We are thrilled to have Tony Moore MA FRCS FRCOphth FMedSCi as a Patron of Aniridia Network since 2023. He is a brilliant ophthalmologist who has had many patients with aniridia and worked in the foremost clinical settings in the world.
Tony uses his status, knowledge and contacts to assist the charity and further our cause in various ways, particularly building relationships with doctors and medical institutions.
The trustees are very grateful to Tony for taking on this important role and for helping the organisation to grow bigger and stronger.
Tony wrote this introduction to himself.
It is a great pleasure to accept the role of Patron of Aniridia Network. I will bring
a good understanding of the problems faced by children and adults with aniridia and of research advances that may impact the condition in the future.
My clinical and research interests have been in the field of rare inherited eye disorders and I have cared
for many individuals and families with aniridia. During my career I had developed strong collaborative networks with other clinicians and basic scientists in the field and I hope to be able to use these contacts for the benefit of Aniridia Network.
I read Animal Physiology at Oxford University and then continued my medical studies at the same university. I qualified in Medicine in 1975 and then did my house jobs and my early ophthalmology training at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford. I then spent three years completing my general ophthalmology training at Moorfields Eye Hospital, London.
Following this I worked as a clinical fellow at the Hospital for Children, Great Ormond Street London with Professor David Taylor for 9 months
This was followed by a year at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada to complete my sub-specialty training in paediatric ophthalmology. It was in Toronto that I became interested in eye genetics.
On my return to the UK I spent 2 years as a clinical lecturer in Ophthalmology at University College London (UCL) carrying out research on inherited retinal disease with Professor Alan Bird.
In 1986 I was appointed Consultant Ophthalmologist at Addenbrookes Hospital Cambridge (Cambridge University Medical School).
In 2001 I moved back to UCL and Moorfields Eye Hospital to take up the Duke-Elder Chair in Ophthalmology. I also was appointed Director of the Pediatric Ophthalmology Services at Moorfields. My research was focused on genetic eye disease including aniridia.
I retired from UCL in 2014 but wanted to continue working so moved to San Francisco to the Michael Villensky Chair in Ophthalmology at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Medical School.
I retired from UCSF in July 2020 and moved back to Cambridge.
During my career I have looked after many children and adults with aniridia and their families. I have worked closely with Professor Veronica van Heyningen in investigating the relationship between the types of genetic change seen in patients with aniridia and the severity of their eye disease. These studies highlighted how much variation there is the structural changes in the eye
associated with different variants in the gene causing aniridia. Veronica and I also collaborated with Professor Sanjay Sisodiya a neurologist at UCL who described for the first time subtle structural developmental abnormalities of the brain in patients with aniridia.
Alongside my clinical and research activities I have been involved in supporting medical research charities and I hope this experience will be of value to Aniridia Network. I have been a trustee of the British Retinitis Pigmentosa Society (now Retina UK) and the Cambridge Eye Trust.
I have also served on the scientific advisory committee of a number of charities including:
- Fight for Sight UK
- Guide Dogs for the Blind Association
- Fighting Blindness Canada
- Research to Prevent Blindness USA.
I have also had experience of clinical and academic administration as Chairman of the Scientific Committee and Vice-President of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, Chairman of the European Paediatric Ophthalmology Society and as national Lead for rare eye disorders for the UK National Institute of Health Research.
Aniridia Network 