YORKSHIRE EYE SPECIALISTS - Key Persons
Miss Izabela Mitrut works as a Consultant Ophthalmologist with a sub-specialty interest in vitreo-retinal surgery at York Teaching Hospital. She performs cataract surgery and, as a vitreo-retinal surgeon, also receives referrals for patients who have post-operative complications.
Miss Mitrut's vitreo-retinal experience enables her to manage conditions like macular hole, epiretinal membrane, retinal detachment, vitreous haemorrhage and floaters. She also manages patients with diabetic retinopathy.
After Miss Mitrut graduated from the Medical University of Lublin in Poland, she underwent foundation training in various Yorkshire Hospitals between 2005 and 2007. She completed her specialist ophthalmic training rotations in Edinburgh, which included further sub-specialty training in vitreo-retinal surgery in 2015, and a Fellowship in ocular oncology and oculoplastics in Glasgow in 2016. She gained further Fellowship training in vitreo-retinal surgery at the King's College Hospital in London between 2016 and 2018.
Miss Mitrut was appointed as a Consultant Ophthalmologist at York Teaching Hospital in April 2018.
Miss Topping qualified in 1992 from Leeds University and worked in Accident and Emergency, Neurosurgery and Neurology before embarking on a career in Ophthalmology which started in Yorkshire and took her to the Birmingham and Midland Eye Centre for several years and then back to Yorkshire and Manchester where she specialised in medical retina.
She took up her Consultant post in York in 2004 to develop the medical retina service. The service required rapid expansion and development with appointments of a team of consultants in medical retina people and she introduced the intravitreal service for wet macular degeneration and diabetic maculopathy. She was Clinical Director of the ophthalmology unit in York from 2014-2018 and she also performs cataract surgery. She has performed private ophthalmology clinics since 2007 . Over the years she has given talks and lectures in her subspecialist areas and has been invited on advisory panels regarding new treatments and regimes and organised regional conferences.
Mr Burton is a Consultant Ophthalmologist at York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. He has a special interest Glaucoma, Cataract and minimally invasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS) and has performed over 1500 eye procedures to date. He is keen to explore developing technologies in the fight against glaucoma, embracing them into his clinical practice subject to rigorous safety checks.
Mr Burton is a Yorkshire lad born and bred on the seven hills of Sheffield. Having trained initially as an Orthoptist graduating in 2004, he read medicine at the University of Sheffield, and undertook his postgraduate training at various hospitals in Yorkshire. He exchanged the white rose for that of red and completing his higher surgical training at Manchester Royal Eye Hospital (MREH), being awarded his certificate of completion of training (CCT) in 2019. He has completed an observership in Toronto, Canada with the world renowned Dr Ike Ahmed and undertook a Post-Certificate of Completion of Training fellowship at Guys & St Thomas', London, England, under the tutelage of Mr Sheng Lim.
Mr Burton has a keen interest in medical education and has held various roles in relation to teaching, training and the examination of medical undergraduates during his career to date. Outside of the UK he holds the post of an associate clinical lecturer for the Trinidad Eye Hospital. He works at two NHS sites, spread across York Teaching Hospitals inclusive of Malton Community Hospital and holds an Honorary Consultant role at Harrogate and District Foundation Hospital.
Mr Alaghband is a consultant ophthalmic surgeon and fellow of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists (FRCOphth) with a special interest in cataract and glaucoma surgery. His current NHS position, as a consultant, is at York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. He offers the entire range of glaucoma surgeries, including expertise in traditional surgeries such as trabeculectomy and tube surgery, laser procedures (SLT, laser iridotomy, laser iridoplasty, capsulotomy, endoscopic cyclophotocoagulation (ECP) and cyclodiode) and a spectrum of innovative modern technologies such as MIGS (minimally invasive glaucoma surgery) including iStent. He also performs cataract surgery in combination with many of the above procedures or as a standalone procedure.
After graduating in Medicine over 20 years ago, Mr Alaghband undertook his ophthalmology training in Yorkshire, and some of the world's most renown institutions in London such as St Thomas' and Moorfields Eye Hospitals. In addition, he received a Doctorate of Medicine (MD) from King's College London in 2020 concentrating on the differing aqueous humour dynamics and healing processes for novel implantable glaucoma surgical devices.
He is involved in national and international glaucoma clinical trials as a principal investigator. He is a regularly invited speaker on an international level and reviewer to several ophthalmic scientific journals. He has received a number of awards including the RCOpth/NIHR best trainee researcher of the year in 2018. He has more than 30 peer reviewed publications and book chapters. He holds the esteemed position of examiner for the Royal College of Ophthalmologists in addition to holding a glaucoma lecturer position at City University, London. He is a commissioned medical examiner for the British Paralympic Committee and a member of the ARVO, ESCRS, AAO, UKEGS and EGS.
Mr Taylor graduated in 1985 from Guy's Hospital, London University and worked in Birmingham, Sheffield and Leeds before taking up a consultant post in York in 1996, specialising in general, paediatric ophthalmology and adult motility. He has audited results on cataract surgery over many years, as well as audited outcomes of common strabismus surgeries such as consecutive exotropia. He has published 58 peer review papers, made 146 oral/poster presentations at scientific meetings in York, nationally and internationally.
