Consultants

Professor Fischer is a practising Consultant Ophthalmologist at the Oxford Eye Hospital with subspecialty interest in vision problems relating to cataract and retinal disorders.

He holds two academic appointments, one as Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Oxford and a second appointment as Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Tübingen and is leading ground-breaking eye and vision research including use of artificial intelligence, gene editing, genetic therapies, subretinal surgery, and stem cell therapy.

After receiving his medical school training in Germany, Switzerland and Australia, Professor Fischer completed his clinical and research training in the USA at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Tübingen in Germany and the University of Oxford, where he read Clinical Neuroscience at Merton College and received his second doctorate for developing a new form of retinal therapy.

He is member of the Faculty at the European School for Advanced Studies in Ophthalmology and has received more than 25 awards for his work, among them the Leonhard Klein award for the advancement of vitreoretinal surgery and the Senator H. Wacker award for scientific contributions to the field of retinal disease.

Dr Theodora Gkika works as an Ophthalmologist at the Oxford Eye Hospital and has a special interest in ocular oncology, uveitis and medical retina.

Visit: Dr Theodora Gkika MD FEBO

Miss Stella Hornby is a Consultant Ophthalmologist specialising in urgent and primary care ophthalmology. She is the lead for the Eye Emergency Department of the Oxford Eye Hospital. She also has clinics in Banbury and Wantage.

Originally from the North East she studied at Clare College Cambridge and was a registrar in the Oxford region. For her MD thesis she conducted clinical research studies on childhood blindness in India which won a Noble Prize from Cambridge University.

She is an experienced clinical educator, mentor and appraiser. She was awarded prizes for teaching including an 'excellent teacher' award for transforming the undergraduate medical education programme.

She was the Primary care Ophthalmology representative on the Royal College of Ophthalmologists' Professional Standards Committee and later the Lead for GPs and other specialties for the RCOPhth Education Committee. She wrote clinical commissioning guidelines on Primary Care Ophthalmology and another on urgent eye care and is involved in local and national Ophthalmology service redesign of services.

Since 2011 she has regularly organised training courses for GPs and other health professionals through Primary Care Ophthalmology LLP which she runs with two GP colleagues.

Miss Christine Kiire is a Consultant Ophthalmologist with a special interest in vascular medical retinal conditions, in particular diabetic retinopathy and retinal vascular occlusions. She is also interested in international eye health and ways of improving outcomes for people with visual problems across the world.

Miss Kiire read Medicine and Natural Sciences (Physiological Sciences) at the University of Oxford (St Anne's College and Green College), where she also conducted her doctoral research on genotype-phenotype correlation of diabetic macular oedema in type 2 diabetes (Green Templeton College).

Her research experience includes a clinical research project on laser treatment for diabetic retinopathy in Malawi. She was also the recipient of a Fulbright Award 2015-2016 to study the epidemiology of diabetic retinopathy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.

In Oxford, her clinical research has recently focused on the effectiveness of subthreshold macular laser treatment for non-centre involving diabetic macular oedema.

Miss Kiire welcomes clinical referrals regarding patients with diabetic retinopathy or retinal vascular occlusions, particularly those who might benefit from treatment with either retinal laser or intravitreal injection therapies.

Dr Srilakshmi Sharma is a medical ophthalmologist specialising in uveitis (ocular inflammation) in both children and adults and neuro-ophthalmology.

She leads the regional uveitis service for adults and children service in Oxford and the neuro-ophthalmology department. She is also the lead Ophthalmologist for the multidisciplinary juvenile idiopathic arthritis and for the national neuromyelitis optica and neurofibromatosis type II services at Oxford.

Dr Sharma is a clinician-scientist, working in the University of Oxford on research projects aimed at understanding the underlying causes of uveitis especially when it affects other systems in the body as well as the eyes. Her research is funded by the National Institutes for Health Research and the Medical Research Council.

She runs clinical trials in ocular inflammation and is also leading a national study on hydroxychloroquine toxicity in the retina.

Dr Sharma is the chairperson of the Uveitis National Clinical Study Group, a national organisation for research in uveitis in the United Kingdom.

Mr Alaa Fayed is a Locum Consultant Ophthalmologist at Oxford Eye Hospital and Lecturer of Ophthalmology at Cairo University.

He has subspecialty expertise in medical retinal diseases, retinal laser procedures, retinal detachment surgery, cataract surgery and ocular trauma and emergency intervention.

He received his medical degree and ophthalmology training in Cairo, Egypt. He completed a Master's degree and PhD from Cairo University in Egypt, as well as a visiting scholar position at Northwestern University, Chicago, USA.

