Speakers

Rupert Bourne is Professor of Ophthalmology at the Vision and Eye Research Institute of Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge and was Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon in Cambridge University Hospital Cambridge (2018-2025) where he led the Glaucoma Service and set up and directed the Cambridge Eye Research Centre. He is now in private practice in Cambridge and London and continuing his academic work in the UK and internationally (www.rupertbourne.co.uk). He trained at Moorfields Eye Hospital and undertook two Glaucoma fellowships, one there and another at the Shiley Eye Centre/Hamilton Glaucoma Center in San Diego, California. He has a strong research interest, particularly in advanced techniques of Glaucoma diagnosis and progression and the management of Glaucoma in the community involving shared care with accredited optometrists, along with overseas ophthalmology which has involved design and analysis of several large population-based surveys of eye disease, several national in scope, eg. Pakistan, Bangladesh and Trinidad. He has published over 200 papers with more than 174,000 citations (h index 86). He was Chair of the National Institute for Health Research Ophthalmology Specialty Group, responsible for NHS research delivery 2015-2024 and is the Ophthalmology Clinical improvement co-lead for East of England for the NHS England. In his role as Coordinator of the Vision Loss Expert Group of the Global Burden of Disease Study (and a GBD Principal Collaborator), he has overseen the long-term research into the world-wide prevalence rates of blindness and visual impairment, in partnership with the World Health Organization. He is Chief Investigator for the UK National Eye Health and Hearing Study that began in 2024.