Tag Archives: Birdshot day

Birdshot Day 2018, SESSION 2

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Interviews with Jennifer Thorne and Marina Mesquida

BUS was fortunate to have Professor Andrew Dick to undertake these interviews.

We were delighted and honoured to welcome Professor Jennifer Thorne to the 2018 Birdshot Day.  She and several of her birdshot patients had made the journey to the UK from Baltimore in the USA specially to take part. Professor Dick asks Jennifer Thorne about her work:  what led her to specialising in birdshot uveitis and other inflammatory eye diseases.

https://vimeo.com/327434780 Jennifer Thorne – Interview by Andrew Dick

Dr Marina Mesquida, a former research student of Professor Andrew Dick, travelled from Switzerland to attend the Birdshot Day. Here she is being quizzed by Andrew Dick about her move from the world of birdshot research in a hospital setting to a very different environment in one of the larger pharmaceutical companies based in Switzerland

https://vimeo.com/331974484  Marina Mesquida –  Interview by Andrew Dick

Brief notes on the participants:

Professor Andrew Dick BSc(Hons), MBBS, MD, FRCP(Ed), FRCS(Ed & Lond), FRCOphth, FMedSci, FRSB, FARVOwho is Duke Elder Chair and Director of University College London, Institute of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Brain Sciences. He is Head and Chair of Ophthalmology, University of Bristol, and the lead clinician for the Regional Ocular Inflammatory Service, South West England. He also serves on Faculty and is Theme Lead for Inflammation and Immunotherapeutics, Biomedical Research Centre – Ophthalmology, Moorfields Eye Hospital and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, UCL.


Professor Jennifer E Thorne, MD, PhD is Chief, Division of Ocular Immunology and Uveitis Cross Family Professor of Ophthalmology and Epidemiology at the Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland, US. She is a board-certified ophthalmologist and an expert in the evaluation and management of patients with uveitis and other related immune-mediated disorders. Dr Thorne participates in numerous research projects on the clinical and treatment outcomes of uveitis, including white spot syndromes such as birdshot chorioretinitis and paediatric uveitis. She is national protocol chair of the MUST-sponsored POINT study on uveitic macular oedema; principal investigator of a study in the effectiveness of the dexamethasone implant in the treatment of uveitis. Her research, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other agencies, is focused on understanding which treatments for uveitis offer the best balance of effectiveness and safety to preserve patients’ vision and quality of life in a cost-effective manner.

Marina Mesquida MD MSc PhD is an ophthalmologist clinician scientist. She obtained her degree in medicine and surgery at the University of Lleida, Spain, then completed her residency in ophthalmology at the Hospital Clinic Barcelona, where she graduated with numerous research awards. After undertaking a Master’s degree (MSc) in autoimmune diseases, she studied for a PhD in ocular immunology and inflammation at the University of Barcelona, followed by postdoctoral training at the University of Bristol, UK. She served as a consultant ophthalmologist specialising in medical retina and uveitis at the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona for 10 years, where she was also appointed head of the Ophthalmology Clinical Research Unit at the Fundació Clínic per a la Recerca Biomèdica.Marina has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed publications and 20 book chapters, with her major scientific interests being the role of interleukin 6 in the pathogenesis of macular oedema and immunological dysregulation in retinal diseases. In 2017 she received the Early Career Clinician Scientist Award from the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) Foundation. She currently serves as Translational Medicine Leader in Ophthalmology as part of the Roche Pharma Research and Early Development team in Basel, Switzerland, where she develops new treatments for retinal diseases, a job which combines her enthusiasm and passion for science with a strong commitment to patients.

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Birdshot Day 2018, SESSION 4

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Living with sight loss is something that every birdshotter worries about. For most of us, our loss of vision is quite gradual. Without treatment, we are liable to become severely sight impaired eventually. With better treatments becoming available, this is fortunately less likely to happen.

Julian Jackson – “Living with Sight loss”

Here Julian Jackson tells us what it is like to live with sight loss. He suffered from retinitis pigmentosa and in his 40’s lost his sight completely. http://visionbridge.org.uk

Below, Preeti Singla, a low vision specialists, tells about how to maximise our vision through the use of apps and equipment that do not have to cost a fortune. A copy of her apps and gadgets handout, is found here: https://birdshot.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Maximising-your-visual-potential-Handout-2.pdf

Preeti Singla – “Maximising your visual potential

More information about Julian Jackson

After a long career in management consultancy and organising events in emerging markets, followed by five years as Director of Development and then Senior Adviser to a leading eye research charity, Julian launched the social enterprise ‘VisionBridge’ in June 2016, supported by a growing nationwide group of academic researchers, clinician scientists, clinicians and patient advocates. He is building on the work he started in 2014 to promote eye health, increase the awareness and understanding of sight loss and introduce the extraordinary world of eye research to the public, eye health professionals, patients and the wider visually-impaired community across the UK.