He is actively involved in training and research and has published and presented his work at several high impact medical journals and conferences.

Dr Elizabeth Mathew is an Ophthalmologist specialising in Uveitis (ocular inflammation) in both children and adults, Neuro-ophthalmology and Ocular Oncology.

She trained in Ophthalmology from India and undertook subspecialty training in Medical Retina and Uvea from Arvind Eye Hospitals, India, a centre of international repute.

She is fellowship trained at Oxford University Hospitals in Uveitis, Ocular Oncology and Neuro-ophthalmology. She is trained and skilled at managing diseases of the Uvea, diagnosing and advising on Ocular Tumours and managing Neuro-ophthalmic conditions

She is a Fellow of the International Council of Ophthalmology (FICO), an affiliate member of the Royal College of Ophthalmology London, and a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh.

She is involved in teaching and training of junior colleagues and contributes to research trials and audits.

Priya Rasipuram Chandrasekaran has been a Locum Consultant Ophthalmologist at Oxford Eye Hospital since June 2024 and specialises in Neuro-Ophthalmology, Medical Retina and Uveitis.

She completed MBBS, Diploma in Ophthalmology (DO) and Diplomate in National Board (DNB) from Madras Medical College, Christian Medical College and St Joseph Institute of Ophthalmology respectively. She obtained FRCS (Glasgow) in the year 2019.

She completed a Neuro-Ophthalmology fellowship at Aravind Eye Hospital, Madurai and continued to work as a consultant in the Coimbatore branch of Aravind Eye Hospital for a couple of years. Her Medical Retina fellowship was from SNEC, Singapore in the year 2023. She has been a consultant in all three fields at various hospitals across India.

She has published in local and international journals and has a few book chapters to her credit along with her mentors. She has given talks at national and international levels. She was a part of the Faricimab trial for neovascular AMD and PCV in Asian population at SNEC.

She has been a member of various local, national and international societies in Uvea, Retina and Neuro-Ophthalmology.

Special interests

• Age-related Macular Degeneration
• Diabetic Retinopathy
• Retinal Vascular Occlusions
• Toxic Maculopathies
• Macular Telangiectasia
• Inherited Retinal Diseases
• White Dot Syndromes - MEWDS in particular
• HLA B-27-related Uveitis
• Posterior Uveitis
• Toxoplasma
• Tuberculosis
• Optic Neuritis
• Stroke
• Nerve Palsies
• Neuro-muscular Disorders.
  

Mrs Vemala works as an Ophthalmologist at Oxford Eye Hospital with a special interest in Medical Retina. She is also passionate about emergency eye care.

She is originally from South India and completed speciality training (DNB) in ophthalmology from Bengaluru. Her Fellowship and PhD in medical retina was from King's College Hospital, London. It was here she developed her interest and expertise in age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and vascular medical retinal conditions like diabetic retinopathy and retina vascular occlusions. She also conducted research while at King's, and published papers on these topics.

Her PhD work involved detection of early colour loss in AMD, and this enabled her to understand the pathogenesis of macular degeneration and the functional loss experienced by patients.

She is academically driven and has presented various posters and presentations at national and international conferences.

She has also worked as a general Ophthalmologist in the UK, and this has equipped her with the knowledge of all subspecialties in ophthalmology which are useful in the management of emergency eye patients.

At Oxford Eye Hospital she does sessions in eye casualty, age-related macular degeneration clinics and vascular medical retinal clinics.

Mr Sher Aslam is a Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon at the Oxford Eye Hospital and Honorary Consultant at Northampton General Hospital. After graduating in Medicine from the University of Southampton, followed by officer training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, he trained in London before completing a DPhil at the University of Oxford.

He subsequently undertook vitreoretinal Fellowships at Moorfields Eye Hospital. His subspecialty interests include complex cataract and vitreoretinal surgery in addition to emergency eye disease.

He retired from the British Army at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, is an Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer at the University of Oxford, and an Examiner for the Royal College of Ophthalmologists.

Professor Peter Charbel Issa is a Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon specialising in retinal diseases and cataract surgery. After his clinical and research training at the universities of Würzburg, Bonn and Oxford, he held a Professorship for Degenerative Retinal Diseases at the University of Bonn before returning to Oxford in 2016.

He is an internationally recognised expert for age-related macular degeneration (AMD), inherited retinal dystrophies (including Stargardt disease and Retinitis pigmentosa), macular telangiectasia type 2 (MacTel), and Pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE).

