Dr Kathryn J. Saunders
Reader in Vision Science
Position: Reader
Location: Coleraine Campus
Current Position
Reader, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Ulster, Coleraine
Honorary Principal Vision Scientist, Royal Group of Hospitals, Belfast
Research Interests
Kathryn Saunders’ research interests include the impact of neurological impairment on the developing visual system, the improvement of vision care for children with special needs and the epidemiology of myopia. She is particularly concerned with promoting a multi-disciplinary approach to vision care for those with neurological impairments and complex visual needs, encouraging functional assessments of vision and improving communication of results to parents and health and education professionals. She has lead the development of a web-based resource for those working with people with reduced vision, in particular children with special educational needs. The website provides downloadable images which give a guide to the size and detail of images that are suitable over a range of levels of vision. http://www.science.ulst.ac.uk/visio...
Kathryn has received grants from the Northern Irish R&D Office, the Wellcome Trust, the College of Optometrists, the Nuffield Foundation, the Department for Education and Learning (DEL) and Causeway Local Health and Social Care Group.
Collaboration
Kathryn has active collaborations with researchers and clinicians around the UK. These include Dr. Nan Hill (Paediatrics, South and East Belfast Hospital Trust), Dr. Jackie Parkes (Nursing, Queen’s University Belfast), Prof. Jonathan Jackson (Optometry, Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast), Mrs Anne Magee and Myrtle Shannon (teachers for the visually impaired, Northern Ireland), Drs. Maggie Woodhouse and Jez Guggenheim (Optometry and Vision Science, Cardiff University), Dr Nicola Logan and Prof. Bernard Gilmartin (Optometry, Aston University), Ms Rukhsana McCann (Orthoptics, Down and Lisburn Hospital Trust), Dr Karen Gilvray (Ophthalmologist, Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast), Dr Ursula Donnelly (Ophthalmologist, Southern Trust, Newry).
Postgraduate Students
- Karen Breslin PhD "Progression of childhood refractive errors: a prospective study of Northern Irish children" - Current
- Sara McCullough PhD "Ocular aberrations in Down syndrome " - Current
- Natasha Healey PhD "Visual Development in Albinism" - Current
- Clive Wolsley PhD "Structure funtion relationships in myopia" - Current
- Lisa O’Donoghue PhD "Prevalence of myopia in Northern Irish School Children" - submitted Dec 2008
- Julie-Anne Little PhD " Cortical contribution to visual loss in Down Syndrome" - Awarded July, 2007
- Lisa O’Donoghue MClin Res ‘Axial length changes in accommodation in emmetropes and myopes’. - Awarded Dec 2005.
- Julie McClelland PhD "Accommodation in Cerebral Palsy" - Awarded March 2004.
- Ashley Shepherd PhD "Visual development in high and low risk premature infants" - Awarded February 1998.
- Summer Research Scholar:Graeme Brown Pattern Visual Evoked Potentials In Nystagmus: A Useful Measure Of Visual Function?
- Rosin Mackie PhD "Assessment of Central Visual Function in Multiply Handicapped Children" - Awarded December 1995.
Undergraduate Teaching
Kathryn teaches second and third year undergraduate Optometrists in advanced examination techniques, paediatric visual development, paediatric vision testing, and binocular vision practicals.
Career Outline
Kathryn Saunders graduated from the University of Wales, Cardiff in 1988 and spent her pre-registration year at Moorfields Eye hospital in London. She gained a PhD from Cardiff in 1993, investigating the visual development of infants and young children, before moving north to a post-doctoral position at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow and subsequently a lectureship in the Vision Sciences Department at Glasgow Caledonian University. Kathryn joined the Vision Science Research Group at the University of Ulster in February 1988 and became an honorary princiapal vision scientist at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast in 2003. She is an external examiner for the Optometry undergraduate programme at the Dublin Institute of Technology and is a professional examiner and council member for the College of Optometrists. She often speaks at Optometric continuing education conferences about issues surrounding vision testing for young children and those with special needs.
