The Ophthalmologist Power List 2026 

Every year, The Ophthalmologist selects a theme for its awards. This year’s was Drivers of Change, with a focus on achievements in the past 12 months, highlighting those making the most difference in the field today. 

Professor Gus Gazzard was nominated as the most influential ophthalmologist in the power list. The charity supported his work by extending the LiGHT (laser in glaucoma and ocular hypertension) trial that began in 2012 by a further three years. The trial compared laser treatment with eye drops for newly diagnosed glaucoma patients and has brought about changes in clinical guidelines on treatments for glaucoma patients.

Professor Mariya Moosajee ranked in the top 50. We are jointly funding, with Fight for Sight, a research project led by her on inherited retinal diseases which are the most common cause of blindness amongst working age adults in the UK. They are caused by faults (also called mutations) in our genetic code or DNA.

This research focuses on understanding how a particular mutation brings about a range of clinical features of varying severity. It aims to inform future research and ultimately benefit patients. A fuller understanding of the condition will help clinicians provide patients with information on the time-course of their disease. It could also determine the suitability for gene therapy or other possible treatments.

We are also funding with the Medical Research Foundation her research into the genetic underpinnings of anophthalmia (being born without eyes), microphthalmia (small under-developed eyes), and ocular coloboma (clefts in the eye), as well as exploring environmental influences and treatment options. 

Professor Sobha Sivaprasad ranked in the top 50. The charity is funding the work she is leading with Professor Marcus Fruttiger to build a human eye tissue resource for vision research to advance discoveries and develop new treatments and diagnostics, increase access to enough well-characterised high-quality human eye tissues and fluids. 

She is also setting up a fully functional biorepository to store them in which is a complex operation requiring time and resources, so the charity is supporting a two-year project to start collecting and storing biosamples from Moorfields Eye Hospital patients, while also establishing workflows and protocols, governance and stakeholder engagement. A fully integrated repository in the new eye health centre, containing human tissue and samples linked to clinical and imaging data from the donors will be an invaluable asset for translational eye research to better understand and treat eye diseases and develop new therapies, both at Moorfields and across the UK. It will lead to new projects, new knowledge and eventually new therapies.

We’re also delighted to have funded several other ophthalmologists featured in the list. Find out who and the work we are funding:

Professor Adnan Tufail, clinical and research lead 

Co-supervisor on a PhD looking at mitochondrial dysfunction in geographic atrophy.

Professor Anthony Khawaja, consultant ophthalmic surgeon

Leading a project grant investigating genetic prediction models for glaucoma care.

Professor Pearse Keane, consultant ophthalmologist

Leading a project grant to develop an image-based AI model for retinal imaging.

Professor James Bainbridge, consultant ophthalmologist, surgeon-scientist

Used seed funding from the charity to start the research that would lead to NIHR funding-supported gene therapy treatment for Leber congenital amaurosis.

Professor Mandeep Sagoo, consultant ophthalmologist

Leading a project investigating the use of AI in ocular oncology and work on 3D printed ocular prosthetics.

Peter Thomas, executive director of digital development

Led an innovation and improvement grant to support digital innovation ideas generated by Moorfields’ staff to be co-designed with patients.