Prof. Einar Stefansson PhD, Einar Stefánsson was born in Reykjavik, Iceland in 1952. He received his education in Reykjavik and graduated from the University of Iceland Medical School 1978 with honours. He received a PhD degree in physiology from Duke University in 1981 followed by a residency at Duke. He was a visiting scientist at the National Eye Institute, National Institute of Health followed by 3 years as an assistant professor at Duke University Medical Center. Einar returned to his native Iceland in 1989 as a Professor and Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology. He has served as Vice Dean and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Iceland and been involved with biotechnology firms in Reykjavik
Einar is active in clinical ophthalmology as a vitreoretinal surgeon with diabetic eye disease being his main clinical interest. His research interests include:
Oxygen physiology of the eye in diabetic and other ischemic retinopathies and glaucoma; the development of non-invasive retinal oximetry.
Epidemiology of diabetic eye disease and prevention of diabetic blindness through screening and a public health approach.
Ocular drug delivery to the posterior segment of the eye, with cyclodextrin nanoparticle eye drops.
Drug development based on marine lipids.
He has published more than 150 peer reviewed international publications, more than 300 abstracts, numerous book chapters and patents. He is chief editor of Acta Ophthalmologica since 2005, on the editorial board of Progress in Retinal and Eye research, the European Journal of Ophthalmology, Ophthalmologica, board member of EURETINA. He is fellow of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and member of ARVO, EVER, Michaelson Club and the Icelandic Ophthalmological Society.
Recent honours: He was knighted by the President of Iceland in 2007, received Iceland´s highest award in science in 2008, gave the Jules Gonin lecture in 2008, received the Synsfonden award in Denmark in 2006 and was elected to the European Academy of Ophthalmology (with gold medal) in 2009 in addition to several honorary lectures and awards. Einar is married to Bryndís Thordardottir, a social worker. They have 5 children and 4 grandchildren.
Prof. Dr. Sebastian Wolf, Sebastian Wolf is Professor of Ophthalmology and Director of the Department of Ophthalmology at the Inselspital, University of Bern, Switzerland. He earned a PhD degree for biotechnical engineering from the Rheinisch Westfälische Technische Hochschule (RWTH) Aachen, Germany. Subsequently, he attended medical school at the RWTH Aachen, Germany. He passed his residency in Ophthalmology at the Department of Ophthalmology, University of Aachen and did a fellowship at the Schepens Eye Research Institute, Harvard Medical School in Boston, USA. His major clinical interests are in medical and surgical retina. His main areas of scientific interest are age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, retinal vein occlusions, imaging, vitreo-retinal surgery, and quality of life.
Dr Wolf has authored over 140 publications in peer-reviewed journals, including Ophthalmology, Archives of Ophthalmology, AJO, IOVS, Hypertension, and Diabetes Complications. He serves on numerous editorial boards including Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, the Graefes Archives for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology and Ophthalmologica. He is a frequent speaker at national and international meetings and a member of many professional organizations, including the ARVO (appointed as Fellow), the Retina Society, EURETINA (General Secretary), Club Jules Gonin and the AAO.
Prof. Pete Coffey BSc, DPhil, Prof. Coffey in 1987 joined the faculty at the University of Oxford on completing his doctoral work. In 1989, he was awarded a personal Royal Society Research Fellowship at the same time moving to the University of Sheffield to establish a new laboratory for retinal transplantation. After 14 years at the University of Sheffield, Prof Coffey was appointed Professor in the newly built Henry Wellcome Building for translational Eye Research at the Institute of Ophthalmology in London. Prof Coffey has many years experience in cellular therapies as applied to retinal transplantation and recently was the principal author and co-author of two landmark papers demonstrating that grafting human cells could prevent visual loss. As Professor and head of Ocular Biology and Therapeutics (ORBIT), Pete Coffey has established the London Project to Cure Blindness. This project aims to deliver a stem cell therapy for a blinding condition called age-related macular degeneration by 2012.
Mr Douglas Anderson OBE FRSE FRSA, Founder and Chairman of Crombie Anderson Associates, Founder and VP of Global Advocacy, Optos Plc.
Non Executive Director of Michelson Diagnostics Ltd
Douglas has a 35 year business career in healthcare technology product design and production commercialisation processes. He is the founder of four high-tech start-up companies and has been involved in raising over £40 million in private and institutional funding for a number of different ventures.
Douglas is founder and Chairman of Crombie Anderson Associates Ltd, a long-established graphic and product design consultancy based in Edinburgh.
He founded Optos after his son suffered a retinal detachment which was not detected early enough to treat. Over a period of 15yrs Optos developed and commercialized the world’s first ultra-widefield retinal imaging system an advanced, patient-friendly diagnostic device capable of detecting a wide range of sight and life threatening diseases. At Optos he pioneered a unique business model that permits the practitioner access to the technology at no capital cost, on a per exam fee basis. Over 27 million patients have now benefited from this high quality of care. Optos plc is now quoted on the London Stock Exchange.
Douglas was awarded the OBE in the 2006 New Year’s Honors list. Elected Fellow of the Royal Society Edinburgh 2009, Awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Engineering by Heriot-Watt University 2008. Winner of the Scottish Enterprise Prize for the leading contribution to Life Sciences in Scotland. In 2007 he was awarded Inventor of the year by the European patent office. His work also led to the award of the prestigious MacRobert Medal for Engineering from the Royal Academy of Engineering and Optos being named Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum. Optos was also awarded the Queen’s Award for the Enterprise (International Trade) in 2007.
Mr Richard Condon, Richard Condon is Global Brand Director VEGF Trap in the Speciality Medicines Business Unit of Bayer Healthcare.
Prior to joining Bayer, Mr Condon held European commercial positions within ophthalmology, cardiovascular and respiratory in Pfizer Ophthalmics, GlaxoSmithKline and Merck & Co.
Dr. Gearóid Tuohy PhD,Dr. Gearóid Tuohy has worked at the interface of business and technology development in the medical, biological and clinical sciences for over fifteen years specializing in new product & market development, entrepreneurship, intellectual property (IP) management, investment, operations and the commercialization of pharmaceutical, biologic, gene therapy and medical device opportunities. In this time Dr. Tuohy has led and executed a range of development and commercial deals with several of the large global bio-pharmaceutical companies and has founded and supported the launch and development of 4 new companies in the bio-/medical market.
Dr. Tuohy currently manages all aspects of technology transfer and early stage commercialization at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) where he is responsible for operations, portfolio development, licensing, collaboration, contract management and all monetization activities for the College’s IP assets. Prior to his role at the RCSI, Dr. Tuohy served for 6 years as CEO of Genable Technologies Ltd, a specialty neuro-degeneration therapeutics company spun out of research conducted at the Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College, Dublin (TCD). Dr. Tuohy’s research interests include novel drug development strategies for ophthalmic and neurodegenerative disorders, apoptosis and genomic science. Dr. Tuohy holds a Ph.D. from Trinity College Dublin in ocular degeneration & therapeutic strategies for retinal disorders and a B.Sc. (1st Class) in Microbiology & Genetics from University College Galway.
