MSc in Primary Care Ophthalmology

Professor Baljean Dhillon
Programme Director

BMedSci(Hons), BMBS, FRCS(Ed), FRCPS(Glasg), FRCOphth

I am Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology at the University of Edinburgh and honorary ophthalmic surgeon with NHS Lothian at Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion in Edinburgh.  I have been a Consultant Ophthalmologist since 1991 after training posts in Birmingham, Plymouth, London, Edinburgh and Singapore.

I have been involved in postgraduate training, teaching and examining for the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow and the Royal College of Ophthalmologists and external assessor for examinations boards for Glasgow Caledonian University (BSc Optometry), University of Manchester (MSc Investigative Ophthalmology and Vision Science) and UCL (MSc Clinical Ophthalmology).

I have supervised MSc, MD and PhD students in a range of basic science and clinical ophthalmology projects and am familiar with the challenges of gaining postgraduate education, passing professional examinations and acquiring research experience whist holding down a full-time job!  Our distance learning programmes have been designed with this in mind and allow students to enhance both their learning and professional profile ultimately for the benefit of patients with eye disease.

Dr Roshini Sanders
Co-Director (Ophthalmology)

MBChB, DO, FRCSOphth(Ed), FRCOphth(Lond)

Roshini Sanders is currently honorary clinical senior lecturer at the University of Edinburgh.  She is a graduate of Glasgow University and completed her ophthalmology training in Glasgow, Dundee and London to take up a consultant ophthalmology position with special interest in glaucoma at NHS Fife's Queen Margaret Hospital, Dunfermline.

She has an established interest in postgraduate education.  She was chair and founder member of the Scottish Glaucoma Club in 2004 and has organised the annual Scottish Glaucoma Symposium at the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh since 1999.

She is also co-founding member of the annual glaucoma surgery wetlab that has taken place since 2008.  She is examiner with the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and Royal College of Surgeons and Physicians Glasgow. Her main areas of research are glaucoma, cataract and electronic communication and in 2012 she was appointed Research Speciality Lead for Ophthalmology in Scotland by the Chief Scientist Office, Edinburgh.  She currently chairs SIGN guidelines for glaucoma in Scotland.

Her pioneering work in clinical electronic communications led to the Scotland wide Eyecare Integration Project of which she is current Chair.  This project is set to electronically connect community optometry to hospital ophthalmology departments.  This enables clinical digital image transfer for referral and education purposes.  For this work she was given the Royal College of Ophthalmologists Award for Innovation in 2010 (London).
 

Donald Cameron
Co-Director (Optometry)

BSc (Hons), FCOptom, DipCLP, DipTp (IP), FBCLA

Donald Cameron is an honorary clinical senior lecturer with the University of Edinburgh's College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine and the optometry lead for this Master's programme in his capacity as national programme director for optometry with NHS Education for Scotland.

Donald Cameron qualified as an optometrist in 1976 and worked in his own independent optometry practice for 35 years, specialising in medical contact lenses and medical retinal disease.  During this time he was also a sessional clinical optometrist at Edinburgh's Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion (PAEP), specialising in acute anterior segment disease, medical retinal disease and fundus imaging. Donald holds the College of Optometrists' Diploma in Independent Therapeutic Prescribing, specialising in Glaucoma and Primary Care Optometry.  This Common Final Assessment case-based examination grants the successful candidate the right to prescribe for any disease of the eye or adnexa.  He served from 2007-2009 as Chairman of the Investigation Committee of the General Optical Council (GOC), the profession's UK regulatory body, and was closely involved in reviewing Fitness to Practise cases.

In 2009, he was appointed as one of two national programme Directors (Optometry) by NHS Education for Scotland (NES), along with his colleague Dr Janet Pooley, to lead on the development of a Scottish Government funded, structured postgraduate training programme for the Optometry profession with the aim of improving standards of postgraduate optometric education in Scotland.  As part of NES Optometry's impressive programme of work, Donald established the first Optometric Teach and Treat Clinic in the UK in Edinburgh to enable community Optometrists to manage eye disease in NHS patients under ophthalmological supervision.  This training clinic, the Lothian Optometric Teach and Treat Clinic (LOTT), opened its doors to patients in 2010 and is managed for NES by NHS Lothian.  Donald championed the development of the MSc in Primary Care Ophthalmology and currently serves as the MSc Programme Team's Co-Director (Optometry), representing NHS Education for Scotland's interests and investment in this postgraduate degree programme.

Donald has lectured extensively around the world in a variety of clinical topics and his special areas of interest are medical contact lens works, independent prescribing and retinal imaging.  In 2008 he was awarded honorary membership of Association of Optometrists for services to Optometry.  In 2011 he was awarded Honorary Life Fellowship of the College of Optometrists and in 2012 was awarded Honorary Life Fellowship of the Association of British Dispensing Opticians.