Fellowship awarded for research focused on inherited diseases of the optic nerve

Academic ophthalmologist, Dr Patrick Yu Wai Man, has been named the first recipient of the Moorfields Eye Charity Advanced Fellowship in partnership with the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).

Yu Wai Man’s research will focus on gaining insight into Leber hereditary optic neuropathy and implementing a gene therapy trial for patients with the inherited condition.

He also plans to develop a dedicated Patient-Reported Outcome Measure for inherited optic neuropathies.

Yu Wai Man is an academic ophthalmologist at the University of Cambridge as well as holding clinical appointments at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London and Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.

He shared that he is “delighted” to be awarded the Advanced Fellowship.

“There are limited treatment options for these blinding mitochondrial disorders, but we are making important inroads. This award will launch an ambitious research programme to expand our translational work for patients with visual loss from inherited optic neuropathies,” Yu Wai Man highlighted.