He has been Chair of the examinations committee for the Royal College of Ophthalmologists 2016 to 2020, Head Examiner for the Part 2 national exit exam 2011-2016 and Head Examiner for the Refraction Certificate 2008 to 2011. He is the current Chair of the Assessment Committee of the Academy of Royal Medical Colleges. He was a member of the paediatric ophthalmology sub-committee from 2005 to 2011. Research interests include refraction accuracy, reading, maximising visual potential in cataract patients.
Mr Ellingham was born in Burnley in 1965, the son of a biology teacher and a physicist, both from Leeds. He graduated from St John's College, Cambridge in 1989. His early junior doctor years included training in general surgery, general medicine, A&E, ophthalmology and neurosurgery.
He obtained his PhD from Bristol University as a Wellcome Vision Research Fellow studying the tear film of the human eye. His subsequent specialist ophthalmic training was completed as a Registrar at the Bristol Eye Hospital, including advanced subspeciality training as a Fellow in anterior segment eye surgery (Cornea, Oculoplastics and Glaucoma) at the Royal Perth Hospital, Western Australia.
He was appointed lead for cornea and ocular surface diseases at York Teaching Hospital in 2001. In his NHS role he performed all of the hospital's corneal transplant procedures and undertook the largest share of NHS cataracts including the more complex cases. Mr Ellingham also gained a reputation as a respected teacher of cataract surgery. Although he retired from the bulk of his NHS work in 2019 he continues to provide skilled cataract care in both the NHS and the private sector.
In 2018, Mr Steven Naylor had the opportunity to do a television interview for BBC Look North for East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, publicising the importance of avoiding cosmetic contact lenses. This issue has always been something he feels strongly about, having treated patients with serious eye problems as a result of using these lenses, and he was keen to educate the public about them, particularly as it is very easy to purchase novelty cosmetic contact lenses online through various unregulated websites. He and his consultant colleagues still see cases of eye infections and trauma from the use of cosmetic contact lenses, and we are keen to keep the message out there.
Mr Tom Fearnley MA (Cantab) MBBS FRCOphth was appointed as a consultant ophthalmic, oculoplastic and orbital surgeon at York Teaching Hospital NHS Trust in 2016 and continues a full time NHS practice there. His areas of expertise include oculoplastic, lacrimal, and orbital surgery.
Mr Fearnley graduated from Cambridge University in 2000 before completing his clinical studies at Guy's, King's and St Thomas' Medical school, London, in 2004. After three years of further general medical training at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, he embarked upon seven years of ophthalmic specialist training in his native Yorkshire. To further his experience and expertise, he then undertook a further two years of subspecialty fellowship training in ocular oncology, oculoplastic, orbital and lacrimal surgery at both the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield, and Sydney Eye Hospital, Australia.
Job Titles:
- Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon
Mrs Joanna Liput is a Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon with subspecialist interest in glaucoma at York Teaching and Harrogate Hospitals. She performs high volume cataract surgeries, glaucoma surgeries, including trabeculectomies, aqueous shunts and MIGS (minimally invasive glaucoma surgery).
She graduated medical university in Wroclaw (Breslau) in Poland. During her training she gained experience being affiliated with the glaucoma team at Presbyterian Hospital, Columbia University in New York, Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia and at Nottingham University Hospital where she undertook and completed fellowship training in glaucoma. She attended a charity program supporting Khairabad Eye Hospital in Kanpur in India by performing high volume cataract surgery. She was granted by EBO (European Board of Ophthalmology) and took part in the ophthalmic residence exchange program at the Eye&Ear Hospital in Dublin. She completed her PhD thesis on ‘Quality of life in glaucoma'.
Job Titles:
- Clinical Director at York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
- President of the Medical Ophthalmology Society UK
- Professor
Professor Richard Gale is a Consultant Medical Ophthalmologist and the Clinical Director at York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. He Graduated in 1997 and pursued training in Yorkshire, Cambridge, Moorfields Eye Hospital, and for a short period in Boston, MA, USA. He took up post in 2008 with leadership in inflammatory eye disease and development of Medical Retina Services. He has been awarded ‘Best Clinical Service' by the Macular Society.
Professor Gale's research interests are in the fields of inflammatory eye disease and medical disorders of the retina. He has an Honorary Chair at the Department of Health Sciences at the University of York. He developed and has led the Ophthalmology Research Unit. In 2017, Professor Gale was awarded ‘Researcher of the Year' by the National Institute for Health Research/RCOphth. He has been the Chief or Principal Investigator in around 30 research studies, recruiting hundreds of participants to date. He has been awarded substantial research grant funding. He has published many scientific papers and book chapters. He is a Joint Ophthalmology Specialty Lead for Yorkshire and Humberside Local Research Network and holds the Deputy Chair for both the National Ophthalmology Specialty Group (Northern).
Professor Gale is the President of the Medical Ophthalmology Society UK. He has had numerous senior educational roles. He previously chaired the Specialist Advisory Committee for Medical Ophthalmology at the Joint Royal Colleges of Physicians Training Board and the National Annual Review of Competence Progression Panel, positions for which he now deputises. He also is an Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer at Hull and York Medical School with teaching responsibilities.