James Wolffsohn

Professor and Head of Optometry Aston University

  • Birmingham

Professor Wolffsohn's research areas are the development and evaluation of ophthalmic instrumentation, contact and intraocular lenses.

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Spotlight

2 min

Optometry researchers recognised at prestigious awards for business partnership in eye health with NuVision

Professor James Wolffsohn and Dr Sònia Travé Huarte in collaboration with NuVision won the Medilink Business Award 2023 for a Partnership between Academia and Business The optometry researchers were recognised with an award for their partnership with a company that develops treatments for ocular diseases The collaboration has directly benefitted patients and enhanced global research knowledge. Researchers in the School of Optometry and Vision Sciences at Aston University have been recognised with an award for their partnership work with NuVision, a company that develops treatments for ocular diseases Professor James Wolffsohn and Dr Sònia Travé Huarte recieved the Medilink Business Award 2023 for a Partnership between Academia and Business at a prestigious ceremony held on 16 March in the Great Hall at the University of Birmingham. Professor Wolffsohn, who is also the head of the School of Optometry at Aston University, said: “We are delighted to have won this Medilink award in partnership with NuVision. This collaboration has directly benefitted our patients with this common chronic, debilitating disease, has enhanced global research knowledge in dry eye management and enhanced the local economy. The team at NuVision are exceptional and it is a pleasure to continue to innovate with them.” NuVision has an expert team of scientific, clinical and industry professionals dedicated to building innovative ocular biotherapies. It was founded in 2015 based on 15 years of translational research at the University of Nottingham. The company develops ocular biotherapies through research and innovation. The Medilink Midlands Business Awards 2023 are sponsored by the University of Birmingham and the Precision Health Technologies Accelerator Ltd. The awards event saw 13 life science companies based in the East and West Midlands receive awards from Start-Up to Outstanding Achievement. A further six companies received Highly Commended certificates. For more information about the School of Optometry and the Vision Sciences Research Group please visit our website.

James Wolffsohn

2 min

Optometry professor recognised for excellence in research at awards ceremony

Professor James Wolffsohn recognised for research excellence at London awards ceremony Professor Wolffsohn specialises in myopia management, dry eye disease and contact lenses research Excellence in eye care event is hosted by the Association of Optometrists. A world leading optometrist from Aston University has been recognised for his research excellence in the field of optometry specialising in myopia management, dry eye disease and contact lenses research. Professor James Wolffsohn was the recipient of the Recognising Research Excellence award on Sunday (26 February) at the Excellence in eye care event in London hosted by the Association of Optometrists. Professor Wolffsohn, who is also the head of the School of Optometry said: “I was very surprised and truly honoured. It is lovely to have my research recognised.” “I have always been driven by wanting to know more. I think research is important because you want healthcare professionals to be working at the cutting edge and using techniques that are proven to work without bias.” James’s first experience of research occurred during his pre-reg placement at Moorfields Eye Hospital. He said: “They had a project on automatic teller machines – bank machines were fairly new and we were working for a major bank on the optimum colour combinations for people with visual impairment.” James went on to complete his doctorate in ocular motor research at Cardiff University, before travelling to Australia to work as a researcher at the University of Melbourne. During this time, Professor Wolffsohn continued to work in practice and would fly into the outback to provide low vision services to remote communities. Since returning to Aston University in 2000, he has worked in a variety of different academic roles – including as head of department across three different disciplines. “I will rarely turn down a collaborative proposal if there is an opportunity to make a difference to evidence-based clinical practice,” Wolffsohn said. James is also passionate about ensuring that scientific discoveries result in tangible change for patients. Three spin-out companies have been developed on the basis of research he has contributed to at Aston University. Alongside research and academic roles, Professor Wolffsohn continues to work a half-day in clinic each week. He has also played an influential role in spearheading consensus among the profession on evolving scientific fields, from myopia management to dry eye disease. James led the diagnostic committee for the Tear Film & Ocular Surface Society DEWS II report and chaired the Contact Lens Evidence-based Academic reports of the British Contact Lens Association. For more information about the School of Optometry and the Vision Sciences Research Group please visit our website.

