Neuro-ophthalmology for the neurologist and ophthalmologist

Gordon Plant took the Medical Sciences Tripos in Cambridge in 1974 with a first in Physiology, on the way acquiring an interest in Vision. Undergraduate Clinical Medicine at St Thomas’ Hospital followed, qualifying in 1977. After completing his postgraduate training in Medicine he returned to Cambridge for 2 years in Clinical Neurology then back to Physiology for three years supported by the Welcome Trust studying the visual deficit in optic neuritis. During this period he began weekly visits to Moorfields Eye Hospital to attend Ian MacDonald’s Neuro-ophthalmology clinic. Further clinical training in Neurology at the National Hospital for Neurology in Queen Square was followed by a year as a Medical Research Council Travelling Fellow at the Smith Kettlewell Research Institute in San Francisco where he studied visual motion perception with Ken Nakayama. He also took the opportunity to spend time with Bill Hoyt at UCSF. Since 1991 he has been a consultant in Neurology to The National Queen Square, St Thomas’ and Moorfields. His work has been as a full time NHS Consultant but he has found time for research with over 300 articles to his credit and an h-index of 76. Dr Plant retired from the NHS in March 2018 but was re-employed in the same job 24 hours later. As of April 1st 2020 he will retire from all clinical work but continue in academic activities.

Dr Wong completed her Neurology specialist training in the UK, supplemented by training sabbaticals in Australia and USA. This was followed by a Neuro-ophthalmology clinical fellowship in Moorfields Eye Hospital and an MD (research) into Ocular Myasthenia Gravis (OMG) awarded by University College London. She continues with research on OMG and other neuro-ophthalmological conditions. She is on the editorial boards for the Neuro-ophthalmology and Eye journals.

Her NHS clinical practice is based at Moorfields Eye Hospital, and Guys & St Thomas' Hospitals, where she sees unselected Neuro-ophthalmological conditions, ranging from urgent to tertiary care referrals. She also runs specialist services for Ocular Myasthenia and Pseudotumour Cerebri Syndrome / Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension. 

Doctor Axel Petzold graduated from the Medical University of Freiburg (Germany). He received MD (summa cum laude) in Experimental Ophthalmology with Ted Sharpe (University of Freiburg) and a PhD in Biochemistry with Ed Thompson (University College London). He trained as a neurologist in France (Lyon), Germany (Munich) and the United Kingdom (London).

He is a consultant neurologist employed jointly by Moorfields Eye Hospital (MEH), City Road and The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (UCLH NHNN), Queen Square, London, UK.

He is also employed as a consultant neurologist, jointly, by the Departments of Neurology and Ophthalmology at the Amsterdam University Medical Centre (AUMC) where he is the Director of the Dutch Expertise Centre for Neuro-ophthalmology.

He is the chairman for neuro-ophthalmology of the European Reference Networks (ERN) for Rare Diseases (RD), and an honorary Senior Lecturer at the Department of Neuroinflammation, UCL Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London, UK.

Doctor Petzold’s primary research interest is on the recognition, prevention and treatment of axonal degeneration in optic neuropathies. The disease spectrum covers Multiple Sclerosis associated Optic Neuritis (MSON) and those optic neuropathies, which are considered a rare disease.