Friends of Moorfields Eye Hospital

A promotional image for a 'Coffee Hour' event hosted by the NIHR Moorfields Biomedical Research Centre. An individual stands in front of a body of water. Text on the image reads: 'Coffee Hour Dr. Ana Alonso-Carriazo Fernandez Free coffee and pastry!' An illustration of a coffee cup appears in the top right corner.

Discover at our Coffee Hour how genetic mutations cause #InheritedMacularDegeneration and about developing cutting-edge preventative technologies.

This informal, interactive session is open to all.

When: Wed 23 July from 3-4pm, near the hospital
🔗 buff.ly/bSdOuyr

@moorfieldsfriends.bsky.social

Researcher Shubhank Verma has shown that patients in areas of greater socioeconomic deprivation have retinal features suggestive of accelerated ageing.

Shubhank is at the @pearsekeane.bsky.social AI lab
@ucleye.bsky.social & Moorfields, enabled by INSIGHT.
Read about this & more: bit.ly/4kkt01Z

Two individuals standing indoors holding a framed certificate that reads 'UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences Impact Awards 2022 – Awarded to NIHR Moorfields BRC PPI Team – Impact through Public Engagement Winner.' The background features a modern building interior with people and stairs.

A group of people gathered around a tabletop game or educational activity featuring illustrated cards and zones labeled Grassland, Lake, Mountains, and Desert. The table includes a marked start point on the left and a finish point on the right.

Proud to win the ‪@uclbrainscience.bsky.social ‘Impact through Public Engagement’ award!

It recognises the BRC's ‘No One Left Behind’ game, created to raise awareness of equity in health #research, and so popular that kids came back for more! #PPIE

@ucleye.bsky.social @moorfields.bsky.social #NIHR

Nimita and Robert, both wearing yellow Eye to Eye t-shirts, sunglasses and baseball caps, pose together at the beginning of the race.

Well done to our team members Nimita and Robert, who walked #EyeToEye this weekend in support of Moorfields Eye Charity, and took in some famous London sights along the route!

#TeamMoorfields

Congratulations to @ucleye.bsky.social's Early Career Researcher (ECR) community for delivering another inspiring early career researchers' symposium last week, and to all recipients of the IoO ECR awards 2025.
lnkd.in/gikiRGTF

The image features a quote from Nikolas Pontikos, displayed on a blue background with the NIHR Moorfields Biomedical Research Centre logo at the top left. The quote reads: 'This AI tool could support earlier genetic diagnosis, improve access to personalised treatments, and reduce the diagnostic burden on families affected by inherited eye disease. Our work with Eye2Gene exemplifies how the NIHR Moorfields BRC accelerates world-leading research into real-world impact.' To the right of the text is a photo of a person in a blue shirt.

We have supported an #AI tool that improves genetic diagnosis of inherited retinal disease. Published in Nature Machine Intelligence, Eye2Gene offers a faster, scalable diagnosis & better than expert accuracy.

buff.ly/7yYxCNG

@npontikos.bsky.social @natureportfolio.nature.com @ucleye.bsky.social

Steve smiles in his green volunteer uniform. Text reads: The whole team were great, from the moment I arrived for my cataract surgery.

When our volunteer Steve felt anxious about his cataract procedure, he got support from Parul, a fellow volunteer who specialises in handholding.

Read Steve's story over at our website:

friendsofmoorfields.org.uk/volunteer-sp...

#CataractAwarenessMonth

A patient and a volunteer laugh together.

This week is the last week to nominate volunteers and staff for the Moorfields' Stars awards, supported by Moorfields Eye Charity.

If you've had great support from one of our volunteers, or from any member of the team at Moorfields Eye Hospital, nominate them here:

www.surveymonkey.com/r/5QXMM3P

A new frontier in #Oculomics, retinal imaging data is being used to explore detection and management of bowel diseases.

Meet Oscar Earle and Rohan Misra, who are investigating these links in Pearse Keane's medical AI lab at @ucleye.bsky.social and Moorfields Eye Hospital.

🔗 bit.ly/4kkt01Z

A split graphic showing quotes from volunteers and researchers about the impact of patient and public involvement (PPI) in research. On the left (dark blue background), under "Volunteers", quotes read: “It has challenged my thought process” and “In a friendly non-judgemental manner, my thoughts and opinions have been implemented.” On the right (light background), under "Researchers", quotes read: “PPI helped make my research aims more patient-focused and aligned with patient priorities” and “It has helped us communicate our work more effectively.” The NIHR Moorfields Biomedical Research Centre logo appears at the bottom left.

