A pioneering Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) professor has been appointed an OBE after being named in the King’s New Year’s honours list for services to optometry and preventing blindness.
Professor Shahina Pardhan, Director of ARU’s Vision and Eye Research Institute (VERI), featured in the list published this week, receiving the title of Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE).
Professor Pardhan has published more than 200 research papers on diabetic retinopathy, low vision, dual sensory loss, auditory cues in vision impairment, ageing, and visual short-term memory. The impact of her research on reducing the risk of blindness due to diabetes is far reaching, and includes the UK, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, China, Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, Nigeria and Pakistan.
Professor Pardhan became the UK’s first ever female professor of optometry in 2001. Having graduated with a First-Class Honours and awarded the Best Student Prize from the University of Bradford, she was supported by a PhD scholarship from the College of Optometrists.
Professor Pardhan has received numerous accolades and awards throughout her career. She received an Asian Women of Achievement Award in 2001, and four years later she received the Asian Jewel Award in the healthcare and education category. In 2019, Professor Pardhan was named in the Ophthalmologist Power list as a champion of change.
In 2022, she was named in the top 2% of scientists in the world by Stanford University and received the Arthur Bennett Prize from the College of Optometrists for outstanding international research for her work on the global impact of diabetic retinopathy in eye health and vision. In 2023 Professor Pardhan received the award of Honorary Doctor of Health from her alma mater, the University of Bradford.
Last year (2024), Professor Pardhan was awarded a silver medal by the Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers and was recently made a Life Fellow by the College of Optometrists.
Professor Pardhan became Director of VERI in 2009, and under her strategic leadership, supporting a multinational and multidisciplinary team of researchers in clinical and public health research, VERI has received “world-leading” status through its publications and impact.
Professor Pardhan said: “I am surprised, humbled and profoundly honoured to receive this honour. My passion is to reduce the risk and impact of blindness. This honour only strengthens my commitment to continue with this work.
“Blindness due to eye diseases such as diabetic retinopathy is preventable if caught in time, and our work has made a difference to people’s lives not just in the UK but in other parts of the world. My sincere thanks to everyone who has worked with me over the years.”
Professor Roderick Watkins, Vice Chancellor of Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), said: “My warmest congratulations to Professor Pardhan, who has dedicated her career to preventing sight loss across the globe.
“This recognition is testament to the difference her work has made in communities worldwide over the years, and demonstrates the impact of ARU’s research on people’s lives.”
