Andrew’s Travel Scholarship Experience

I had the privilege of attending the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (RANZCO) NZ Branch meeting in Rotorua at the end of May, as recipient of the Vision Research Foundation Travel Scholarship. I was excited to present the results of my BMedSc(Hons) thesis, Machine/deep learning to develop interpretable risk prediction models for glaucoma. The talk was well-received and prompted interesting discussions around the potential for big data and artificial intelligence approaches in Ophthalmology.

As a medical student with an interest in both academic research and clinical Ophthalmology, attending my very first medical conference was an invaluable experience, sharing our exciting research and connecting with clinicians and researchers alike. Hearing from other presenters and the excellent international keynote speakers has left me feeling inspired, with new ideas for the future directions of our research. 

Working under the supervision of Dr William Schierding, VRF Senior Research Fellow, and Prof Helen Danesh-Meyer, Scientific Director, has kickstarted my journey as a researcher. I am very grateful for their excellent mentorship and the support of Vision Research Foundation, which has made this work possible. 

Ngā mihi maioha,
Andrew Holmes

Next
Next

2025 Travel Scholarship Recipient