Profile of ISSF Leadership Team

Prof Alan Stitt is The McCauley Chair of Experimental Ophthalmology and holds a Royal Society Merit Award. His programme focuses on retinal vascular disease, especially relating to diabetic retinopathy and ischaemic retinopathies. He has provided the preclinical evidence for several drugs to enter Phase I/III trial. Current efforts revolve around developing a novel cell therapy for retinal vascular occlusion. Prof Stitt has published over 150 papers, >9,400 citations (h index (h) =55).

Prof Augusto Azuara-Blanco is Professor of Ophthalmology, Queen's University Belfast and an Honorary NHS Consultant Ophthalmologist in the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust. His research portfolio is focused on improving health outcomes in people with eye diseases and evaluating the effectiveness of new technologies (e.g., new treatments, diagnostic tests). He has expertise in primary and secondary research methods and has published over 178 papers (h=32).

Prof Noemi Lois is a Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at Queens University, Belfast, and an Honorary Consultant Ophthalmic Vitreoretinal Surgeon at the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust. She leads a programme of preclinical and clinical research into diabetic retinopathy and its complications. Prof. Lois has published over 107 papers (h=31).

Prof Danny McAuley is Professor and Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine at the Royal Victoria Hospital. He leads a programme of research in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). His role as the UK Intensive Care Society Co-Director of Research means he is well placed to develop the novel therapeutic targets into phase 3 clinical trials. Prof McAuley has published over 194 papers (h=31).

Dr Cecilia O’Kane is a Clinical Senior Lecturer and leads a programme of research on identifying mechanisms of injury and repair in the injured alveolus in ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome). Dr O’Kane group has important expertise in handling large numbers of patient samples to allow mechanistic and biomarker studies in clinical trials in patients with ARDS. Dr O’Kane has published over 46 papers (h=17).

Dr Denise Fitzgerald is a Wellcome Trust Investigator and Senior Lecturer in Regenerative Immunology. She leads a cutting-edge research programme on immune functions in tissue regeneration with a view to developing novel regenerative therapies. Her research focuses on inflammatory and demyelinating diseases of the CNS such as Multiple Sclerosis. Dr. Fitzgerald has published over 35 papers and book chapters with >1600 citations (h=18).

Dr Tunde Peto, Consultant Ophthalmologist in Medical Retina and Head of Ophthalmic Image Reading Centre at NIHR BMRC at Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology. She will take up a new clinical professor role at QUB in Sept 2016. Dr Peto has over 20 years’ experience in ophthalmic image analysis for diabetic retinopathy screening, epidemiological studies and clinical trials. Dr Peto’s special interest is the epidemiology of common blinding disorders and how imaging might be able to help with prediction of sight loss and determining disease processes. Dr Peto has published over 130 papers (h=20).