnosis of inherited retinal diseases. Her key projects include 1) investigating genetic and phenotypic characteristics of inherited retinal diseases, 2) identifying novel variants that cause retinal diseases, and 3) understanding patient perspectives of early vision loss.
Systematic reviews & Evidence synthesis
Systematic reviews bring together information from a range of sources to provide evidence for practice and research. Dr Britten-Jones has published systematic reviews on a range of topics in ophthalmology and medicine and is particularly interested in the different methods used to synthesise evidence. She is also a member of the Cochrane Early Careers Professionals Steering Committee and Evidence Quality Subcommittee in the 2022 Tear Film and Ocular Surface Society global workshop.
Clinical education & Communication
Dr Britten-Jones enjoys sharing and communicating her work. She regularly presents at scientific conferences and has delivered educational content for several optometry professional bodies, including Optometry Australia and Corneal and Contact Lens Society Australia. Dr Britten-Jones has written professional development articles for professional publications in Australia, NZ, and the UK. She is always happy to be contacted for clinical education.