Visionary Insights with Experts from the Five Nations

David Burton is a highly regarded Consultant Ophthalmologist currently working at York Hospital. With over a decade of experience in diagnosing, treating, and managing complex eye conditions, he specialises in glaucoma and cataract surgery. He is recognised for his clinical expertise and patient-centred approach to care.

David received his medical degree from the University of Sheffield and completed rigorous postgraduate training in ophthalmology at prestigious teaching hospitals, finishing his fellowship in Glaucoma at St Thomas’s Hospital in London.

In addition to his clinical work, David is an advocate for education and knowledge-sharing. He serves as an honorary senior lecturer at the university’s medical school and an associate lecturer at the Trinidad Eye Hospital. Actively mentoring medical students, junior doctors, and ophthalmology trainees, he shares his expertise to nurture the next generation of specialists. A sought-after speaker, he delivers talks at both local and national levels, presenting developments in ophthalmology from both clinical and systemic perspectives while sharing insights from his extensive clinical practice.

David is also deeply committed to enhancing healthcare systems and patient outcomes. As a consultant at York Hospital, he has developed streamlined patient pathways and implemented state-of-the-art technologies in ophthalmic care. His holistic approach ensures that patients receive not only the best medical treatment but also compassionate, personalised care.

Outside of his professional life, David is passionate about community outreach and raising awareness of eye health. He has established patient engagement platforms aimed at improving community links. His dedication to excellence and innovation continues to shape the field of ophthalmology and inspire his peers and colleagues alike.

Tunde Peto is Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology at QUB, Clinical Lead of the Northern Ireland Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) Screening Programme and a Consultant Ophthalmologist in Medical Retina. She specialises in chronic blinding diseases, ophthalmic image analysis, epidemiology and statistics and is internationally renowned for setting up and managing diabetic retinopathy screening and training programmes. 

As Head of the Belfast Ophthalmic Reading Centre and Director of The Central Administrative Research Facility (CARF), a unique facility coordinating the grading of ophthalmic images collected for clinical research studies, Professor Peto has expertise in overseeing a wide range of studies, including age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and population-based studies. 

Professor Tunde Peto trained in Hungary and Australia and spent 15 years at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London before taking up her current position in Belfast. She was recently named among the UK’s most influential researchers who study diabetes complications. 

Dr Lynett Masiwa is a triple board certified (Ireland; UK; ZWE) Snr Optometrist, currently practising in The Republic of Ireland at Specsavers Headford Rd in Galway. Her love for the human sciences was nurtured in her first degree, a Bachelor in Biomedical science which she obtained from Griffith University in Australia, after which she then opted to focus on eye care. She completed her Bachelors in Optometry at the Dublin Institute of Technology (now TUD) in 2010 and added a Masters in Clinical Optometry from Cardiff University in Wales to her portfolio a few years later. During the Masters; her love for research and the cornea was established and eventually epitomised in a PhD with the University of KwaZulu Natal which focused on the development of an algorithm for the early detection of keratoconus in low resource settings. She has also attained post-graduate certification in therapeutics and independent prescribing from the University of Johannesburg.  Lynett has won awards for her contributions in establishing the first Optometry training program in Zimbabwe at the University of Zimbabwe where she served as the Optometry program coordinator and also ran the University Optometry clinic at Parirenyatwa hospital in Harare. She continues to serve as a research fellow at the university of Zimbabwe actively working on developing as a clinical researcher. She volunteers as a vision classifier for the International Paralympic committee when she can make time for it. With a few publications under her belt, Lynett is keen to continue contributing to the early detection of eye conditions and increasing access to eye care services.

Professor Woodhouse, known as Maggie, is an optometrist, recently semi-retired after a 50-year stint at Cardiff University, where she headed the Down’s Syndrome Vision Research Unit and ran a specialised eye care clinic for people of all ages with additional needs, as well as teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.  

Maggie’s research has changed practice for children with Down’s syndrome in education as well as eye care, by demonstrating poor accommodation in the majority of children, and therefore the benefits of bifocal spectacles, and the need for adjustment to learning materials to compensate for poor acuity and contrast sensitivity inherent in the syndrome. The Research Unit was awarded a Queen’s Anniversary Prize in 2018. 

Maggie is a member and vision advisor to the Down’s Syndrome Medical Interest Group, vision advisor to the Down’s Syndrome Association, a Lifetime Member of the College of Optometrists, Lifetime Member of Nystagmus Network, and recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of Optometrists. In 2014 she was awarded an OBE for services to optometry and to people with disabilities. 

Now with more time on her hands, Maggie intends to do more gardening, take long walks with her precious rescue dog, follow up her passion for books about dinosaurs and cosy up in front of an open fire. 

Sonali Tarafdar is a consultant vitro-retinal surgeon at Dundee, Scotland. Apart from her role she is also involved and supports research for NHS Tayside. She is a Global citizenship champions lead for NHS Tayside and is actively involved in Global citizenship and climate change programme within the health board