ICO Winter Meeting & Montgomery Lecture 2026

Drinks & Canapes Reception

Looking with New Eyes: Inherited Retinal Degenerations - Where We Were, Where We Are, Where We’re Going

 Professor Paul Kenna
Former Medical Director, Research Foundation, Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital, Dublin

Mr. Paul Kenna, who trained at The Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital, Dublin, has devoted close to 40 years to clinical and genetic research in Inherited Retinal Degenerations (IRDs). Appointed as Senior Clinical Fellow in the laboratory of Professors Pete Humphries and G. Jane Farrar in Trinity College Dublin, and Medical Director of the Research Foundation at the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital, in 1988, his work in the characterisation of large Irish families with various forms of Retinitis Pigmentosa resulted in the identification of several novel disease-associated genes, including Rhodopsin, PRPH2, mitochondrial MTTS2, IMPDH1 and RPE65. Mr. Kenna set up the ISCEV- compliant Electro-diagnostic Service at the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital in 1990 and established the Ocular Genetics Service, currently directed by Ms. Emma Duignan. With Prof. Farrar he developed ‘Suppression and Replacement’ as a viable strategy for gene therapy of autosomal dominant forms of IRDs.

In 2010, in collaboration with the Ocular Genetics group at Trinity College Dublin, he initiated genetic screening of Irish IRD patients using Next Generation Sequencing. This was subsequently expanded to include patients on the island of Ireland, in collaboration with Mr. David Keegan and Ms. Julie Silvestri – Target 5000. He was involved in the diagnosis, characterisation and ultimate treatment in 2022 of the first Irish patient with bi-allelic RPE65 Leber Congenital Amaurosis to receive Luxturna™. After 50 years in the practice of medicine, Mr. Kenna retired in July 2026.