The Eye Consultants
Mr Christopher Blyth BSC (hons), MBChB (hons), FRCOphth
Consultant Ophthalmologist
Mr Blyth graduated from Liverpool University in 1988. He trained in Manchester, north Wales and Liverpool, first coming to south Wales in 1994. His final year of training was spent at Moorfields Eye Hospital. He became a consultant post at Royal Gwent Hospital on 1 March 1999. He specialises in medical retinal diseases, especially age-related macular degeneration and small incision cataract surgery.
Over the years Mr Blyth has taken on many professional roles. These included director of the Welsh Ophthalmology Training Programme (2000-6), Regional Advisor for the Royal College of Ophthalmologists (2006-12), Chairman of the Welsh Retina Group (2006-13), Member of Royal College of Ophthalmologists Council representing Wales (2013-2016), Member of Royal College of Ophthalmologists Professional Standards Committee (2013-16). He also served as Clinical Director of the eye department (2012-2021).
Outside work he enjoys time with his family, walking in the Gwent countryside, photography and reading.
Mrs Rita Sengupta
Consultant Ophthalmologist
Ms Rita Sengupta is a Consultant Ophthalmologist with a specialist interest in Medical Retina.
Born in London, she studied medicine at Leicester University, qualifying as a doctor in 1992.
Rita embarked upon a career in Ophthalmology and completed her Higher Surgical Ophthalmic training in South Wales. Following a Fellowship in Medical Retina at the prestigious Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, she was appointed as Consultant Ophthalmologist at The Royal Gwent Hospital in July 2005. She has been a fellow of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists since August 1998.
She is trained in all aspects of Medical Retina including age-related macular degeneration, retinal vascular disorders as well as small-incision cataract surgery.
Rita has a keen interest in diabetic retinopathy and has been the Clinical Lead for Diabetic Retinopathy Services for the last 14 years.
Outside of work Rita is a keen rambler and enjoys exploring the Welsh countryside with her family.
Ms Madhu Mitra
Consultant Ophthalmologist
Ms Madhu Mitra is a Consultant Ophthalmologist with special interest in Medical Retina and Uveitis. She completed Specialist Registrar training from Wales Deanery and fellowship in Medical Retina and Ocular Inflammation from University Hospitals Bristol before taking up the Consultant post in Aneurin Bevan Health Board in 2010. Her work involves general Ophthalmology, Retinal pathologies, Ocular Inflammatory disorders and cataract surgeries. She has helped set up the Referral Refinement pathway for Wet AMD and runs the Rapid Access wet AMD Treatment Service at the Royal Gwent Hospital. She has helped expand the Retina service with the Ophthalmic Diagnostic and Treatment Centre for anti-VEGF treatment for Retinal diseases. She is the ABHB Lead for Ocular Inflammatory diseases and works closely with other specialities for management of vision threatening posterior Uveitis. Ms Mitra is the Educational Supervisor and College Tutor for the Ophthalmology trainees working in the Health Board and works closely with the Specialist Training Committee, Wales Deanery and Royal College of Ophthalmologist to this effect.
Outside work she enjoys family life in Cardiff, with interests including dance, drama, walking and reading. She is a trained Indian Classical dancer, loves teaching children and has organised many Indo-Welsh cultural programmes in Cardiff. As Executive Committee member of few charitable organisations she is involved in charitable fund raising for survivors of natural disaster in UK and India.
Mr Michael Andrew Roberts
Consultant Ophthalmologist
Andrew is a Consultant Ophthalmologist at Aneurin Bevan Health Board. Originally from North Wales, he graduated from Bristol University in 1998 with degrees in both Medicine and Anatomy. Before starting his Ophthalmology training he worked in hospital medicine in Sydney, Australia and subsequently at Oxford University teaching Anatomy. His Ophthalmology training was based in South West England and South Wales followed by a specialist fellowship in Oculoplastic, Lacrimal and Orbital Surgery at Moorfields Eye Hospital, London where he was trained by leading experts in this field. Andrew returned to South Wales in 2011 taking up a consultant position at Aneurin Bevan Health Board. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists. His areas of expertise include small incision cataract surgery, oculoplastic surgery and lacrimal problems.
