Professor Keith Martin has been appointed Managing Director of the Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA) and Ringland Anderson Chair at the University of Melbourne.
Speaking of the appointments, Olivia Hilton, Chair of the CERA Board said, “We were heartened by the fantastic response and the high calibre of candidates who applied for the role, but Keith was the outstanding candidate. He has a strong commitment to eye research, experience, passion, and energy to lead CERA into the future.”
Prof. Martin was elected as the first Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Cambridge in 2010 and at the time was the youngest full Professor at the University of Cambridge Clinical School. A glaucoma specialist, his ground-breaking research proved that gene therapy and stem cell therapy can reduce optic nerve damage in experimental models of glaucoma. He is co-founder of Quethera, a Cambridge-based gene therapy company which has developed a gene therapy for glaucoma that is currently progressing towards human clinical trials. His other current main research interest is in the potential for regeneration and repair of nerve damage in the eye and brain.
Clinically, Prof. Martin specialises in advanced and complex glaucoma in adults and children, particularly uveitic glaucoma. He also led the Glaucoma Service at Cambridge University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
Professor Martin will commence in the dual roles of Managing Director of CERA and Ringland Anderson Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Melbourne on 11 February 2019.