Sight testing for children with Special Needs
Our team has many years experience in providing eye tests for children with Down’s syndrome, cerebral palsy, complications of extreme premature birth and complex neurological disorders, both in Northern Ireland and throughout the UK. We offer vision testing for children with and without special educational needs and complex visual problems. We use fun, child-friendly methods to look at children’s eyes and test their vision. If you would like to book an appointment for an eye test or would like more information please contact Amanda Fleming at the Eye Clinic on 028 70323047 or ad.fleming@ulster.ac.uk.
We are looking for volunteers with special needs: We are actively recruiting children with Down syndrome and cerebral palsy to participate in the research we are involved in. We are trying to find out how these conditions affect vision and the way it develops. We also want to make sure that children with special needs get the best vision care possible and make sure that the children, their parents and carers are given useful information about their vision and how they can make best use of it.
Focusing on Down’s syndrome: One important thing that recent research has shown us is that most children with Down’s syndrome do not focus accurately on close objects. The research, done at Cardiff University with children aged 5-11 years, clearly showed that children with Down’s syndrome who were given bifocal glasses to correct this problem had better vision and did better at school. While not all children with Down’s syndrome need bifocals, many would benefit from them. However, measurement of focusing ability is often overlooked when Opticians are testing children. This measurement should be a standard part of eye testing and bifocals should be given when focusing is poor. Together with researchers at Cardiff University we are trying to educate eye care professionals, but we also feel it is important that parents know about this so they can make sure their child receives the best vision care. The link below provides information on vision in Down’s syndrome, how to encourage children to wear their glasses and information for eye care professionals about providing bifocal glasses for children. http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/optom/eyec...
Contact us: We would like to invite parents and carers to contact us if they are interested in becoming involved in our research, would like to make an appointment for a sight test or require more information on vision care for children with Down’s syndrome, cerebral palsy or other neurological conditions. Please telephone the University of Ulster Eye Clinic at Coleraine (028 70323047) and ask for Dr. Kathryn Saunders.
Publications
PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS
Saunders KJ (2004). Assessment of Visual Acuity in Infancy and Early Childhood. In ‘Paediatric Optometry’, Harvey and Gilmartin, Butterworth Heinemann.
Saunders KJ. (2002). Assessment of amblyopia, CEOptometry 5(3):88-91.
Saunders KJ. (2002) Assessment of Visual Acuity in Infancy and Early Childhood. The Optician, 5850(223):17-23
McCulloch DL, Henderson RM, Saunders KJ, Walley RM. Vision in Rett Syndrome: studies using evoked potentials and event-related potentials. In Rett Disorder and the Developing Brain, A Kerr and I Witt Engerströn (Eds.), Ch 14.2, pp 339-344, Oxford University Press, Inc., New York, 2000
Saunders KJ. (1998) Visual Acuity. In ’Assessing Children’s Vision: A Handbook’, Leat, Shute and Westall, Butterworth and Heinemann.
Saunders KJ. (1996) Development of Visual Function in Infancy. The Optician, 5561(212):19-23.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
L O’Donoghue, J F McClelland, N S Logan, A R Rudnicka, C G Owen, K J Saunders Refractive error and visual impairment in school children in Northern Ireland. Br J Ophthalmol bjo.2009.176040 Published Online First: 21 May 2010 doi:10.1136/bjo.2009.176040.
Saunders KJ, Little J-A, McClelland JF, Jackson AJJ. (2010) ’Profile of Refractive Errors in Cerebral Palsy (CP): impact of severity of motor impairment (GMFCS) and CP subtype on refractive outcome.’ Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science. Published ahead of print 27 January 2010, 10.1167/iovs.09-4670
Little J-A, Woodhouse JM, Saunders KJ. (2009) ’Corneal power and Astigmatism in Down syndrome.’ Optometry and Visual Science. Accepted for publication
Little J-A, Woodhouse JM, Laurizten JS, Saunders KJ (2009) Vernier Acuity in Down syndrome. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Feb;50(2):567-72
Wolsley CJ, Silvestri G, O’Neill J, Saunders KJ, Anderson RS (2008) The association between multifocal electroretinograms and OCT retinal thickness in retinitis pigmentosa patients with good visual acuity. Eye Oct 31 Epub ahead of print
Wolsley CJ, Saunders KJ, Silvestri G, Anderson RS (2008) Investigation of changes in the myopic retina using multifocal electroretinograms, optical coherence tomography and peripheral resolution acuity. Vision Research 48(14):1554-61.
