Professor Shahina Pardhan, the founding director of the vision and eye research institute at Anglia Ruskin University, has been awarded an OBE in the New Year’s Honours List 2025.
Recognised for her services to optometry and preventing blindness, Prof Pardhan became the UK’s first female professor of optometry in 2001.
In November 2024, the College of Optometrists made Prof Pardhan a life fellow during its annual diploma ceremony in recognition of her outstanding contribution to eye health.
The Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers also recognised Prof Pardhan in March 2024 with a Silver (Fincham) medal, which was only the sixth time the accolade had been awarded.
Prof Pardhan commented that she was delighted and surprised to have received an OBE, which she said strengthened her resolve to continue her work on reducing the risk and impact of blindness.
She told Optician that she was most proud of her projects that examined literacy around diabetes and diabetic retinopathy in different parts of the world.
‘These projects informed appropriate interventions, for the region, delivered by health care professionals, national diabetic associations and also at grassroot levels by community champions. These have reduced the risk of blindness in hundreds of thousands of patients. For example, we have delivered these in 50 villages in hard-to-reach areas in Nepal where the transport links are rudimentary,’ Prof Pardhan said.
Prof Pardhan added that she would like to continue this work in other parts of the world and has developed culturally and linguistically appropriate training videos in 15 different languages.
‘I aim to increase the coverage so more patients can benefit in parts of the world where the risk of blindness is high,’ she said.
