Clare Arnison-Newgass, Genetic Research Nurse

Clare qualified as a Registered General Nurse in 1992, joined the Eye Hospital in 1993 as a ward staff nurse at the old Radcliffe Infirmary and completed her Ophthalmic Nurse training in 1996. She became a Nurse Practitioner for the Cataract service in 2002 and still wears this hat for a half day/ week. She had a taste of research through co-ordinating an intraocular lens study in 2008, and in 2009 started to support Professor Downes’ Inherited Retinal Degeneration genetic research through patient recruitment in clinic. Since then she has become increasingly involved in the expanding Ophthalmic Genetic Service, both clinically and through current research, supporting patients in their clinical visits & genetic tests, and alongside multi-disciplinary colleagues to offer holistic care for patients living with visual impairment.  Genetic research includes in-house and wider studies with other centres to seek previously unknown genetic causes of retinal degenerations by comparing clinical information with gene variations, including recruitment for the Genomics England 100,000 Genomes project for Rare Diseases. She is currently undertaking her Masters in Genetics and Healthcare based at Plymouth University.