This #volunteersweek, we are celebrating the essential role they play in vision research! By sharing their experiences and perspectives, they help us deliver #research that is better quality and more ethical.

Find out more: moorfieldsbrc.nihr.ac.uk/patients-and...

#PPIE @ucleye.bsky.social

Barbara smiles at the camera, against a green background with a stylised image of a phone.

Not all of our volunteers travel to our sites - our phone support team make appointment reminder calls from home, helping reduce the number of patients who forget to attend appointments.

On our website, Barbara shares her experience:

friendsofmoorfields.org.uk/volunteer-sp...

#VolunteersWeek

It’s #VolunteersWeek – we’re so proud of our amazing volunteers, who work across 10 Moorfields sites and remotely, providing over 1000 hours a week of support to patients and staff.

Check out what a few of our volunteers had to say about what volunteering with us means to them:

Our colleagues at @moorfieldsfriends.bsky.social have been shortlisted for this year's Charity Awards, for a hand-holding initiative that has been found to reduce patients' anxiety, and help them fare better when undergoing eye procedures.

Three individuals standing in front of a backdrop displaying 'ARVO Foundation' and 'ARVO.org'. A banner at the bottom reads: 'ARVO 2025, May 4–8, Salt Lake City, ARVO Foundation/NIHR Moorfields Biomedical Research Centre Travel Grant'.

Congratulations, Mahnoor Zahid Malik, for receiving the NIHR BRC Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Travel Grant for @arvoinfo.bsky.social. Mahnoor is a final-year medical student at UCL, keen to pursue a career in ophthalmology, particularly in retina with Prof Omar Mahroo.
@ucleye.bsky.social

Pearse Keane stands chatting with three visitors at the entrance to the exhibition space in Moorfields Eye Hospital main corridor

Three people - visitors and the INSIGHT team - smile to the camera during the pop-up event, against the white walls of the exhibition space at Moorfields Eye Hospital

Tara Lee from the Open Data Institute and INSIGHT's Data Trust Advisory Board stands beside the INSIGHT banner at the entrance to the exhibition space at Moorfields Eye Hospital

Our #DataSavesSight pop-up at Moorfields Eye Hospital
was a fantastic opportunity to meet patients, staff and members of the public.

We shared how routinely collected eye data is anonymised, curated and made accessible for world-leading research.

Find out more: 🔗 bit.ly/48IdvuH

Muminah, a smiling young girl in school uniform, proudly holding a certificate from the Jack Petchey Speak Out Challenge. In the left image, she stands with three family members, including a young child. In the right image, she stands alone in front of the event backdrop. The GenerationR logo, featuring a pink handprint and the tagline 'young people improving research', is displayed at the bottom of the image.

Muminah, a member of the EYE Young People’s Advisory Group, has won the regional Jack Petchey Speak Out competition. She shared her experience as a Moorfields patient with a severe allergic eye disease and thanked YPAG for giving her confidence.

Read more: buff.ly/Ya9BSzE

@ucleye.bsky.social #NIHR

Meet Siegfried Wagner, who co-founded the field of #oculomics - using data & AI to unlock the eye as a window to human health.

On Thurs 22 May, Siegfried will be at our pop-up event at Moorfields City Rd from 1pm - 2pm.

🔗https://bit.ly/42R7j3V

@ucleye.bsky.social @moorfieldsbrc.bsky.social

A promotional image from the NIHR Moorfields Biomedical Research Centre featuring a stylized red outline drawing of a coffee cup with steam. To the right, blue handwritten-style text reads 'coffee and pastry on us!

Sign up for the next coffee hour, discussion & questions are encouraged!

Date: 5 Jun, 2.30 – 3.30 pm near Moorfields

🔗 buff.ly/xPYe28u

Professor Anthony Khawaja will share his research in #glaucoma genetics, detection and data science.

A close-up of a volunteer in scrubs holding a patient's hand. Text reads: 2025 - The Charity Awards - Shortlisted.

We are delighted to announce that we have made the shortlist for this year’s @civilsociety.bsky.social Charity Awards - the longest-running awards scheme in the charity sector.

Find out more over at our website:

friendsofmoorfields.org.uk/friends-shor...

Data Saves Sight Pop-up Event On Thursday 22ndth May, INSIGHT is hosting a health data research pop-up at Moorfields Eye Hospital. We invite patients and public to discover how their eye data is making a difference to research.

Come along to Moorfields Eye Hospital for our pop-up on 22nd May.

