Lovie-Kitchin obtained her first degree from the Department of Optometry at the University of Melbourne in 1973 and got her master's three years later at the same place, under the guidance of Professor Ian Bailey, who had been the first optometry clinician to work at the Kooyong Low Vision Clinic in Melbourne.
[1][2] In 1976, she and Bailey created the Bailey-Lovie visual acuity chart, which is now used worldwide, particularly in research settings.
[1] In 1998, Lovie-Kitchin and Stephen G. Whittaker received the Garland W. Clay Award from the American Academy of Optometry (AAO), which is given to the authors of the most influential paper over the preceding five years in the journal Optometry and Vision Science.
[5] The AAO also named Lovie-Kitchin a Research Low Vision Diplomate in 2003.
Since retiring from her academic post in 2006, she has served as an adjunct professor at QUT and is a chairwoman of the University Human Research Ethics Committee.