Denize Atan

Denize completed her training in Clinical Medicine and Surgery at the University of Oxford (BM BCh) after first graduating from the University of Cambridge in Medical Sciences (MA Hons). After specialising in general medicine and obtaining Membership of The Royal college of Physicians (MRCP UK), she became increasingly interested in the great variety of systemic diseases that affect the eye and vision in general. Consequently, she undertook further specialist training in ophthalmology in the South West region, including the Oxford Eye Hospital and Bristol Eye Hospital, and it was in Bristol that her current research interest in ocular genetics was ignited.

Denize completed a PhD in ocular genetics from the University of Bristol in 2008, followed by a post-doctoral research fellowship funded by the Wellcome Trust in Toronto, where she spent almost 2 years investigating the genetic regulation of retinal development. She then completed her surgical training in ophthalmology with Membership followed by Fellowship of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists for which she received the Harcourt Medal on both occasions.

Denize developed her clinical expertise in disorders that affect both the eye and the brain by completing a Senior Clinical Fellowship in Neuro-ophthalmology in Birmingham, one of the largest centres for neuro-ophthalmogy in the UK.

She is currently working as a Senior Clinical Lecturer and Honorary Consultant in Neuro-ophthalmology at the Bristol Eye Hospital. She is a member of the Bristol Vision Institute's management team. She is a member of the small grants panel for Fight for Sight and a community ambassador for Fight for Sight.