Data and AI researchers from Professor Pearse Keane's lab, spanning Moorfields and @ucleye.bsky.social, will be on hand to share work enabled by INSIGHTs vast curated datasets and computing resources.

bit.ly/42R7j3V

Ali sits outdoors in the sunshine, smiling, with her horse beside her. Text reads: "The staff and volunteers see me as a human being, and that's what, to me, is so special about Moorfields."

When regular patient Ali discovered that her grandmother had left £10,000 in her will for Ali to distribute to charities, she knew straight away that she wanted to use the money to support Moorfields.

Read Ali's story on our website:

friendsofmoorfields.org.uk/alis-amazing...

Introducing Cascader Limited, a new AI-driven eyecare collaboration launched by Moorfields Hospital, @ucleye.bsky.social and Topcon Health. Cascader will bring our cutting-edge #AI #research to clinics globally, transforming how we detect & manage diseases. #oculomics

Read more🔗 buff.ly/PmXg8g9

A smiling group of people out for a meal.

Thank you so much to our amazing, hardworking volunteer team at Moorfields at Bedford.

We had a fantastic time celebrating with you last night!

Illustration of a red line-drawn coffee cup with steam curling above it. To the right, in playful navy blue handwritten-style text, it says: 'coffee and pastry on us!' In the top left corner is the NIHR Moorfields Biomedical Research Centre logo.

Join us for the next coffee hour, bring your questions and join the conversation.

Date: 16 Apr, 3–4 pm near Moorfields 🔗https://buff.ly/LFqEZqN

Dr Shruti Chandra will share her research on detecting early warning signs in dry age-related macular degeneration using advanced eye scans.

The INSIGHT team is excited to be working with Dr Balal on an open source medical AI foundation model that could transform the detection and care of #keratoconus.

The model will be trained on curated, anonymised imaging data from Moorfields, in addition to community-sourced corneal images.

Dr. Shafi Balal is pictured on the right in a circular portrait, wearing a white shirt and blue blazer, smiling slightly. On the left, a quote attributed to him reads: “This grant will enable us to advance our research and bring innovative solutions to the forefront of eye care. We are excited to explore the potential of AI in improving patient outcomes and reducing healthcare costs.” The quote is displayed on a dark blue background with the NIHR Moorfields Biomedical Research Centre logo at the top. Below the quote, his name appears in red.

Congratulations to Dr. Balal on a #NIHR Doctoral Fellowship at @ucleye.bsky.social. This award will support his PhD research using #AI to develop a foundation model (KERAFound) with community-sourced @insighteyehub.bsky.social data to improve the early diagnosis of #keratoconus.

🔗 buff.ly/i9HOAJl

A montage of three images taken in the lecture hall at NIHR Moorfields Biomedical Research Centre. At top: Professor Marinko Saurinic wears a grey suit and stands at the lectern mid-speech. To his left on a large presentation screen is a slide depicting the science of Oculomics. In the image at bottom left is a slide showing the scale of data curated by the INSIGHT health data research hub led by Moorfields Eye Hospital: more than 35 million eye images and more than 2.4 million patients are represented in the data. In the image at bottom right, four people stand against a wood panelled wall, smiling to the camera, from left: Aadil Kazi, Sir Peng Khaw, Alex Black, Helen Khan

Emerging and future technologies for tackling sight loss were presented at the @moorfieldsbrc.bsky.social symposium yesterday, from gene therapy to the data and AI-enabled discovery enabled by INSIGHT to novel devices unlocking new discoveries. The research spans @ucleye.bsky.social and Moorfields.

A group of six people, including two guide dog users, pose together indoors at a Moorfields Biomedical Research Centre event. Two yellow labrador guide dogs stand at the front. A banner and refreshments are visible in the background.

A small group of people sit around a table in a breakout discussion session. A laptop screen displays the session’s question: “If you could change three things?”. The group appears engaged in conversation.

A woman presents to a seated audience in a meeting room, with a sign language interpreter standing beside her. Attendees are listening attentively. The event is taking place during the day with natural light coming through the windows.

Last weekend, we supported Prof Jugnoo Rahi’s ‘Centre for Sight Listening Event’, where an #inclusive group shared personal experiences of sight loss. These insights will shape cross-disciplinary #research at #UCL to drive meaningful solutions.
Read more: buff.ly/d0TtIpa

@ucleye.bsky.social

INSIGHT is committed to ensuring transparency in how patient data is collected and curated for medical research.

Our messaging is live on patient display screens across
Moorfields Eye Hospital sites, with new screens just added.

Find out more: bit.ly/datasavessight
#DataSavesSight