Outside work, Mr Roberts enjoys flyfishing and loves being on the River Usk in free time with his three young children.
Miss Ebube Obi
Consultant Ophthalmologist
Miss Obi trained at the Royal Free Hospital and University College School of Medicine, University College London, qualifying in 2001 with distinctions in both her medical degree and an intercalated degree in Anatomy and Developmental Biology.
She began specialist training in ophthalmology in 2004, gaining extensive experience across each of the subspecialties within ophthalmology in England, Wales and Scotland. During training she gained the following memberships - MRCSEd and MRCOphth (Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, London). At the end of her specialist training became a Fellow of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, London, in 2013 – FRCOphth. She received her Certificate of Completion of Specialist Training in 2014.
Miss Obi has completed two advanced higher specialist surgical fellowships in oculoplastic, lacrimal and orbital surgery — one at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, and one across the Royal Berkshire Hospital and the Prince Charles Eye Unit, Windsor.
She joined Aneurin Bevan University Health Board in November 2016, where she established its first Botox service and its first endonasal lacrimal service — the latter being the first ophthalmic endonasal lacrimal service of its kind in Wales.
She is an Honorary Lecturer at Cardiff University and is actively involved in teaching undergraduates. In 2024 she was nominated for and recognised for her innovative work by the Centre for Medical Education Recognition, Cardiff University School of Medicine.
Miss Obi is active in both clinical and academic research. Her main research interests are digital healthcare, education and artificial intelligence in ophthalmology. She is a Bevan Exemplar and has authored and published books, ophthalmic digital resources, as well as numerous peer-reviewed research papers.
She has received multiple prizes and awards — including distinctions, merits, best-presenter recognitions and more — the most recent in 2024 from Cardiff University School of Medicine. Her areas of expertise include cataract surgery; oculoplastic, lacrimal and orbital surgery; and general ophthalmology and tele-ophthalmology.
In her free time, she enjoys the company of her husband and family, Christian activities, and taking in the beautiful nature we are blessed with here in Wales!
Mr Ryan Davies
Consultant Ophthalmologist
Mr Ryan Davies is a Consultant Ophthalmologist, with a specialist interest in paediatric ophthalmology and strabismus. He graduated from the University of Wales college of Medicine with honours in 2008. During that time he also was awarded an intercalated degree in Anatomical sciences. He completed his post graduate foundation training in Cardiff prior to working as a Registrar in emergency medicine in Sydney, Australia. He then returned to Wales to complete specialist training in Ophthalmology and is now a Fellow of the Royal College. Following completion of training he carried out a fellowship at the Manchester Royal Eye Hospital. Here he gained experience in all areas of paediatric ophthalmology and strabismus, including intra-ocular surgery in children with congenital cataracts and glaucoma, complex strabismus, genetics, uveitis and retinopathy of prematurity. In 2019 he was appointed as a substantive consultant at the Royal Gwent Hospital, Newport. Mr Davies has published a number of research projects, including being awarded a research grant for a national project on the management of congenital dacryocystocoele, in conjunction with the British Ophthalmological Surveillance Unit (BOSU). He has also published various book chapters on topics within Ophthalmology. Mr Davies has a keen interest in medical education and has recently been appointed an examiner of the Royal College of Ophthalmology.
