Shahina Pardhan
The Power List 2019 – Champions of Change
Shahina Pardhan
Director of the Vision and Eye Research Institute at the School of Medicine, Anglia Ruskin University, UK.
What is the best part of being a clinician and researcher?
Working with patients and trying to find solutions to improve eye care.
What has been the pivotal moment of your career?
There are two: when I got a full professorship and when I became the first woman optometry professor in the UK.
Who are your ophthalmic heroes?
Professor Dame Ida Mann, the first female consultant at the Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital, and first woman to hold the title of professor at the University of Oxford. She never stopped working. Even in her retirement, she committed herself to researching and treating trachoma among the indigenous people of Western Australia.
Any advice for others following in your footsteps?
It might sound daunting, but you can do it – and don’t let anything or anybody try to stop you! If you start losing confidence, look to the women around you for advice. It was only with the help of my family and line managers that I was able to break down some of the barriers holding me back.
