Glaucoma Research

I lead the “Research into Glaucoma And Ethnicity” ('ReGAE') project. This is a multi-phase, multi-disciplinary research program that aims to prevent avoidable glaucoma blindness in the diverse ethnic populations of Birmingham and the UK and share findings globally. There are 3 inter-linked phases to 'ReGAE':

1. Qualitative: Looking at the perceptions and awareness of disease and how they inform health behaviours and influence access to healthcare. Researching the impact of ethnicity and deprivation on blindness. Developing strategies to optimise patient involvement in healthcare and optimise self-care.

2. Clinical ocular phenotyping: Studying the phenotypic characteristics that underpin case-detection and the factors that influence disease severity.

3. Surgical interventions and outcomes: Carefully analysing the factors that contribute to safe and effective glaucoma filtration surgery from a prospective database of 850 consecutive trabeculectomy operations with adjuvant topical anti-scarring mitomycin-C.

As part of our research program we have developed the “Shah-Cross” model as a framework for linking ethnically-sensitive research to clinical practice and policy development, with the aim of producing ethnically-sensitive evidence-based commissioning of health care. The “ReGAE” team has produced a series of landmark papers studying the influence of ethnicity and social deprivation in various types of glaucoma. A link to “ReGAE 1” can be found open access and as a downloadable PDF below.

I currently have roles as Chief / Principal and Co-Investigator on several clinical trials, including the ‘Kilimanjaro Glaucoma Intervention Program – KiGIP’ – a randomised controlled trial of Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty vs medical treatment in initial glaucoma in Tanzania. The Chief Investigator for the KiGIP project is Dr. Heiko Philippin, who was my International Glaucoma Surgical Fellow from 2010-2012.

The Only Eye Surgery Project

I lead the ‘Only Eye Surgery – OnES’ project that is studying the journey of patients undergoing surgery when they have only one seeing eye. The project is collecting international data on how to maximise the safety of only eye surgery and also investigating strategies to build resilience in surgeons who perform high levels of only eye surgery.

My co-workers on the OnES project are Dr. Lee Jones, Dr. Freda Sii, Professor David Crabb, Mr. Imran Masood, Dr. Heiko Philippin and Professor Graham Lee, in Birmingham, London and Brisbane.

The first research publication from the OnES project is available open access in the British Medical Journal Open - See link below.

For videos surrounding only eye surgery please see the International Ophthalmology Portal - also linked below.

Serious Childhood Eye Injuries (Paediatric Ocular Trauma Study)

Every year, tens of thousands of children suffer major potentially blinding eye injuries. I set up a team to study the prevalence and causes of children’s eye injuries, and we have developed the first global framework for surveying these injuries. Our team has published several landmark peer-reviewed articles in the world literature on this subject. Our hope ultimately is to significantly reduce the number of children that experience these life-changing injuries. Our work in the UK has been replicated in Tanzania.

The link to “The UK Paediatric Ocular Trauma Study 3 (POTS 3): clinical features and initial management of injuries.” authored by Robert J. Barry, Freda Sii, Alice Bruynseels, Joseph Abbott, Richard J. Blanch, Caroline J. MacEwan and Peter Shah can be found as an open access publication in the link below.