Meet the VERI team
Professor Shahina Pardhan is the founding Director of the Vision and Eye Research Institute (VERI), based in the School of Medicine. She was appointed as the first female Professor of Optometry in the UK (2001).
Under Professor Pardhan’s strategic leadership, supporting a multinational and multidisciplinary team of researchers in clinical and public health research, VERI has received World Leading status through its publications and impact.
VERI's work has benefitted patients and policy makers and attracted collaborations from the World Health Organisation and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness. VERI researchers also lead and collaborate on various projects for the Global Burden of Diseases.
Prof Pardhan has received the title of Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her services to optometry and preventing blindness. She is also a recipient of several other awards and recognitions including the Ibn Sinha Award for Excellence in Health; a Life fellowship from the College of Optometrists; a silver medal from the Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers; the First Ismaili Award for Excellence - Postgraduate category; Asian Women of Achievement Award - Professions category; Asian Jewel Award - Health Care and Education category; Vice Chancellor’s award for Outstanding Scholar; Dean’s Award for Research; and Vice Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding Research Impact. She has also been named on The Ophthalmologist Power List as Champion of Change.
