Ophthalmology Specialty Group Remit
The remit of the Ophthalmology Specialty Group is to support a national portfolio of structured research studies in Ophthalmology and the Vision Sciences.
- The Group has wide geographical coverage, with 20 of the 25 Comprehensive Local Research Networks having nominated a lead in this specialty group area.
The Group are currently seeking to include members with expertise in visual rehabilitation and lay persons particularly from those regions of the UK where there is no existing representation. The main purpose of the Specialty Group is to ensure that high quality clinical research is appropriately nurtured and supported throughout the UK with the specific aim of helping the research community to deliver on its commitments of swift set up, timely recruitment, and delivery of high quality data through efficient management of adopted studies. The Group’s portfolio includes:
- Clinical trials involving medicinal products as interventions in diseases of the eye andoptic nerve
Studies and trials of devices in diseases of the eye and optic nerve Studies and trials of childhood visual disorders Longitudinal observational studies or that documenting natural history Risk factors, genetics and pharmacogenomics of eye diseases Co Adoption across specialty group and NIHR topic specific networks
- Currently there are a number of adopted studies where the investigator expertise and the patient populations of interest are resident in both the Ophthalmology Specialty Group and other Specialty Groups and/or NIHR Topic Specific Research Networks.
Studies spanning areas of common interest already exist with examples of co-adoption in Diabetes, Rheumatology and Genetics. In principle when several specialty groups are involved, the Ophthalmology Specialty Group will take the lead on those research studies which are led by Ophthalmologists or Vision scientists, or where the majority of the expertise is resident within the Vision Science community. The Ophthalmology Specialty Group will work closely with the Royal College of Ophthalmologists and other stakeholders, to ensure that new developments in the field of Vision Science are informed by a national clinical research strategy and can be successfully delivered in the NHS setting.
