Malawi
For four years from 2008, Mr Dean lived and worked in rural Malawi, working at the Nkhoma Mission Hospital. Here he performed over 6,000 complex cataracts operations and hundreds of glaucoma surgeries. The region he was based was an area of extreme poverty, where more than 90% of the people are subsistence farmers and did not have the means to go to a hospital, let alone pay for surgery. It was up to the small but dedicated eye care team to go out and find those that needed help.
Mr Dean was even called by a veterinarian at the Lilongwe Wildlife Centre to go into town one Thursday afternoon to examine a one-eyed pseudophakic lioness named Bella, he made sure he was available for such an unusual request. Thankfully the patient was anesthetized for the examination.
Photo credits. Mr Andy Richards. Published CRST Global, April 2017. Photo credit Stefan Dofel.
Orbis and the Flying Eye Hospital
In 2018 Mr Dean joined Orbis as a faculty volunteer for the Flying Eye Hospital project in Bridgetown, Barbados.
He taught a dozen of the residents from all over the Caribbean surgical procedures in glaucoma and cataracts, both manual small incision surgery and the modern phacoemulsification technique using simulation.
University of Cape Town
Mr Dean carried out his PhD work in Cape Town, based at the Groote Schur Hospital as well as Kenya, the Republic of Tanzania, and Uganda. This was a stringent research project to validate the methodology of simulation training between 2017 and 2019 and resulted in the publication of two ground-breaking research papers: the world’s first randomised-controlled trials evaluating the efficacy of intense simulation-based surgical training for cataract and glaucoma surgery in East and Southern Africa.
More recently Mr Dean has been appointed Honorary Associate Professor and is leading a team to pioneer Africa’s first ever permanent university based modern ‘Phacoemulsification’ cataract surgery simulation training centre at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM)
Mr Dean continues to work with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) as Assistant Clinical Professor and has successfully obtained research and education grants worth more than £1.7 million in the past 8 years. He has published 40 international scientific papers, as well as a well-known international text book on eye surgery and an instructional video on complex advanced ‘sutureless ECCE’ cataract surgery that has had more than 11,000 views.
Published Scientific Papers
Roxanne Annoh et al. The impact of simulation-based trabeculectomy training on resident core surgical skill competency. Journal of Glaucoma. 2023. 32(1):57-64.
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Jacqueline Ramke, Jennifer Evans et al. Grand Challenges in global eye health: a global prioritisation process using Delphi method. The Lancet Health Longevity. 2022. 3,1; E31-E41.
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M. Scott Hickman, William H Dean, et al. Ophthalmic Telesurgery with a Low-Cost Smartphone Video System for Surgeon Self-Reflection and Remote Synchronous Consultation: A Qualitative and Quantitative Study. Telemedicine Reports, 2022. 3:1
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Samantha V Hunt, William H Dean, et al. Response to: Cost and time resourcing for ophthalmic simulation in the UK: a Royal College of Ophthalmologists’ National Survey of regional Simulation Leads in 2021. Eye. 2022, Oct;36(10)
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Yoshizaki M, Ramke J, et al How can we improve the quality of cataract services for all? A global scoping review. Clinical & Experimental Ophthalmology. 2021 Jul 21.
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Roxanne Annoh, Lena Morgon Banks, et al. Experiences and Perceptions of Ophthalmic Simulation-Based Surgical Education in Sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of Surgical Education. Journal of Surgical Education. 2021. May 2021 11;S1931-7204(21)00101-X.
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Matthew J Burton, Jacqueline Ramke, et al. The Lancet Global Health Commission on Global Eye Health: vision beyond 2020. The Lancet Global Health, 2021, ISSN 2214-109X.
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Alessandro Rabiolo, William H Dean, John Ferris, Andrew I McNaught. Re: Singh et al.: Trabeculectomy Must Survive!, Ophthalmology Glaucoma.2021;4:1-2
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Dean, WH, Buchan, J, Gichuhi S, et al. Simulation-based surgical education for glaucoma versus conventional training alone: the GLAucoma Simulated Surgery (GLASS) trial. A multicentre, multicountry, randomised controlled, investigator-masked educational intervention efficacy trial in Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. BJO. 2021;0:1-7.
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Dean WH, Gichuhi S, Buchan, JC et al Intense Simulation-Based Surgical Education for Manual Small-Incision Cataract Surgery. The Ophthalmic Learning and Improvement Initiative in Cataract Surgery Randomised Clinical Trial in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. JAMA Ophthalmology. 2021 Jan1;139(1):9-15.
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Dean WH, Buchan JC, Gichuhi S, Faal H, et al. Ophthalmology training in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review. Eye(Lond). 2020;Dec 15.
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Yoshizaki, Ramke J, Furtado JM et al Interventions to improve the quality of cataract services: protocol for a global scoping review. BMJ Open.2020;10:e036413.
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Dean WH, Gichuhi S, Buchan JC, et al Survey of ophthalmologists-in-training in Eastern, Central and Southern Africa: a regional focus on ophthalmic surgical education Wellcome Open Res. 2019, 4:187.
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Dean WH, Murray N, Buchan JC, et al Ophthalmic Simulated Surgical Competency Assessment Rubric for manual small-incision cataract surgery Journal of Cataract & Refractive Surgery. 2019 Sept;45(9):1252-57.
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Dean WH, Buchan J, Admassu F, et al Ophthalmic simulated surgical competency assessment rubric (Sim-OSSCAR) for trabeculectomy. BMJ Open Ophthalmology. 2019; Aug 18.