Saunders, KJ, McClelland JF, Richardson PM, Stevenson M. (2008) ’Clinical Judgement of near pupil responses provides a useful indicator of ocular accommodation (focusing ability) in children with cerebral palsy.’ Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology 50:33-37.
Little JA, Woodhouse JM, Lauritzen JS, Saunders KJ. (2007).The Impact of Optical Factors on Resolution Acuity in Children with Down Syndrome Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science. 48(9):3995-4001.
McCulloch DL, Mackie RT, Dutton GN, Bradnam MS, Day RE, McDaid GJ, Phillips S, Napier A, Herbert AM, Saunders KJ, Shepherd AJ. (2007) A visual skills inventory for children with neurological impairments. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology. 49(10):757-763.
McClelland JF, Saunders KJ, Hill N, Magee A, Shannon M, Jackson AJ. (2007) The changing visual profile of children attending a regional specialist school for the visually impaired in Northern Ireland. Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics 26(6);556-560.
McClelland JF, Parkes J, Hill N, Jackson AJ, Saunders KJ. (2006) "Accommodative Dysfunction in Children with Cerebral Palsy; a population based study." Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 47:1824-1830.
McClelland JF, Saunders KJ. (2004) ’Accommodative lag using Nott dynamic retinoscopy: Age norms for school age children’. Optometry and Vision Science, 81(12):929-933.
McClelland JF, Saunders KJ. (2003) Dynamic retinoscopy: a valid method for objectively assessing accommodative function? Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics, 23:243-250.
Saunders KJ, McCulloch DL, Shepherd AJ, Wilkinson G. (2002) Emmetropization following preterm birth. British Journal of Ophthalmology, 86(9):1035-40
Cregg M, Woodhouse JM, Pakeman VH, Saunders KJ, Gunter HL, Parker M, Fraser WI, Sastry P. (2001) Accommodation and refractive error in children with Down syndrome: cross sectional and longitudinal studies. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 42:55-63.
Woodhouse JM, Cregg M, Gunter HL, Sanders DP, Saunders KJ, Pakeman VH, Parker M, Fraser WI, Sastry P. (2000) The effect of age, size of target and cognitive factors on accommodative responses of children with Down Syndrome. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, 41(9):2479-85.
Shepherd A, Saunders K, McCulloch. (2000). Effect of sleep state on the flash visual evoked potential. A case study. Documenta Ophthalmologica, 98:247-256.
INVITED PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS
Richardson PM, Kathryn J. Saunders, Julie F. McClelland (2008) ’Colour vision testing made easy’: How low can you go?¹ Optometry in Practice 9:17-24.
Jackson AJ,Saunders KJ. (1999). The Optometric Assessment of the Visually Impaired Child. Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics (Clinical Optometry Update, 19 (S2):49-62
Saunders KJ (2002) Assessment of Visual Acuity in Infancy and Early Childhood. The Optician, 5850(223):17-23
Saunders KJ (2002) Assessment of amblyopia, CEOptometry 5(3):88-91
Shepherd AJ, Saunders KJ, McCulloch DL (1998). The flash visual evoked potential in preterm infants: Its predictive value for severe neurological outcome. Journal of Neonatal Nursing, 4(6):31-35.
Shepherd AJ, Saunders KJ, McCulloch DL. (1998). The visual evoked potential in newborns: assessment of the integrity of the visual pathway. Journal of Neonatal Nursing, 4(3):9-12.
Saunders KJ. (1996) Development of Visual Function in Infancy. The Optician, 5561(212):19-23.
