Symposium for Monday 6 September

GCU are delighted to invite alumni and industry to “Not a Dry Eye in the House”, a celebration of Alan Tomlinson’s career.

The symposium will be organised into short clinical and research presentations and, of course, the obligatory reminiscences.  Hear from international speakers including; Professor William Ridder and Peter Simmons from California, GCU alumni Dr Jennifer Craig (University of Auckland, NZ) and Dr Santosh Khanal (University of Western Sydney, Australia), as well as a panel of speakers from closer to home.

Alumni and staff will know Alan as the Head of Vision Sciences (1991-2008). A member of the General Optical Council throughout his tenure, Alan was on the original committee overseeing the development of independent prescribing by optometrists leading GCU to become one of the first of two UK universities to develop courses for training practitioners in this specialty. On a global scale, Alan is known for research, most notably in the area of contact lens related physiology and pathology and for the achievements of the dry eye laboratory he established here at GCU.

Although Alan stepped down as Head of Vision Sciences in July 2009, he has continued as a Professor. 2009/10 has been a remarkable year, with eight new research publications, a book chapter, international invitations to lecture and chairing the Committee on Diagnosis for the International Workshop redefining meibomian gland disease. His future research includes GCU’s first clinical trial sponsored by the European Directive studying new dry eye treatment supported by £100,000 research grant funding from a major pharmaceutical company.

If you would like to join Alan for a celebratory dinner the evening before (Sunday 5^th September 2010 at 7pm) please email  Karen.Reid@gcu.ac.uk for more details.