University Hospitals of Leicester
Leicester, UK
Dr. Thomas is a Clinical Associate Professor and Honorary Consultant Ophthalmologist at the University of Leicester and University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust in the UK. In December 2023, he was appointed the clinical lead for the Ulverscroft Eye Unit, where he leads a multidisciplinary research group. He completed his medical training at the University of Leicester in 2013, earning both his medical degree (MBChB) and a PhD. He then joined the prestigious National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Integrated Academic Training pathway for clinicians. In 2018, he was appointed a NIHR Clinical Lecturer in both ophthalmology and genomic medicine. For the past eight years, he has received continuous funding from the NIHR.
Dr. Thomas’ research focuses on foveal development and nystagmus, with notable achievements including: (1) Establishing Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) as an investigational device for characterizing foveal phenotypes in infantile nystagmus, demonstrating reproducibility and identifying retinal features across various conditions linked to the disorder. (2) Developing the universally accepted Leicester Grading System for Foveal Hypoplasia, which aids in the diagnosis, classification, and prediction of future vision in young children and infants with foveal hypoplasia. (3) Leading the Foveal Development Investigators Group (FDIG), a multicentre collaboration across nine countries investigating genotype-phenotype associations in foveal hypoplasia. (4) Creating the first next-generation sequencing genetic panel for infantile nystagmus and highlighting its clinical utility. (5) Contributing to the genotypic and phenotypic landscape including novel gene discovery studies in infantile nystagmus and foveal hypoplasia.
In the UK, Dr. Thomas is part of the Genomics England Research Network, the UK Biobank Eye and Vision Consortium, and serves as a scientific advisor for the Nystagmus Network. Recently, he contributed to developing clinical guidelines for nystagmus with the Nystagmus UK Eye (NUKE) research group. He has served on the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) programme committee (Section: Eye Movements, Strabismus, Neuro-Ophthalmology) for the last three years and has recently been appointed to the ARVO Advocacy and Outreach committee. He also serves as an editorial board member for the Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science (IOVS) journal.
Dr. Thomas was a member of the Scientific Committee of ISCA 2022.