Ms Rhianon Reynolds
Consultant Ophthalmologist
Rhianon Perrott-Reynolds qualified as an Optometrist with a degree from Cardiff University in 1997. Following a pre-registration year in Community optometry she undertook a full time PhD at Cardiff investigating ocular blood flow in patients with type 2 Diabetes. During this time she decided to start a medical career and graduated with honours from Cardiff University medical school. Her training in Ophthalmology started in the Wales Deanery in 2010 and after completion of training and a fellowship in Medical Retina and Uveitis at Bristol eye hospital Rhianon took up a consultant post with Aneurin Bevan at the start of 2020. Her main clinical interest is Medical retina and Retinal imaging, Uveitis and cataract surgery.
Rhianon also holds a senior lecturer post at Cardiff University School of Vision science where she supervises PhD students in the Translational Macular Research Group and was a co-applicant on a £1.7M grant to establish the UK’s first Centre for Vision Services Research which is hosted by the University. She has also won large grants to investigate eyecare pathways and has been a co-applicant on many others, being involved with over £2.5M successful grants in recent years. Rhianon is often requested to be part of steering committees and advisory boards across the UK. She has been an invited speaker in international conferences and has written chapters in Ophthalmic textbooks.
Rhianon is a founding committee member and trustee for the British and Eire Association of Medical retina Specialist (BEAMS), has served on the Council of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists as Llywydd for Wales and is the Current National Clinical Lead for Ophthalmology in NHS Wales. Within ABUHB she is the Assistant Divisional Director for Surgery.
Ms Bushra Thajudeen
Consultant Ophthalmologist
Ms Bushra Thajudeen is a consultant ophthalmologist and the Clinical Director of Ophthalmology for Aneurin Bevan Health board. She is also the consultant lead for corneal specialty. She specialises in Corneal diseases, glaucoma management and complex anterior segment surgery.
After graduating from Trivandrum medical college, India, she completed her Masters degree in Ophthalmology there before moving to the UK. She completed specialist training within the Wales deanery. She has dual fellowships, Glaucoma fellowship from Bristol university health board and Corneal fellowship from Nottingham university health board. She started as consultant Ophthalmologist in Aneurin Bevan health board in 2020. She set up the corneal cross linking service in 2022 and was presented the Highly commended award for innovation, research and training at the 2025 Aneurin Bevan staff recognition awards.
She specialises in management of complex corneal conditions and performs different types of anterior segment surgeries like full thickness and partial thickness corneal grafts, fixation of dislocated lenses, repair of complex trauma, artificial iris implantation, keratoconus management etc. Her Glaucoma expertise include management of complex glaucoma, glaucoma surgeries like trabeculectomy, tube shunt implantation and minimally invasive glaucoma surgeries (MIGS). She is actively involved in training doctors, nurses and optometrists. She is a senior lecturer at Cardiff university’s school of optometry and vision sciences.
Outside her medical career, she is an accomplished artist who works with oil and acrylic paintings and has provided medical illustrations for multiple ophthalmology text books. She is also trained in Indian classical dance and enjoys performing dance forms at various events.
Miss Tina Parmar
Consultant Ophthalmologist
Miss Parmar qualified with a degree in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Birmingham in 2008. She went on to do anatomy demonstrating at the University and began her career in Ophthalmology as a junior glaucoma fellow at the Birmingham and Midland Eye Centre. She completed her Registrar training within the Wales Deanery where she attained her Fellowship of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists. She has now returned as our most recently appointed Consultant in the Aneurin Bevan Health Board following fellowship subspeciality training in lids, lacrimal and orbital surgery at both Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge, and the Leicester Royal Infirmary.
During her training, Miss Parmar also achieved a MSc in Functional and Clinical Anatomy from the University of Birmingham as well a certificate for teaching in higher education. She has a passion for teaching and is also the examinations lead for Wales. She has also published journal articles and book chapters and presented at international meetings.
Outside of work she is an avid gym goer to balance out her love of food and loves to travel. She also dabbles in a bit of crafting.
Mr Jonathan Kirk
Consultant Ophthalmologist
Mr Jonathan Kirk is a consultant ophthalmologist and clinical lead for the glaucoma service at Aneurin Bevan University Health Board.
