Dr Forrest graduated in Medicine at the University of Queensland in 1994. As an undergraduate he did research for a Bachelor of Medical Science degree at the University of Bologna in Italy, and he speaks Italian. He trained as an Ophthalmologist at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital in Melbourne and on the Brisbane program. He undertook two additional years of sub-specialty fellowship training in the UK at the Gloucestershire Eye Unit (cataract surgery, glaucoma and strabismus surgery), and at the prestigious Great Ormond Street Hospital in London (paediatric, cataract and glaucoma surgery, strabismus surgery and paediatric neuro-ophthalmology). Dr Forrest was a visiting Ophthalmologist at the Mater Hospitals from 2004 to 2013, serving as Chairperson of the Mater Eye Department from 2007 to 2011, and was a Senior Lecturer at the University of Queensland from 2004 until 2013. He has regularly spoken at national and international ophthalmic conferences and meetings, as well as optometric and GP conferences.
His chief surgical interests are cataract and strabismus surgery, but he is also interested in medical and surgical glaucoma management and general adult and paediatric ophthalmology. He initiated, developed and ran (until 2013) Australia's first telemedicine program for Retinopathy of Prematurity screening, at the Mater Mother's Hospital. His Memberships include:
- Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists
- American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery
- American Association for Paediatric Ophthalmology and StrabismusCat