Julian lost his sight in 2010 to a retinal inherited disease and therefore has a personal as well as a professional interest in the daily battles being waged in hospitals and universities across the UK to prevent sight loss, treat eye disease, restore sight and improve the quality of life for patients through enhanced rehabilitation.

More information about Preeti Singla MSc MCOptom DipTp (IP) Prof Cert Glauc

Preeti is a Specialist Optometrist with over 15 years’ experience in profession, spanning NHS hospitals, community optometry and as the clinical supervisor for the undergraduate optometry degree at City University, London. She started her career in primary care (‘high street’ or community practice) but quickly realised that her passion lay in secondary healthcare and the management of eye conditions, rather than in screening and the commercial side of optometry. She worked for a number of years across both sectors and then in 2010 made the switch to working in the hospital service full-time. She has worked for The Royal London Hospital Whitechapel, Moorfields Eye Hospital and most recently for Buckinghamshire Healthcare Trust, covering Stoke Mandeville, High Wycombe and Amersham Hospitals. Her work in the hospital sector has covered a broad range of experience in both core optometry clinics and also in an extended role, working alongside ophthalmologists in paediatrics, glaucoma and retina specialities. She has a keen interest in low vision rehabilitation and too on the role of Low Vision Lead at the Royal London, working closely with low vision aid suppliers. Preeti has also written a number of articles the most recent being a series of three articles on low vision.

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Final information for Birdshot day No 4

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This is just a short reminder to you all about our forthcoming Birdshot Day if you are registered to attend. A lot of work has gone into the planning and preparation and we are happy to tell you that everything is well under way.

This year, we are delighted to be welcoming many regular birdshotters as well as a good proportion of new people to our 4th Birdshot Day.  You will be amazed to know that we have people travelling from as far away as the US, New Zealand, Malta, Israel, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland Holland and Germany, as well as from the far corners of the United Kingdom – a truly international occasion.

On the day, the doors will be open from about 9.15am with the first talk starting at 10.00. We will have Birdshot Uveitis Society members, wearing their special T-shirts, downstairs in the hotel lobby area to help guide you up to the conference area on the first floor.

There will be filming taking place in the auditorium sessions, so we will need to ask you to sign a filming consent form (see below).

We always receive a great deal of help on Birdshot Days from the Patient and Public Involvement Team at the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Moorfields Biomedical Research Centre. This year, we are very pleased to announce that they will be running an informal lunchtime discussion, chaired by Mr Richard Lee (NIHR Moorfields Biomedical Research Centre). So, if you want to know more about how research is conducted and why it takes so long, or if you have questions about birdshot that you would like to raise in a group discussion, this will be another forum in which you can take part. More information about it can be found here.

To help you get ready, please find the following documents for Birdshot Day which you may like to download and read.

  1. Programme for the day
  2. Biographies of the speakers
  3. Photos of the speakers
  4. How to get to the Grange City Hotel
  5. Filming consent 2018
  6. List of exhibitors 2018

Raffle and BUS merchandise
As usual, there will be a raffle to help raise funds for BUS. Prizes include a Christmas hamper, Johnnie Walker whisky, framed photographs by Robert Connor McPeake,  a Gift basket from the US, goodies from Fortnum and Masons, and a  landscape textile wall hanging.There will also be special Birdshot Day T-shirts, saffron recipe mugs, caps, etc, for sale.

We will also have printed copies of the recently-published Birdshot Survival Guide available.

Please bring cash with you for your purchases as we don’t have the facility to take payments by card.

Transport
We have checked for train cancellations over the weekend of the conference. It seems that the District Line (London Underground) is going to be operating a good service, but depending on where you are travelling from, there will be a few line closures, so it is worth checking this in advance at http://content.tfl.gov.uk/track-closures.pdfl

And finally…
if for any reason you find you won’t be able to attend after all, please do let us know.  We will be finalising numbers in the first week of November, and we like to gauge this as accurately as possible to avoid waste.

The Birdshot Team are all looking forward to meeting you. It is not long to go now!

Annie

for Team Birdshot
info@birdshot.org.uk

Birdshot Day Poster – Saturday 14th November 2015

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Here is the poster to advertise our forthcoming No 3 Birdshot Day on Saturday 14th November 2015.   The poster has been designed by  David Bethell, one of our trustees and directors, who is also a graphic designer.  As before, David has given his time for free.  M3 Global who are the healthcare marketing company that we helped earlier last year have sponsored the printing costs.  Thank you so much to you both M3 Global and David for their help with this.

If you would like to make sure the poster is put up in the hospital where you are treated, please let us know and we will send you a copy, so you can arrange this for us.  Publicity throughout the UK is most important, as we would like this to be the biggest gathering of people with Birdshot and people interested in the eye condition that has ever been held!

Details of the day and the programme will follow on the BUS website soon, with a link so that you can book your ticket to attend.    We can also email or post the information direct to.  Please get in touch with ub by email to info@birdshot.org.uk to indicate your interest in coming to the day.

The programme is well develped and we will already have some exciting speakers and activities organised. Please put the date in your diary!

Birdshot Poster Pompidou Transport MBP A4B