Dr Philip Turnbull is a New Zealand Board-registered optometrist, a Senior Lecturer in the School of Optometry and Vision Science at the University of Auckland, and an Advisor and Researcher for the Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians Board. He also advises as an Expert Witness for criminal proceedings, and acts as an optometric advisor the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and other agencies. 

At the Univeristy of Auckland, he teaches at both undergraduate and postgraduate level in the School of Optometry and Vision Science. One teaching tool that he developed, the Virtual Patient, helps early optometry students practice their laboratory skills outside of the preclinical lab and has been recognised with a Butland award for innovation in teaching. 

As a member of the Auckland Myopia Lab with Dr John Phillips, in 2010 he co-founded the Myopia Control Clinic, and was the inaugural Director. This translational research clinic promoted the use of myopia preventative treatments, and has been modelled both nationally and internationally. Methods for controlling myopia are now incorporated into the undergraduate curriculum, and their use are now becoming commonplace in the wider optometric community. 

His current research is focussed on how the latest technology can be used in vision research and to improve clinical practice. He primarily works with virtual reality, eye tracking, artificial intelligence, and data science visualisations for complex data.