James Wolffsohn

2 min

Specsavers hearing clinic officially opened at Aston University on World Hearing Day

Hearing clinic celebrates official opening to students, staff and NHS referrals on Friday 3 March Training of audiology students is supported by on-site clinic Free hearing tests made available in partnership with Specsavers. A new hearing clinic in partnership with Specsavers at Aston University celebrated World Hearing Day (Friday 3 March) with an official opening and drinks reception at its new clinic. Staff from both Specsavers and Aston University’s audiology department met to officially open the clinic and look around the facilities based in the School of Optometry. Both parties discussed the benefits of having a hearing clinic on campus and reflected on the positive impact the clinic is having on students and patients. The clinic, which is situated on the ground floor in the Optometry building on the University campus in Birmingham city centre, is run in partnership with Specsavers and offers hearing tests for free to students, staff and members of the public, while supporting the training of Aston University audiology students. As well as providing hearing tests, the clinic can dispense hearing aids and offer counselling and advice alongside a full aftercare package. The team also advises people on personalised noise protection and ear plugs for swimming. Specsavers is a key partner of Aston University, with graduates from both audiology and optometry going on to work for them. Last year, 62% of students who were placed in Specsavers clinics for support and training applied for jobs on graduation and got to interview. Of those interviewed, 61% are now employed by Specsavers. Claire Wilkes, audiology programme director at Aston University, said: “We cannot wait to see what comes next in this wonderful journey. So far the clinic has had a lot of interest and uptake of hearing appointments. We are delighted to be working alongside Specsavers. “Many of our students undertake work placements with the company, so we are very happy we’ve been able to grow our partnership further by opening this clinic on campus.” Humah Zaheer, Specsavers audiology director, who runs the clinic added: “I’m delighted to be involved in this initiative. As an Aston University audiology graduate from 2014 it feels like I’ve come full circle. Being able to offer students an insight into the ‘real’ world of audiology, as well as Specsavers, is a fantastic experience for their career development. “We’ve also been bowled over with the response from the public and are looking to expand the number of days we open the clinic from next year.” The hearing clinic on campus enables students to practice their clinical and communication skills in preparation for long term work placements off campus. The skills lab equipment mimics equipment in the NHS, helping students better prepare for placements. To find out more or book an appointment visit our website.

James Wolffsohn
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Biography

Professor Wolffsohn, formerly Deputy Executive Dean for Life Sciences and then associate Pro-Vice Chancellor, is the Head of the School of Optometry. Prior to his appointment to Aston University, Professor Wolffsohn was a Clinical Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne in Australia. His main research areas are the development and evaluation of ophthalmic instrumentation, contact lenses, intraocular lenses, and the tear film. He is a National Teaching Fellow, has published more than 280 full peer-reviewed papers and presented at numerous international conferences. He is the academic Chair of the British Contact Lens Association, having been a past president, was a harmoniser and sub-committee chair for TFOS DEWS II and was chair of the BCLA Contact Lens Evidence-based Academic Reports (CLEAR). He is the International Myopia Institute’s Chief Scientific Officer and was joint-Chair of their white papers.

Areas of Expertise

Ocular Allergy
Ophthalmic Instrumentation
Contact Lenses‎
Intraocular Lenses
Dry Eyes

Education

Aston University

MBA

Business

2009

University of Melbourne

PgDip,

Clinical Optometry

2000

Cardiff University

PhD

Optometry

1997

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Media Appearances

Distinguished experts to lead WCO and Alcon dry eye disease education initiative

Insight  online

2022-10-11

“As eyecare practitioners, we need to be unified in our differential diagnosis and evidence-based in our management of this chronic disease. The partnership between the WCO and Alcon offers great potential to raise the profile of dry eye disease and to improve the quality of eyecare provided to patients worldwide,” Wolffsohn said.

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Simple 20-20-20 screen rule really does help with eye strain, research shows

EurekAlert!  online

2022-09-21

Researchers noted that after the study, the participants’ eye symptoms returned to what they had been before the intervention. Professor Wolffsohn says: “We are planning to conduct longer term studies to see whether we can teach eyelid muscle memory impulses to blink more often during digital viewing, to help mitigate this chronic issue without long term use of reminders.”

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Aston University supports Commonwealth Games eye health polyclinics

Optometry Today  online

2022-07-28

Professor James Wolffsohn, head of the School of Optometry and volunteer at the Games, said: “I am delighted that our expertise and equipment are being used to set up and run the eye health polyclinics.”

