AN ORTHOPTIST specialising in children’s vision has been awarded an MBE in the King’s New Years Honours list 2025.
Emeritus Professor of Orthoptics Anna Horwood has been with the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust for 44 years.
The honour recognises her services to Orthoptics and Research in Visual Development.
Anna’s research has informed the way orthoptists and ophthalmologists think about visual development and misalignment of the eyes, specifically her work into the development of a child’s ability to focus, move their eyes together, and the relationship between the two.
This research has changed the way we think about the development of binocular vision – the ability of both eyes to work together to create a single image.
Her work means that clinicians in the UK and globally understand more about how to treat patients with squints – where the eyes point in different directions – improving outcomes for patients around the world.
As well as working clinically with patients at the Trust, much of her research with NHS patients has been undertaken as head of the Infant Vision Research Lab at the University of Reading, set up with her mentor and colleague Professor Tricia Riddell.
Anna was also the British & Irish Orthoptic Society’s Research Director for many years and has been very involved with Orthoptic Education and standards in the UK.
Alongside this, in her own time Anna has taught on orthoptic courses for clinicians in the Gambia and India, and she has been a faculty member with ORBIS flying eye hospital, tackling blindless globally.
Anna said: “I feel very humbled to have been honoured in this way.
“Orthoptics is a specialist, and therefore a fairly small profession within the NHS.
“And I’m proud that through our research we can continue to serve our patients well, both in the UK and further afield.
“I want to share and dedicate this award to all my fellow orthoptists who do amazing work every day, supporting our patients, their families and loved ones.”
Katie Prichard-Thomas, chief nursing officer at the Trust said: “Anna is a true inspiration, an internationally recognised innovator and leader for the Orthoptics profession, one of the 15 Allied Health Professions in the NHS, 11 of which we have as part of the team at the Trust.
“In her role at the Royal Berkshire Foundation Trust, Anna has helped countless families and children to protect the most precious of things that we so often take for granted – the ability to see and engage with the world around us.
“This honour couldn’t go to a more worthy recipient, who we are so lucky to have as part of the team at the Trust.
“Huge congratulations to Anna from us all.”
For information, visit: royalberkshire.nhs.uk
