Spotlight Interview with Anthony Khawaja
Our The Ophthalmologist Power List 2020 series continues with an interview with Anthony Khawaja, a consultant ophthalmologist in the glaucoma service at Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, UK. In this interview, he reveals his motivations, the most rewarding aspects of his career and his views on the future of ophthalmology.
Q: What motivated you to become an ophthalmologist?
Funnily enough, I loved the fact you could diagnose things clinically and not rely on investigations like most other specialties – the power of just looking at someone’s retina (e.g., for heart disease, you need an invasive test to examine the coronary arteries, but for eyes, you can directly visualise the retinal vessel). So, it’s ironic that now we are pioneering technology that will ultimately improve and maybe even replace our clinical skills for the benefit of patients.
Q: What has been the most rewarding part of your career so far?
Working together with amazingly skillful scientists from around the world, all on the same problems. It is very intellectually stimulating and very rewarding when collective breakthroughs are made.
Q: What developments are you most excited to hear about in 2020–2021?
The time is ripe for glaucoma genomics to become clinically important – studies around the world are gearing up to make tools that will help us manage patients more effectively: personalised glaucoma care.
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Published: 15 May 2020
Author profile:
Anthony Khawaja is a consultant ophthalmologist currently working in the glaucoma service at Moorfields Eye Hospital, London. He completed his medical training at the University of Cambridge and University College London and has undertaken the majority of his ophthalmic residency training at Moorfields Eye Hospital. Anthony’s research training began with a Wellcome Trust funded PhD programme at the University of Cambridge, including a Masters in Epidemiology for which he won the Nick Day Prize. He was also awarded the Berkeley Fellowship which supported a research period at Harvard Medical School. Anthony’s research interests concern the genetic and environmental epidemiology of glaucoma, and learning about disease pathogenesis and optimal care pathways by probing routinely collected data. Anthony is an active member of international multidisciplinary consortia for eye diseases, including the International Glaucoma Genetics Consortium and the European Eye Epidemiology consortium. Anthony established the Young Ophthalmologists section of the European Society of Ophthalmology and is director for the European Leadership Development Programme. He was recently ranked eighth in the world of Rising Stars in ophthalmology by his peers for The Ophthalmologist. Anthony is chair of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists Informatics sub-committee. In his spare time, Anthony is passionate about music: he plays the piano, composes, and enjoys listening to broad range of music. His favourite record of 2019 was This Is Not a Safe Place by Ride, produced by Erol Alkan.