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Articles

Prediction of anterior ocular surface sagittal heights using Placido‐based corneal topography in healthy eyes

Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics

2022

Purpose
To investigate the validity of Placido-based corneal topography parameters to predict corneoscleral sagittal heights measured by Fourier-based profilometry at various diameters.

Methods
Minimal (Minsag), maximal (Maxsag) sagittal height, toricity (Maxsag − Minsag) and axis of the flattest meridian (Minsag) of 36 subjects (mean age 25.4 SD ± 3.2 years; 21 female) were measured using the Eye Surface Profiler and analysed for diameters (chord length) of 8 to 16 mm (in 2-mm intervals). Furthermore, corneal central radii, corneal astigmatism, eccentricity and diameter were measured using the Keratograph 5 M.

Results
Using multiple linear regression analysis, the best equation for predicting the sagittal heights for 8 mm (r2 = 0.95), and 10 mm (r2 = 0.93) diameters included corneal central radii and eccentricity. The best equation for predicting sagittal heights for 12 mm (r2 = 0.86), 14 mm (r2 = 0.78) and 16 mm (r2 = 0.65) diameters included corneal central radii, eccentricity and corneal diameter. Corneal astigmatism was significantly correlated with sagittal height toricity for 8 and 10 mm diameters (r2 = 0.50 and 0.29; p 

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Questionnaire Design and Use to Assess Dry Eye Disease

Dry Eye Disease

2023

Symptomology is critical to the diagnosis of dry eye disease and is what separates it from general ocular surface disease. As the screening element of the diagnosis of dry eye, standardization is essential and the two TFOS DEWS II accepted questionnaires are the Ocular Surface Disease Index (cut-off ≥13 out of 100) or the DEQ-5 (cut-off ≥6 out of 22). This chapter identified that none of the existing questionnaires meet current best practice for patient reported outcome design and none stand out for their sensitivity. Hence, the choice of questionnaire for monitoring treatment should be based on the respondent burden (related to the number of questions) and recall frequency (to fit with the follow-up schedule).

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Scheimpflug imaging for grading and measurement of corneo-scleral-profile in different quadrants

Contact Lens and Anterior Eye

2022

Purpose
The corneo-scleral-profile (CSP) describes the transition from cornea to sclera, while the corneo-scleral junction angle (CSJ), is the angle formed between the cornea and the sclera. The aims of this study were (i) to analyse the CSP and CSJ in different quadrants and (ii) to test correlation and repeatability of an established observational grading and measurement method, using Scheimpflug images.

Methods
The nasal, temporal, superior and inferior CSP of 35 healthy eye participants (mean age 25.5 SD ± 3.1 years; 20 female) was imaged using the corneo-scleral-profile module of the Pentacam (Oculus, Wetzlar, Germany). On the captured Scheimpflug images CSP was subjectively graded into five different corneo-scleral transitions, using the Meier grading scale (profile 1 fluid-convex; profile 2 fluid-tangential; profile 3 marked-convex; profile 4 marked-tangential; profile 5 concave). The CSJ was measured on the same images using ImageJ v1.8.0. Grading and measurement was repeated at a second session. Intra-observer reliability for the CSP-grading was analysed by Cohen’s Kappa. Differences between repeated CSJ-measurements and different quadrants were analysed by paired-t-test and ANOVA. The eta-coefficient was used to determine the association between subjective CSP-grading and CSJ-measurement.

Results
Intra-observer reliability for the CSP grading system was poor (kappa = 0.098) whereas repeated measurements of CSJ angle showed no statistically significant difference between sessions (0.04°; 95 % CI − 0.21° to 0.29°; p = 0.77). CSJ angles ranged from 172° to 180° with no statistically significant differences between nasal, temporal, superior and inferior (p = 0.24). Eta-coefficient indicated a weak association between CSP-grading and CSJ-measurement (η = 0.27; p = 0.04).

Conclusions
The subjective CSP-grading showed poorer repeatability than the objective CSJ-measurement, which did not detect any differences in angles between the meridians.

The weak association between CSP-grading and CSJ-measurement is likely caused by the limited intra-observer reliability of the Meier grading scale. Furthermore, the CSP-grading scale seems to consider other aspects beside the CSJ angle, such as scleral radius.

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