Dr Liying Low MBChB (Hons), Ph.D, FRCOphth

• Fellow of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists (FRCOphth)
• Ph.D – Clinical Utility of Genomic Sequencing for Ocular Inflammatory and Infectious Diseases
• Royal College of Ophthalmologists Refraction Certificate (awarded the Elizabeth Hunt medal for highest mark)
• United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE), ECFMG certified
• MBChB (with Honours), Bachelor in Medicine and Bachelor in Surgery, University of Glasgow (Distinction for overall academic performance in final year medical degree, Student Selected Module 3 Excellence Award in Paediatric Ophthalmology)

Liying read Medicine at the University of Glasgow, graduating with Honours in 2011. Her interests in clinical research started early in her medical school years, undertaking electives to build upon her research skills as a research scholar (Duke University, USA, 2009), and her clinical skills through a Visiting Medical Student Clerkship Programme (Mayo Clinic, USA, 2010).

She furthered her medical training through the Academic Foundation Programme with the East of Scotland Deanery, in 2011, and undertook a rotation in academic ophthalmology, mentored by Professor Dame Carrie MacEwen. In recognition of her research work to improve the clinical management of ocular trauma, she received the Dundee Clinical Academic Track Discovery Travel Award in 2013.

She was successful in securing a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Academic Clinical Fellowship Award in 2013 and subsequently took up ophthalmology specialist training with the Health Education West Midlands School of Ophthalmology. In 2015, she received the Herefordshire Medical Society Junior Staff Prize for best medical case presentation. She was awarded the Elizabeth Hunt medal for attaining the highest mark in the Royal College of Ophthalmologists (RCOphth) Refraction Certificate.

She was awarded a Fight for Sight Clinical Fellowship in 2016 to undertake a PhD project, to explore the clinical utility of genomic sequencing in ocular inflammatory and infectious diseases. She received the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) International Travel Grant 2018, which is awarded to “investigators whose research findings are considered to be of high interest to the vision and ophthalmology research community” for her abstract on the gut microbiome profile in patients with Behçet’s Disease.

In 2019, she completed a research fellowship at the University of Washington, Seattle, USA under the supervision of Professor Russell Van Gelder, to investigate the role of molecular sequencing for the rapid identification of causative pathogens in endophthalmitis. She was awarded the best academic presentation at the Midlands Ophthalmological Society Meeting in 2019. Following her maternity leave, she has been successful in securing an NIHR Clinical Lectureship in Ophthalmology (2020 – present). In 2021, she won the prestigious Founder’s Cup at the Oxford Ophthalmological Congress.

Liying has served in leadership roles at national and international committees - Deputy Chair of the Ophthalmologists in Training Group for the Royal College of Ophthalmologists (2018 – 2020), trainee representative on the NIHR UK-wide Ophthalmology Research Strategy Executive Board (2020 – present) and UK Council Member of the International Society for Behçet’s Disease.

She is a member of the Sight Research UK Seed Award panel involved in assessing research grant applications and awards (2022 – present).

Research interests

• Investigating the relationship between immune responses, host genotype, gut and peri/ocular microbiome profiles that may contribute to the clinical manifestations in ocular inflammatory disease.
• Rapid identification of causative pathogens and their antimicrobial resistance genes in eye infections

Research themes

Gut Microbiome, Ocular Inflammation, Ocular Infection, Sequencing

• Sight Research UK Seed Award panel (2022 – present)
• Deputy Chair of the OTG, Royal College of Ophthalmologists, 2018 - 2020
• UK Council Member, International Society for Behçet’s Disease, 2016 - present
• Steering committee on the West Midlands Deanery Ophthalmology Trainee Research Network, 2015 – present
• Organising Committee of the OCULUS Fellowship of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists (FRCOphth) Part 2 revision course, 2015 – 2016.
• Honorary Clinical Teacher, University of Dundee, 2011 – 2015
• Public engagement work: Invited speaker, Keeping an eye on the gut – the role of the microbiome in eye health, for Café Scientifique, organised by the Birmingham Museums Trust, 2019