Biography

I am a practising ophthalmologist with special interest in chronic blinding diseases, ophthalmic image analysis, epidemiology and statistics. After completion of my medical degree, I have carried on to a successfully complete a Master in Health Education degree. During my training as an ophthalmologist, I have also successfully defended my PhD in epidemiology and statistics in diabetes related care. This combination enables me to carry out my current role, which is Head of Reading Centre [RC]. This is a specialised unit of ophthalmic image analysis, ran as a joint venture between Moorfields Eye Hospital and University College London with a lively collaboration with University of Surrey. The RC’s is the foster good working relationships in objective and detailed analysis of images taken of different parts of the eye in order to achieve a better understanding of different diseases leading to improvements in health care. This has been achieved by taking a leading role in the United Kingdom in developing and running screening services as well as epidemiological studies and drug trials.

The RC was established in 2001 and became operational once I had trained 4 staff for the unit. There are now to 13 staff, including PhD students, fellows, 5 full-time image graders, administrators. The unit has grown under my stewardship to the point that it is now recognised internationally as one of the leading units worldwide in the discipline of ophthalmic image analysis. The RC model of image analysis could be applied to any age related disease where patient care and imaging go hand in hand, as is the case in many neurological, cardiovascular and nutritional disorders.

The role of the RC has grown since its inception and now has three main pillars: screening for diabetic eye disease, epidemiological studies as well as drug trials involving imaging of the eye.

Screening for diabetic retinopathy provides an opportunity to engage with the local community as well as provide expert care to large number of patients, many of whom are elderly. It is also an opportunity for the RC to run one of the two training courses in this discipline in the UK.  The sustained high level of output from the RC led to me being invited to work with the National Screening Committee for England in many fields, including education and training, the establishment of new clinical pathways and in external quality control of other screening programmes.

Epidemiological studies allow us to establish relationships with countries where there is not enough data on eye diseases to set up services especially for elderly patients. We have worked with the World Health Organisation as well as with Kenya, Nigeria, Botswana and Ghana to run population based studies on eye diseases in those countries. This informs and facilitates the provision of multidisciplinary eye care services targeted at local needs.

Working with drug companies on drug development and drug trials can lead to major improvements in clinical outcomes. For this reason, the RC always has and continues to work closely with pharmaceutical companies to test and develop new and established therapeutic agents.

Research Interests

chronic blinding diseases, ophthalmic image analysis, epidemiology and statistics