Dr Helena Lee MB, BCh, BAO, PhD, FRCOphth
MRC Clinician Scientist Fellow, Associate Professor in Ophthalmology
Dr Helena Lee is an Associate Professor in Ophthalmology at the University of Southampton and Southampton General Hospital.
The Lee group investigates retinal development in albinism and other retinal developmental disorders. The group’s focus is on developing disease specific therapies which target neuroplasticity to modulate abnormal retinal development in albinism and other retinal developmental disorders, in order to improve vision. Dr Lee has summarised her research in a powerful and widely accessible 10 minute AMSlive talk.
She specialises in neuro-ophthalmology, paediatrics and strabismus and has an international research reputation in the area of infantile nystagmus, pediatric retinal development and optical coherence tomography (OCT).
She has researched the effects of idiopathic infantile nystagmus, achromatopsia and albinism on retinal development and was awarded the Fight for Sight Award in 2015 for her work on normal retinal development. More recently, she was awarded a £1.4 million Medical Research Council (MRC) Clinician Scientist Fellowship grant to investigate: The role of Oral Levodopa in improving Visual development in Infants and young children with Albinism (the OLIVIA study).
Qualifications
- MB, BCh, BAO, Medicine, University College Dublin, 2004
- MSc, Physiology, University College Dublin, 2006
- FRCOphth, Royal College of Ophthalmologists, 2011
- PhD, University of Leicester, 2014
Appointments
- Senior Postgraduate Demonstrator in Physiology, University College Dublin, Ireland, July 2005 – June 2006
- Senior House Officer in Ophthalmology, Dublin North Rotation, Ireland, July 2006 – April 2009
- LAT Specialist Registrar in Ophthalmology, Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield, UK, April 2009 – August 2009
- Speciality Trainee in Ophthalmology (ST3-5), East Midlands South Deanery, UK, August 2009 – January 2012
- Clinical Research Fellow in Ophthalmology, University of Leicester, UK, February 2012 – January 2015
- Speciality Trainee in Ophthalmology (ST6), East Midlands South Deanery, UK, February 2015 – March 2015
- NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer in Ophthalmology, University of Southampton, UK, March 2015 – March 2018
- Neuro-Ophthalmology Honorary Fellow, Moorfields Eye Hospital, UK, August 2017 – March 2018
- MRC Clinician Scientist Fellow & Clinical Lecturer in Ophthalmology, University of Southampton, UK, April 2018 - December 2018
- MRC Clinician Scientist Fellow & Associate Professor Lecturer in Ophthalmology, University of Southampton, UK, Jan 2019 – Present