Dr Philip Alexander

Philip Alexander is a Consultant Ophthalmologist at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, specialising in cataract surgery and vitreo-retinal surgery, and is an Affiliated Associate Professor at the School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge.  He co-leads the Stickler Syndrome Highly Specialised Service commissioned by NHS England.

He supervises the Part 1B (2nd year) medical students in Neurobiology and Human Behaviour, and also teaches Ethics and Law to the clinical students (years 4-6).    

Dr Alexander has published >65 peer-reviewed papers, his main research interest being the prevention and treatment of retinal disease. He was awarded funding from the Global Ophthalmology Awards Program for research into techniques for transplantation of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), which culminated in the award of a doctorate (Doctor of Medicine – DM). He is currently on the Independent Data Monitoring Committee for the RPE transplantation clinical trial being conducted at Moorfields Eye Hospital, London. He has previously co-supervised a PhD student in Cambridge who worked at the interface between medicine and engineering and studied the physicochemical properties of silicone oil.  His most recent publication is in the New England Journal of Medicine about the Cambridge Prophylactic Protocol, for prevention of retinal detachment in patients with Stickler Syndrome (Alexander et al, N Engl J Med 2023; 388:1337-1339).  

He holds an MBA from Imperial College Business School, and is founder, director and Chief Medical Officer of VisusNano Ltd, a medical device start-up company previously based at the Babraham Research Campus and now based at Discovery Park, Sandwich, Kent. VisusNano is developing a drug-eluting intraocular lens implant for patients undergoing cataract surgery.