Training & Experience
After graduating from St Thomas's Hospital Medical School in London in 1989, I completed
ten years of general training in ophthalmology at major teaching
centres in Southampton, Birmingham, Norwich and Cambridge.
I also spent six months working in Brisbane, Australia on a training exchange with an
Australian ophthalmologist - a fascinating and valuable experience. As in every
other medical post, I spent regular periods on call for eye emergencies, except
that in Brisbane I was covering the whole of Queensland - an area over seven times larger than
the UK!
Having become interested in genetics prior to starting my medical training
and in order to further my particular interest in the genetic basis of eye disease,
I took two years out to undertake a university research project, funded by the
Guide Dogs for the Blind Association and based at the
Cambridge Institute for
Medical Research.
The subject of my research was a condition known as Congenital
Stationary Night Blindness. The work involved examining and testing patients,
laboratory work analysing DNA samples and a lot of learning, reading and, finally,
writing to produce my MD thesis as well as a number of papers in the medical
journals.
After completing my general training, I spent a year as a Clinical Fellow at Great Ormond Street Childrens Hospital in London, gaining further specialist experience in all aspects of paediatric and inherited eye disease, in the company of renowned experts in the field.
I was appointed to a consultant post at Cambridge University Hospitals in 2001.
In addition to my clinical work, I am a member of the academic sub-committee of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, a member of the British and Irish Paediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus Association, Associate Editor of BMJ Open Ophthalmology, a member of the RCPCH Children’s Surgical Forum, member for the ROP screening guideline development group committee (RPCPH) and Advisor for the NHS England antenatal and newborn screening committee.
I am actively involved in carrying out and supervising ophthalmic research, am an Affiliated Assistant Professor in the Department of Paediatrics at Cambridge University and have been the recipient of a number of Innovation awards.