I am a Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology.   My clinical activity takes place at the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust and is mainly dedicated to people with glaucoma.  I have surgical expertise on complex glaucomas and cataract. 

With my academic career at the Centre fof Public Health (Health Services Research Group) I am trying to improve eye health by investigating the effectiveness, safety and efficiency of new technologies for  eye diseases (e.g., treatments, diagnostic tests, models of eye care).  I have expertise in primary and secondary research methodology. 

Overall I have received as CI or co-applicant over £15m of research funds from MRC, NIHR-EME, NIHR-HTA, Horizon 2020, and Wellcome Trust. 

I am Chief Investigator of several publicly funded trials, including

- EAGLE, an international multicentre RCT comparing primary lens extraction versus laser iridotomy in patients with angle-closure glaucoma (completed);  the main report of this study was published in The Lancet in 2016, and was ranked by the American Glaucoma Society #12 in the top 100 list of papers "with significant impact on the clinical care of patients with glaucoma": (Vinod K, et al.  The American Glaucoma Society 100: Articles with Significant Impact on Clinical Glaucoma Care. Ophthalmol Glaucoma. 2022;5:5-15)

- GATE, a multicentre study evaluating automated imaging technologies for glaucoma diagnosis (completed);

- CHAMP-UK, a multicentre randomised trial evaluating low dose atropine eye drops for children with myopia (ongoing);

- GRIP, a multicentre cohort study using electronic medical records to validate and refine a risk predictor for ocular hypertension conversion to glaucoma (ongoing). 

- ACE, a multicentre study evaluating technologies for the diagnosis of angle closure (ongoing)

I am co-Chief Investigator of the In-home Tracking of glaucoma (i-TRAC) study (ongoing). 

I am member of the research team and co-applicant of several publicly funded multicentre trials:

- TAGS and GLAURIOUS, on glaucoma (completed)

- DIAMONDS and EMERALD, on diabetic retinopathy (completed)

- EDNA and MIRROR, on age-related macular degeneration (completed)

- CLEVER, ENGINE, STABLE and ZEAL: a suite of trials exploring the impact of vision care in low and middle-income countries, led by Prof Nathan Congdon (ongoing) 

I have published over 250 peer-reviewed papers, over 20 book chapters, and edited three books.   My work has been cited over 8000 times and my current Scopus h-index is 47. 

Leadership positions:

- member of the NIHR HTA CET funding committee (from August 2023)

- chair of the Scientific Committee of the European Glaucoma Society (from January 2021 to August 2023);

- member of the NICE Interventional Procedures Advisory Committee (from April 2023)

- member of the Clinical Guidelines Commitee of the College of Optometrists (from September 2023)

- member of the Executive Management Committee of Evidence Synthesis Ireland, https://evidencesynthesisireland.ie/ (from 2021)

- chair of the NIHR CRN Clinical Study Group for glaucoma (from 2020);

- member of the NIHR-HTA prioritisation committee (2019-2023); 

- QUB REF champion for UoA2 (REF 2021 and REF 2028)

- member of the Development Group for the WHO Package of Glaucoma Interventions (2020);

- Lead Editor of the European Glaucoma Society Guidelines (5th edition, 2020);  

- member of the Executive Commitee of the European Glaucoma Society (2016-2020);

- 2012 Chair of the UK & Eire Glaucoma Society; 

- member of the Editorial Board of several specialist journals, including  Cochrane Eye and Vision, and Journal of Glaucoma.  

Special honours: 

- Walter Wright Lecture, Walter Wright Symposium, University of Toronto, 1 December 2023

- American Academy of Ophthalmology achievement award (2008); 

- King James IV Professorship by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (2020);

- American Academy of Ophthalmology Secretariat Award (2020)