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Buchan JC, Dean WH, Ramke J, The inverse-research law of eye health. Eye (Lond). 2019; Jul 11.
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Dean WH, Grant S, McHugh J, et al Ophthalmology Specialist Trainee Survey in the United Kingdom. Eye (Lond). 2019; Feb 1.
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Dean W. Emergency management: vitreous loss. Community Eye Health. 2018;31(103):65.
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Dean W. Competency training: Using the ICO cataract rubric to learn and teach cataract surgery. Community Eye Health. 2018;31(102):44.
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Buchan JC, Dean WD, Foster A, Burton MJ. What are the priorities for improving cataract surgical outcomes in Africa? Results of a Delphi exercise. Int Ophthalmol. 2018 Aug;38(4):1409-1414.
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Oliver Bowes, William Dean, AD Borman. Recent subspecialty trends in ophthalmology consultant appointments. Eye (Lond). 2017 Jan;31(1):164-165.
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Lewallen S, Schmidt E, Jolley E, Lindfield R, Dean WH, et al. Factors affecting cataract surgical coverage and outcomes: a retrospective cross-sectional study of eye health systems in sub-Saharan Africa. BMC Ophthalmol. 2015;15(1):67.
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Deborah VanderVeen, Bharti Nihalani-Gangwani, Olumuyiwa Adebona, Will Dean, Benchmarks for outcome indicators in pediatric cataract surgery. JAAPOS. 2015. 19,4, 2015, e66, ISSN 1091-8531.
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William H Dean Quality of small incision cataract surgery. Community Eye Health. 2015;28(90):30-31.
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William H Dean, Justin C Sherwin, Ephraim Kambewa, et al. Addressing cataract in rural Malawi: the Nkhoma Eye Programme. Community Eye Health. 2014;27(85):6.
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Oliver Bowes, Archana Pradeep, Lik Thai Lim, Susannah Grant, William H Dean, et al; The Ophthalmic Trainees’ Group. The Fate of Ophthalmology Trainees in the UK - CCT Holders 2007 to 2010. Eye (Lond). 2014;28(11).
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Robert J Nutt, John L Clements, William H Dean. Ocular surface squamous neoplasia in HIV-positive and HIV-negative patients and response to 5-fluorouracil in Angola. Clinical Ophthalmology 2014 Dec 1;8:2435-40.
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William H Dean, Suzanne Turner, Andrew I McNaught. Secondary Glaucoma due to Chronic Scleritis: Trabeculectomy in Scleromalacia: A Case Report. Eye (Lond). 2014;28(1):104-6.
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Andrew Bastawrous, William H Dean, Justin C Sherwin. Blindness and Visual Impairment due to Age-Related Cataract in Sub-Saharan Africa in Recent Population-based Studies: A Review. British Journal of Ophthalmology. 2013 Oct;97(10):1237-43.
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Deborah K. Vanderveen, William H. Dean. Visual acuity after secondary intraocular lens implantation in pediatric aphakia. JAAPOS. 2013. 17,1. Pages e30-e31.
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T Tiong, S Borooah, J Msosa, W Dean et al. Clinicopathological review of ocular surface squamous neoplasia in Malawi British Journal of Ophthalmology. 2013 Apr;97(4):369-74.
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William H Dean, Paul Courtright, Colin Cook. Does training clinic nurses to test pinhole visual acuity as a screen for glaucoma increase glaucoma referrals to eye care professionals? A pilot study in Malawi. Ophthalmic Epidemiology. 2012;19(5):293-6.
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William H Dean, Justin C Sherwin, Stancellous Kumwenda, et al. Willingness to pay for cataract surgery in post-operative cataract patients in rural Malawi. Ophthalmic Epidemiology. 2012;19(5):265-71.
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Enjie Ibrahim, William H. Dean, Nicholas Price, et al. Perforating Corneal Ulceration in a Patient with Lung Metastatic Adenocarcinoma Treated with Gefitinib: A Case Report. Case Reports in Ophthalmological Medicine. 2012;10.
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Justin C Sherwin, William H Dean, Isabelle Schaefers, et al. Outcomes of manual small-incision cataract surgery using standard 22 dioptre intraocular lenses at Nkhoma Eye Hospital, Malawi. Int Ophthalmology. 2012 Aug;32(4):341-7.
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Justin C. Sherwin, Mark H. Reacher, William H. Dean, et al. Epidemiology of vitamin A deficiency and xerophthalmia in at-risk populations. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2012 Apr;106(4):205-14.
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William H. Dean, Daksha Patel, Justin C. Sherwin, et al. Follow-Up Survey of Cataract Surgical Coverage and Barriers to Cataract Surgery at Nkhoma, Malawi. Ophthalmic Epidemiology. 2011;18(4):171-8.
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Dean WH, Banda L, Kambewa ES, et al. Increased intraocular pressure on the first post-operative day following sutureless extracapsular cataract surgery in Africa. Eye (Lond). 2012 Feb;26(2):332.
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Justin C. Sherwin, William H. Dean, Nick Metcalfe. Screening for childhood blindness and visual impairment in a secondary school in rural Malawi. Eye (Lond). 2011 Feb;25(2):256-7
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J C Sherwin, W H Dean, N H Metcalfe. Causes of Blindness at Nkhoma Eye Hospital, Malawi. European Journal Ophthalmol. 2008;18(6):1002-1006.