Rate My Professor Andrew Lotery

Professor Andrew Lotery is the Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Southampton in the Faculty of Medicine, holding the first university-appointed Chair in this field. He qualified in Medicine from Queen's University Belfast and earned an MD in molecular genetics from the same university. He completed a fellowship in molecular ophthalmology at the University of Iowa, where he worked as an assistant professor for four years prior to joining University Hospital Southampton in 2002. There, he has led and developed the medical retinal service, established the Vision Science research department, and built a team conducting clinical and laboratory research. As a consultant ophthalmologist, he specialises in managing patients with inherited retinal diseases, diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, and performs cataract surgery. He teaches medical students on ophthalmology rotations, provides weekly training to junior ophthalmologists, supervises PhD students, and oversees medical students' intercalated research degrees.

Professor Lotery's research interests encompass ocular clinical trials, age-related macular degeneration, central serous chorioretinopathy, inherited retinal diseases, and gene therapy. He is leading a UK multi-centre clinical trial evaluating photodynamic laser treatment for central serous chorioretinopathy, funded by the NIHR, and an international project applying machine learning to predict age-related macular degeneration progression, funded by the Wellcome Trust. With 395 publications to his name, key works include 'Biallelic variants in FSD1L cause retinitis pigmentosa with or without neurological involvement' (2026, The American Journal of Human Genetics) and 'Mesopic microperimetry in Stargardt disease: application and reliability' (2026, Acta Ophthalmologica). He has received the Nettleship Award from the Royal College of Ophthalmologists for best research by a UK ophthalmologist, been named one of the UK's top 100 doctors by The Times, won University Hospital Southampton Innovation and Researcher of the Year awards, a Macular Society award, the Paul Henkind Memorial Lecture award (2024), NIHR Senior Investigator awards (twice), and the Jesse Mole Medal from Retina UK (2019). Professor Lotery served as Editor-in-Chief of the journal Eye for 10 years, was past Chair of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists' Scientific Committee, and is now Honorary Secretary. He chairs the Macular Society Research Committee, serves as Specialist Lead for the NIHR Research Delivery Network, and established the University of Southampton Gift of Sight Appeal. His research has been supported by the Wellcome Trust, NIHR, and eye research charities.