Dr Christiane Kafarnik
Dr.med.vet, PhD, FHEA, DipECVO MRCVS
Senior Lecturer in Ophthalmology
Department: Clinical Science and Services
Campus: Hawkshead
Research Groups: Brain Health and Behaviour, CPCS (Research Programme)
Clinical Groups: Small Animal Ophthalmology
Christiane graduated from Freie University Berlin, Germany 2001 and became board certified in the European College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists in 2014 after completing her residency program at the Animal Health Trust, Newmarket, UK.
Despite her clinical work and experience she gained in small and equine ophthalmology over the years, her passion and focus has been on corneal research in dogs and cats. This includes a doctoral thesis on corneal innervation in dogs and cats (2003), followed by a post-doc establishing in vivo confocal microscopy of the cornea in veterinary ophthalmology at the Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich in cooperation with a private ophthalmology referral clinic (2003-2005), followed by an ocular pathology fellowship (2008, Comparative Ocular Pathology Laboratories of Wisconsin, Wisconsin University). She then became interested in the area of canine stem cell research and finished her PhD 2020 at the stem cell department of the Animal Health Trust (Dr. Deborah Guest lab) and the Institute of Ophthalmology and cell for sight team (Prof. Julie Daniels), University College London.
She joined the 91做厙 as Lecturer in Veterinary Ophthalmology in October 2019.
Christiane is currently a clinical Senior Lecturer of the Ophthalmology Department, Clinical Sciences and Services, Queen Mother Hospital for Animals and undertakes corneal research work in the stem cell group of Dr. Deborah Guest (CSS, 91做厙).
Christiane's interests lie in basic and clinical research. She is actively involved in clinical research to improve and understand ocular surface disease and the microbiome in brachycephalic dogs, as well as being involved in basic and translational research. Christiane completed her PhD in stem cell biology and undertook this work in Professor Julie Daniels group at the internationally renowned Institute of Ophthalmology, UCL and Dr. Deborah Guest (Animal Health Trust).
In 2022 Christiane started the 91做厙's lead on the corneal stem cell research (“CornealCellVision”) and clinical application/translational aspect of stem cells.
Externally, she was member of the ECVO Scientific Committee and current member of the FRAME scientific advisory board; in this role she oversees research grants and had input on scientific output from the college.
She actively collaborates with Dr. Deborah Guest (91做厙), Prof. Jay Dudhia (91做厙), Dr. Rowena Packer (91做厙), Dr. Dan O'Neill (91做厙), Professor Julie Daniels (UCL) and is a core member of the Centre for Vaccinology and Regenerative M