MEC ImpactReport 2023 flipbook - Flipbook - Page 18
Tomorrow’s experts
Objective 4: Supporting
sharing knowledge
We support Moorfields and UCL to share their knowledge,
and to educate and develop people’s expertise.
Our funding provides support for future leaders through the early stages of their career.
It can help them get started on their research training through to developing their own
independent research programmes and teams.
We also have a strong
track record of supporting
the developing careers of
researchers and sharing of
knowledge. The demonstrable
impact of our funding on
the work of the researchers
we support can contribute
towards advancing our
understanding of eye and
vision problems, improving
diagnoses and developing
more treatments.
Researchers such as Dr
Rodrigo Young, studying how
genes cause eye development
problems, have built on our
career development award
funding programme to
successfully apply for research
grants for both him and a
member of his lab.
Others have supported larger
projects and so developed
key new skills that have
helped them secure their
next research position. These
include Heesoon Park who
worked on a springboard
award in glaucoma, gaining
bioengineering and 3D printing
skills and is now a production
scientist at the Royal Free
Hospital in London. Dr Megan
Vaughan also obtained a
lecturer position in optometry
at Anglia Ruskin University,
after her experience in a
project looking at diabetic
retinopathy led by Dr Emily
Patterson, who herself has
secured an exciting next role
as a retinal imaging specialist
at an optical technology
company.