Since appointment as consultant in 2022, Mr Kirk has introduced a range of new glaucoma procedures at Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, including minimally-invasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS) procedures, and the latest glaucoma shunt devices, with a focus on tailored glaucoma care. He has overseen introduction of the Glaucoma Virtual Hub, widening access to glaucoma surveillance and reducing clinic waiting times, and has promoted optometrist roles within the hospital glaucoma service including laser treatment.
Mr Kirk graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 2010 and undertook training in Ophthalmology in the South West region including Bristol and Cheltenham. He carried out further sub-specialist training in glaucoma surgery, at both Bristol Eye Hospital and through the glaucoma clinical fellowship programme at Manchester Royal Eye Hospital.
Mr Kirk’s areas of interest include the surgical management of glaucoma including trabeculectomy, glaucoma laser procedures including selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT), and surgical teaching. He is a trainer on the Surgical Skills Faculty of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists.
When not at work, Mr Kirk enjoys singing in a choir, outdoor swimming, and helping to lead a youth group.
Languages spoken: English, Portuguese, Italian.
Bhavana Sharma
Consultant Ophthalmologist
Ms Bhavana Sharma is a consultant Ophthalmologist with special interest in Medical Retina. She graduated from Banaras Hindu University following which she did her post graduate training in Ophthalmology (M.S) from BHU (India). She came to UK and completed her specialist training in Ophthalmology in Wales deanery in 2022 following which she did a fellowship in Medical Retina from the prestigious Moorfields eye hospital, London where she trained in all aspects of medical retina including Age related macular degeneration, retinal vascular diseases and diabetic retinopathy. She took up a consultant post with Aneurin Bevan in 2023.
Her main interest is Medical Retina, retinal imaging and cataract surgery. She has published journal articles, book chapter and presented in various meetings.
Outside work she likes spending time with her family, gardening and painting.
Mr Jan Sniatecki
Consultant Ophthalmologist
Mr Jan Sniatecki is a corneal consultant ophthalmologist at Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, specialising in corneal surgery and transplants, complex cataract procedures, ocular surface reconstruction.
He earned his medical degree from Poznan University of Medical Sciences in Poland and completed comprehensive ophthalmology training in Scotland and the Wessex Deanery, England. With extensive experience from a tertiary referral centre at University Hospital Southampton, he also undertook advanced corneal subspecialist training there.
He manages a broad spectrum of conditions, including cataracts, refractive errors (short-sightedness, long-sightedness, astigmatism, need for reading glasses), corneal infections, dry eye, keratoconus, pterygium, corneal dystrophies such as Fuchs endothelial dystrophy, alongside wide-range of general ophthalmology conditions and eye emergency care.
His research background includes retinal conditions, molecular biology, and the pharmacological mechanism of the eye at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany.
Mr Jan Sniatecki has contributed to multiple peer-reviewed studies on cataract surgery outcomes (South-East Scotland), corneal transplantations, and immune-mediated conditions affecting cornea like Stevens-Johnson syndrome (University Hospital Southampton), collaborating with leading UK researchers.
At Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, he delivers expert cornea and cataract care and is advancing innovative, less invasive treatments for keratoconus as alternatives to traditional corneal transplants.
Associate Specialists
Mrs Anita Prasad
Associate Specialist in Ophthalmology
Mrs Prasad is an Associate Specialist in the Ophthalmology Department at the Royal Gwent Hospital.
Mrs Prasad’s areas of interest are Medical Retina, Laser treatment, Oculoplastics. She is the laser treatment lead in the department, who provides laser training to Ophthalmology Registrars. Mrs Prasad was involved in the planning and delivery of Intra vitreal Anti- VEGF at the Austin Friar Treatment Centre- for AMD, DMO and RVO. Following this work, Mrs Prasad was nominated for an Award for Improving Patient Experience at the Austin Friar treatment Centre.