Professor William Ayliffe

Professor William Ayliffe is an internationally renowned Consultant Ophthalmologist. He is an Emeritus Professor of Medicine & Biology at Gresham College and formerly Honorary Professor of Vision at City University. He sees patients at Lister Hospital Sydney Street, AccuVision The Eye Clinic, BMI Shirley Oaks Hospital and Spire St Anthony’s Hospital.

He graduated with a first in Immunology at Imperial College London and qualified in medicine at St. Bartholomew's Hospital London. Following this he completed his postgraduate training in in Ophthalmology at Manchester, Bristol, Oxford and Harvard Universities. He completed his PhD thesis on mechanisms of corneal transplant failure.

Professor Ayliffe specialises in inflammatory eye diseases and corneal and cataract surgery. He has performed thousands of restorative operations and was a pioneer for micro-incision surgery using sub 2mm incisions and the use of realistic iris prosthetic implants for badly damaged eyes.

He has developed a local and tertiary referral service for cornea, uveitis and inflammatory eye disease. He has also worked in a number of emerging economies around the globe and with ORBIS, the international flying eye hospital.

Outside of his work as a clinician and teacher, Professor Ayliffe continues to carry out research into the prevention of blindness.