His research focuses on AMD and rare retinal diseases. Current work includes the development of novel imaging technologies for diagnosing retinal disease, and the development and application of novel therapies (including gene therapy). He is also principal investigator for several clinical trials that investigate novel treatments for AMD, MacTel, and Stargardt disease.

His work has resulted in over 170 peer-reviewed publications, numerous awards and distinctions, including the prestigious Marie-Curie-Fellowship, the Research Award of the German Society of Ophthalmology, the Macula Research Award for the prevention of blindness and a GEROK-Scholarship.

He is a regular reviewer for many top tier journals in Ophthalmology and serves as an Editorial Board Member of the journals RETINA and Ophthalmic Research.

Dr Jasmina Kapetanovic is a practising Consultant Ophthalmologist at Oxford Eye Hospital with expertise in retinal disease, retinal genetics, vitreoretinal, cataract and intraocular lens surgery, and she welcomes clinical referrals.

Dr Kapetanovic also holds an academic appointment at the University of Oxford via a prestigious MRC Clinician Scientist Fellowship, where she leads the retinal disease advanced therapeutics group, developing groundbreaking therapies for inherited and acquired retinal degeneration and robotic delivery approaches to treat blindness, being a recipient of numerous awards for her work.

Jasmina Kapetanovic - Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences (ox.ac.uk)

She graduated from Balliol College Oxford with top prizes and distinctions and completed her specialty training in Ophthalmology in London and North-Western Deaneries as the UK's first NIHR academic specialty trainee in Ophthalmology, achieving an MSc in Investigative Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences, a PhD in Medicine (Gene Therapy and Optogenetics) and a Post-doctoral Fellowship in inherited eye disease from University of California, Berkeley.

She then returned to Oxford for a finishing school surgical fellowship under Professor MacLaren, gaining expertise in gene therapy and robotic surgery whilst pioneering multiple clinical trials.

Dr Kapetanovic now co-leads the MRC Centre of Research Excellence in Therapeutic Genomics and the BRC Surgical Innovation, Technology and Innovation Theme.

Surgical Innovation, Technology and Evaluation - NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre

Mr Martin Leyland is an Honorary Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon at Oxford Eye Hospital with a sub-specialty interest in corneal and external eye disease. His surgical expertise includes all aspects of corneal transplant surgery, complex cataract surgery and anterior eye reconstruction.

He trained in London at the Western Eye Hospital and Moorfields Eye Hospital before being appointed Consultant Ophthalmologist at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading in 2001, and Honorary Consultant in Oxford in 2004.

He is a fellow of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists and is a teaching member of the Microsurgical skills training faculty. He is a member of the Cochrane Collaboration for evidence-based medicine.

Professor Robert MacLaren is a practising Consultant Ophthalmologist at Oxford Eye Hospital. He specialised first as a junior doctor in Oxford and then moved to Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, where he was a Consultant Vitreoretinal Surgeon and led research into retinal diseases.

He returned to Oxford as Professor of Ophthalmology in 2009 and currently leads a research team in the Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology focused on developing genetic, stem cell and bio-electronic methods of treating blindness.

He performed the world's first robotic eye operation inside the human eye at the Oxford Eye Hospital in September 2016 and the world's first gene therapy treatment for X-linked retinitis pigmentosa, also at Oxford Eye Hospital in March 2017.

He has been a recipient of the Macular Society Clinical Service of the Year Award (2019), the Royal College of Ophthalmologists Keeler Medal (2019), the NIHR Senior Investigator Award (2020), the Royal Society of Medicine Lang Medal (2020) and the Vice Chancellor's Innovation Award (2020).

He welcomes clinical referrals for patients requiring cataract surgery, retinal surgery and other treatments for inherited retinal diseases.

Mr Manoj Parulekar is a Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon at the Oxford Eye Hospital and Birmingham Children's Hospital.

Mr Parulekar graduated from University of Mumbai, India, followed by ophthalmology training in Oxford and Toronto. His area of interest is paediatric ophthalmology, and squint correction in children and adults. He contributes to the ocular motility service (squints and complex eye movement disorders) in Oxford, and the paediatric ophthalmology services.

Mr Parulekar is active in clinical and basic science research, serves on the editorial board of journals, with contributions to several scientific publications and text books. He has a major interest in international ophthalmology, and is a trustee of Sightsavers International, a charity dealing with prevention and treatment of blindness.

Mr Parulekar contributes actively to the Royal College of Ophthalmologists and is a member of the paediatric, international and academic sub-committees, and is treasurer of the Oxford Ophthalmological Congress. He runs a successful fellowship programme between Birmingham and Oxford.

