March/April 2004
People

Researcher wins top Optometry prize

University PhD student Vijay Anand has won a national prize for research showing how out-of-date spectacles can increase the risk of falls among the elderly.

Vijay won the Master's Prize from the Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers - a group that supports training in spectacle manufacture and optical research.

The Master's award, which includes a £500 prize, was in recognition of Vijay's first publication from his PhD thesis, entitled 'The effect of refractive blur on postural stability'.

Head of the University's Optometry Department Professor David Elliott congratulated Vijay on his prize.

He said: "It was an excellent piece of work and the first in a series of studies from the Vision and Mobility Research Lab looking at how updated spectacles can help balance control in the elderly."

Research has shown that by age 65, more than half of all hospital admissions are due to fall-related injury.

Falls can also have devastating psychological consequences in elderly people with loss of confidence and reluctance to venture outside the home being common responses.

Vijay, who also obtained his undergraduate Optometry degree at Bradford, has completed his PhD and is now hoping for a post-doctoral position at the world-renowned Institute of Ophthalmology in London.

16 April 2004

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