Dr Ameenat Lola Solebo is a Consultant in Paediatric Ophthalmology and works at the world-famous Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children. She is a former TEDx speaker, a talk that showcases her passion for tackling rare diseases in children that can lead to blindness.
We're excited to introduce her as part of Fight for Sight Presents. Dr Solebo will speak about her work in predicting and diagnosing childhood vision loss - she has received a Small Grant from us to help fund this, as well as her new Project Grant on childhood uveitis.
Dr Solebo is joined by Elizabeth Maxwell who developed the rare, inflammatory eye condition uveitis after a childhood illness.
Save the date: Wednesday 22 January 2025 at 12:00-13:00
Read moreAbout five in 100,000 children are born with glaucoma or develop it in childhood.
About the speaker
In her TEDx talk, Dr Ameenat Lola Solebo says, "Vision is a miracle. It's the sense we most fear losing. It's the sense we most fear our children losing."
We're proud to have funded Dr Solebo's work exploring the causes of childhood secondary glaucoma, and to be funding her current project studying childhood uveitis.
In children, secondary glaucoma can occur as a result of other eye conditions, including uveitis. Dr Solebo's work includes understanding the genetic causes of secondary glaucoma so we can work to prevent it.
She is a scientist and paediatric ophthalmic surgeon at the world-renowned Great Ormond Street Hospital.
Elizabeth Maxwell
"Lizzie", a veteran Fight for Sight fundraiser, is blind due to a complication of the autoimmune disease Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA), a childhood rheumatological condition with which she was diagnosed at age five. As a girl, she also had the related autoinflammatory condition Still disease.
A complication of this and JIA meant she developed the rare, inflammatory eye condition uveitis. This led to cataracts and then sight loss.
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- 100
- Dr Solebo will recruit 100 families of children affected by uveitis, cataracts or certain types of phakomatoses to take part on the study – and follow them up for six months to find out if they develop secondary glaucoma.
Who will benefit from this webinar?
The webinar is a unique opportunity to hear from a passionate paediatric consultant and scientist committed to preventing blindness in children, who is an inspirational speaker.
The session will interest:
- Families impacted by rare eye diseases
- Anyone curious about lab-based research into eye disease
- Anyone who wants to better understand the risk of secondary glaucoma in children
- Anyone who wants to better understand diagnosis of uveitis in children
- Fellow researchers in the field
- Anyone beginning a career in eye research
- Potential research funders
- Anyone considering applying for research funding
Childhood uveitis is rare, but really impactful...There's a real need for research to shape how we help to make sure the right children are picked up early enough to make sure that they get seen by the right teams and get the best treatments for them and get the best outcomes.
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