Mr Paul Rosen is a Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon at the Oxford Eye Hospital and was Head of Department from 1998 to 2004. His special interests are postgraduate teaching, cataract/refractive surgery, laser refractive surgery, vitreoretinal/trauma surgery and medico-legal reporting.

He is a senior lecturer at the University of Oxford, Visiting Ophthalmologist, Refractive Service Moorfields Eye Hospital, President, UK and Ireland Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons, Medical Editor of 'Eurotimes', a publication of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ESCRS), Elected Council member of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ESCRS), an Honour Award recipient from the American Academy of Ophthalmology and a Royal College of Ophthalmologists Examiner.

Miss Audrey Shwe-Tin is a Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon at the Oxford Eye Hospital with sub-specialty interests in emergency eye care and primary eye care, cornea adnexa, glaucoma and cataract surgery.

She graduated from University of Sheffield, trained in both Northern and Oxford deaneries before undertaking her fellowship in emergency eye care at Oxford University Hospitals

Miss Shwe-Tin undertook her postgraduate research on pupillometry and pupil responses in glaucoma patients at University College London and is active in clinical research at Oxford University Hospitals. She won the Nottingham Research Trophy, Pfizer Research Prize and OHSRC research grant.

Miss Shwe-Tin is a fellow of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, reviewer of BMJ learning modules and an honorary clinical teaching fellow at the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Oxford.

Miss Samantha de Silva is a Consultant Ophthalmologist at the Oxford Eye hospital specialising in medical retina disorders.

After graduating from the universities of Cambridge (pre-clinical) and Oxford (clinical medicine), she trained in the Oxford deanery and was awarded a Wellcome Trust fellowship to undertake doctoral research into gene therapy for inherited retinal disorders.

This was followed by two subspecialist fellowships in medical retina at the Oxford Eye Hospital and Moorfields Eye Hospital, London.

She has won numerous prizes including the Royal College of Ophthalmologists Harcourt medal (2008) and RCOphth/Fight for Sight prize (2018).

Her clinical and research interests include diabetic retinopathy and retinal vein occlusions, age-related macular degeneration, inherited retinal disease and cataract surgery.

Miss Niamh Stone is a Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon at the Oxford Eye hospital specialising in Medical Retina disorders and Cataract.

After graduating from the University of Edinburgh she undertook postgraduate Medical and Ophthalmic training in Scotland and Oxford. She also spent time as a Medical Retina Fellow at Moorfields Eye Hospital, London.

Miss Stone is actively involved in teaching and training. She teaches on the MSc in Primary Care Ophthalmology run by the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh and Edinburgh University and is an Examinations Committee member at the Royal College of Ophthalmologists.

She is an Educational Supervisor to both Specialist Trainee Ophthalmologists and Clinical Undergraduate Medical Students at the University of Oxford.

Mr Rajen Tailor is a Consultant Ophthalmologist with a specialist interest in glaucoma and cataracts.

Prior to his consultant appointment, Mr Tailor was a fellow in the sub-specialist field of glaucoma at Moorfields eye Hospital, London, where he gained extensive experience in the medical, laser and surgical management of glaucoma.

Mr Tailor is experienced in performing both conventional glaucoma surgery (trabeculectomy and aqueous shunt implantation) as well as the newer minimal invasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS) procedures such as the I-stent implant, hydrus implant, Xen implant and KDB glaucoma procedure.

Mr Tailor is actively involved in teaching, training and research in the field of Glaucoma, running a bi-annual surgical glaucoma course, speaking at local and regional meetings, training fellows from the UK and overseas and acting as a principal investigator for an international glaucoma study.

He has a number of peer-reviewed publications and book chapters in the field of glaucoma and has won local, national and international prizes in both general ophthalmology and glaucoma.

In addition to clinical work, Kanmin is a Wellcome Trust Clinician Scientist Fellow (Principal Investigator) at the Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology, University of Oxford, where he leads the Retinal Disease and Repair Group conducting laboratory research to develop novel therapies for retinal degeneration and inflammation.

He graduated with the top first class (Martin Wronker Prize) in Medicine from Brasenose College Oxford before undertaking the MB/PhD programme at Trinity College Cambridge and MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology.

He completed residency in London, ophthalmology training in the Oxford Deanery, and an NIHR Academic Clinical Lectureship (ACL) in Oxford under the mentorship of Professor Robert MacLaren where he led pioneering clinical trials of gene therapies for choroideremia and retinitis pigmentosa, and robotic retinal surgery. These were followed by a vitreoretinal fellowship at the prestigious Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital in Melbourne, Australia.