SightRisk

Dr John Nolan BSc PhD, Fulbright Scholar, Howard Fellow

Dr. Nolan is a senior scientist, with special interest in nutrition and macular pigment. As well as being Director and CEO of Sightrisk, he is Director of the Institute of Vision Research, Whitfield Clinic, Waterford (www.ivr.ie) and the Macular Pigment Research Group, Waterford Institute of Technology. His PhD study, entitled "Determinants of macular pigment in healthy subjects", was the largest cross-sectional study of its type in the world.

Following his PhD studies on macular pigment, Dr. Nolan was awarded a Fulbright scholarship where he spent the 2005-2006 academic year working at the Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, USA, working with Professor Max Snodderly. In May 2010 he was awarded a Howard Fellowship by the Howard Foundation at Cambridge University, UK.

He is a key opinion leader on the subject of macular pigment and AMD, and has been invited to speak at over 40 international scientific conferences and has published over 30 scientific peer reviewed publications on the topic. He is a member of Hohenheim Consensus Committee. Dr. Nolan is a proud Tipperary hurling supporter (All Ireland Champions 2010) and enjoys middle and long distance running (PB Marathon 3:29:42, PB 10k 37:47, PB 5 mile 29:53, PB 5k 18:10).

Graham O’Regan BSc (Applied Physics) BSc FSMC FCOptom, Optometrist

Graham O’Regan studied mathematics, physics and statistics at Lanchester Polytechnic (now Coventry University) before going on to qualify in Optometry at UWIST Cardiff (now The University of Wales). Graham is founder and Director of Cotswold Eyecall, a domiciliary company based in Gloucestershire, UK, which provide home visits and vision screening services to the elderly.

He is also founder and Director of Chicken and Egg (www.chickenandegg.com), a contemporary enterprise which provides an innovative range of vision tests and visual field screeners to enhance the work of optometrists in both domiciliary and high street settings.The software includes test charts for practice and domiciliary use, computer visual field screeners, palmtop near vision tests and innovative tests for glaucoma and macular degeneration assessment. The software is in use in many practices across the UK, and in Australia and New Zealand.

Currently, his time is divided between his Optometry practice in Ledbury, UK, domiciliary work in and around the Cotswolds and developing computer software for Sightrisk and Chicken and Egg. He is also a regular contributor to ‘Optician’ journal. He is married and has two children. As well as his optometric interests, he regularly works in the optometry practice in Lerwick, Shetland Isles, and enjoys spending time with his family in the Loire Valley, France.

Professor Stephen Beatty FRCOphth MD Consultant

Professor Beatty is an Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon, and has been involved in research into age-related macular degeneration (AMD) since 1998. He has a special interest in vitreo-retinal surgery, and has had published over 80 peer-reviewed publications. The main focus of his research is AMD, with emphasis on exploring ways of delaying, or possibly even preventing, its onset through dietary modification and/or supplementation.

He is Director of the Macular Pigment Research Group, one of the world’s leading research group into macular pigment, and Director of the Institute of Eye Surgery, Whitfield Clinic, Waterford. He is a key opinion leader on the subject of AMD and macular pigment, and has been invited to speak at over 15 international scientific conferences. In 2010 he was awarded the title of Professor from Waterford Institute of Technology.

Beyond his interests in this growing area of research, Professor Beatty has a keen interest in the Irish language, and enjoys middle-distance running.

Robert Kuchling DVM, Managing Director

Robert Kuchling is an experienced marketing expert with a strong scientific background. He studied Veterinary Medicine at Humboldt University, Berlin and graduated with a  Diploma Degree in Veterinary Science. After four years of research work in Molecular Biology and Virology he moved into the pharmaceutical industry.  Having over 15 years’ experience working with an international pharmaceutical company in the areas of export and international marketing, in 2010 he established his own company in Germany, ebiga-VISION (www.ebiga-vision.com), which is dedicated to prevention of chronic eye diseases.
 
ebiga-VISION provides German ophthalmologists with state-of-the-art tool kits for prevention of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). These kits include genetic AMD testing, macular pigment measuring device, and the Sightrisk AMD Calculator.
 
In 2011 he joined the Sightrisk team as Managing Director to support the marketing efforts and distribution of the growing company. Robert is based in Berlin, Germany. He is married and has four children. Robert enjoys theatre, opera and visiting the Baltic Sea.

Dr. Niamh Owens Operations and Relations Manager

Niamh is the Operations and Relationships Manager of Sightrisk, and is responsible for customer relationship management and pre/post-sales support. Niamh works closely with distributors, existing customers of Sightrisk and has a heightened focus on developing relations with potential new clients of Sightrisk. Niamh is also responsible for the marketing of Sightrisk and on day to day running of the company.

In 2005, Niamh graduated from the Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) with first class honours Bachelor of Business Studies Degree. She then completed a Masters by Research in WIT studying the barriers hindering Irish SMEs from going global, graduating in 2007. In 2007 Niamh received MBS Research Student of the Year and Advanced Scholar of the Year. Niamh has also presented academic papers for her Masters at the EISB Conference, Slovenia, September 2007 and for her PhD at the Proton Europe Conference in January 2009 in Cardiff and at the Regional Studies Conference in Hungary 2010. Niamh’s PhD looked at the influence of the gatekeeper within a higher education institute and their influence on technology transfer. Niamh was funded by the TSSG for the 3 years of her studies.

Niamh has worked in numerous projects over the years from Project Manager on Enterprise Ireland projects in the TSSG, to Business Development Manager with GoMo News (a TSSG spin-in company). Niamh's duties as Business Development Manager included advertising and sales and also management of the social media aspect of the business. Niamh has also lectured Entrepreneurship to 3^rd year Business students, has been a mentor to incoming research students to WIT and has a passion for inspiring innovation and enterprise.