Research Grants
Feb 1990: British College of Optometrists research scholarship (3 years).
Apr 1991: British College of Optometrists travel grant.
Mar 1994: Disability Research Committee of the Scottish Office Home and Health Department travel grant. Jun 1995: Nuffield Undergraduate Research Bursary (£800)
May 1996: BUPA Medical Foundation Grant (£4,792)
June 1996: College of Optometrists Project Grant for 3 year post-graduate funding (£27,663)
Apr 1997: Nuffield New Lecturers Award 1997 (£3,672)
Feb 1999: Wellcome Infrastructure Grant (£113,000)
June 2000: College of Optometrists Project Grant for 3 year post-graduate funding (£27,663)
Mar 2001: Essilor Research Grant (£15,718)
Mar 2001: Principal Investigator on Research and Development Office, N.I. grant programme (HPSS RRG 4.4) (£430,000)
Oct 2002: Primary Care Development Funding, NHSSB (£5,543)
Oct 2003: Department for Employment and Learning (DEL) studentship (£35,820)
Sept 2004: Primary Care Development Funding, Causeway LHSCG. “The design and publication of information leaflets describing electronic vision-enhancing aids for the visually impaired.†(£2,920)
June 2005: College of Optometrists Project Grant for 3 year post-graduate funding (£48,030)
Nov 2005: Causeway Local Health and Social Care Group. ‘Pilot Low Vision clinic at UU’ (£10,413)
Feb 2006: Northern Irish Optical Society. ‘Epidemiology of Myopia in School-age Children in NI’. (£2,000)
Apr 2008: Department for Employment and Learning (DEL) post-graduate 3 year studentship. (£38,000)
Apr 2008: Department for Employment and Learning (DEL) post-graduate 3 year studentship. (£38,000)
Jun 2008: College of Optometrists Project Grant for 3 year post-graduate funding. (£50,466)
Nov 2008: Higher Education Innovation Fund, A Pilot Reading difficulties clinic at the University of Ulster (£3,000)
Feb 2010: HSC R&D grant for Doctoral Fellowship scheme. (£163,135)
Teaching and Learning Activities
Jul 1988 - present: Locum Optometrist in private clinical practice.
Jun 1993 - Jan 1998: Hononary Optometrist and Member of the Visual Assessment Clinic, Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Glasgow.
Feb 1998 - present: Undergraduate teaching in the following subjects: Low Vision and Geriatric Optometry, Pre-school Vision Clinic, Binocular Vision and Visual Development, General and Advanced Examination Techniques.
Sept 2003 – present: Honorary Principal Vision Scientist and Member of multi-disciplinary team at the Special Visual Assessment Clinic, Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast.
Memberships
EXTERNAL PROFESSIONAL COMMITMENTS (MEMBERSHIP OF PROFESSIONAL BODIES AND COMMITTEES ETC)
- Jan 1997 - present Reviewer for Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, Survey of Ophthalmology, Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics
- Jan 2000 - present: Founder Member of the Executive of the Northern Health Board, Local Ophthalmic Committee.
- Feb 2000 - present: College of Optometrist Professional Examiner
- April 2003 - present Advisor to the RNIB Wraparound project for visually impaired children, NI.
- Dec 2003 - present Founder Member of the Causeway Ophthalmic Group.
- Oct 2004 - present Reviewer for Optometry and Vision Science, British Journal of Ophthalmology, Optometry in Practice
- Sept 2005 - present External Examiner for Optometry Undergraduate programme, DIT, Dublin.
- Apr 2006 - present Member of College Council and Research Committee, UK College of Optometrists
- Sept 2006 - present Executive Committee Member of the Vision science Recognised Research Group
- Apr 2008 - Sept 2008 Executive Committee member of the Vision Group N.I. Clinical Trials Research Group
- Sept 2008 - present Chair of the Vision science Recognised Research Group
Dr Kathryn J. Saunders
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Dr Kathryn Saunders |
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Room G151 |
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Email: kj.saunders@ulster.ac.uk
