Thyroid Eye Disease

Rebecca Ford MA BMBCh MEd MRCP MRCSEd FRCOphth is a consultant oculoplastic surgeon at Bristol Eye Hospital, where she also previously served as Clinical Director. After studying at Cambridge & Oxford Universities, she trained in acute medicine in Plymouth before 'seeing the light' and switching to ophthalmology. Her specialist training was in London, including Moorfields Eye Hospital, followed by oculoplastics fellowship training in Birmingham. Her current research interests include inflammatory orbital diseases such as thyroid eye disease and IgG4 related orbital disease, transorbital approaches to skull base surgery, and best practice in common eyelid surgeries. She has published more than 30 papers and four book chapters.

Rebecca has a special interest in medical education; she was a London Deanery Fellow in Medical Education and completed her Masters in Surgical Education at Imperial College London. She was Chair of the Education Committee at the UK Royal College of Ophthalmology from 2021-25 and is Head of School for the Severn Ophthalmology Training program. She is the lead examiner for the IOFF visual sciences exam and has been an examiner for ICO and the UK College of Optometrists. She is a committee member of Women in Vision UK.

Early in her career, Rebecca noticed the immense impact of thyroid eye disease on affected people. She runs a specialist clinic for these patients in Bristol and in 2011 became involved with the Thyroid Eye Disease Charitable Trust, a charity dedicated to supporting patients with thyroid eye disease and promoting research into this condition; she has now been chair of this charity since 2017. Outside work, she loves travel and scuba diving, and her charitable ophthalmology work has taken her as far afield as China, Indonesia, and Cambodia.