Ophthalmic Surgeon and Physician

Dr Neil Sharma is a Sydney-based Medical Retina Specialist and ophthalmic surgeon. His specialist interests include cataract surgery, macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, retinal vein occlusions central serous retinopathy (CSR)and other medical retinal conditions.

In addition, Dr Neil Sharma treats patients with general ophthalmology conditions such as dry eye disease, blepharitis, eye emergencies and glaucoma. He is as an independent specialist adviser and court specialist expert witness for Transport for NSW regarding private and commercial vehicle driving licence assessments, and is a Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) Designated Aviation Ophthalmologist (DAO).

Clinical Appointments & Professional Service

Eye and Retina Specialists Sydney and Staff-Specialist Ophthalmologist, Westmead Hospital

Since 2012, Dr Neil Sharma has been a Staff Specialist Ophthalmologist at Westmead Hospital, where he performs public cataract surgeries and supervises RANZCO-accredited advanced training registrars. He holds academic appointments as a Clinical Senior Lecturer at the University of Sydney (Westmead Clinical School) and the University of Wollongong (Graduate School of Medicine).

Dr Sharma is a Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (RANZCO) and a member of key local and international societies, including the Australian and New Zealand Society of Retinal Specialists (ANZSRS), the American Society of Retina Specialists (ASRS), the European Society of Retinal Specialists (EURETINA), the Australian Medical Association (AMA) and the Australasian Society of Aerospace Medicine (ASAM). He has served on the RANZCO Code of Conduct Committee (2013–2019), the RANZCO Public Health Committee (2014–2017), and the RANZCO Visual Standards Committee.

Research , Publications and Presentations

Dr Neil Sharma has authored more than 40 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters spanning cataract surgery, medical retina, diabetic retinopathy, retinal vascular disease, neuro-ophthalmology, ocular inflammation and public health ophthalmology. His work has been published in leading journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, American Journal of Ophthalmology, Eye, Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology, Australian Journal of General Practice, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Surgery and Clinical and Experimental Optometry.

Neil has presented research and lectures at national and international scientific meetings including the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (RANZCO) Annual Scientific Congress, the Australian and New Zealand Society of Retinal Specialists (ANZSRS), the Neuro-Ophthalmology Society of Australia, the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) in the United States and at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust in the United Kingdom. A research project supervised by Neil and presented at the 2023 RANZCO National Conference received the Australian Vision Research (AVR) Best Paper Award.

Neil regularly contributes to continuing professional development programs for optometrists and general practitioners. He has delivered invited presentations at the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) National Conference, educational events organised by Optometry NSW/ACT and Optometry Australia, and numerous professional education meetings. Dr Sharma and Eye and Retina Specialist regularly host educational evenings for local general practitioners and optometrists.

Dr Neil Sharma has served as a peer reviewer for medical journals including Australian Family Physician, Australian Journal of General Practice, Emergency Medicine Australasia and the Australian Journal of Rural Health.

Publication List

A chronological repository of Dr Neil Sharma’s peer-reviewed papers, citations, and journal impact metrics is available via his external profiles on [Google Scholar] and [ORCID].

Leadership, Innovation and Workplace Safety

In his work at Eye and Retina Specialists, Dr Neil Sharma and his team have received recognition for innovation, leadership and workplace health and safety within healthcare.

These include:

Winner of the SafeWork Award NSW for best Metropolitan Small Business workplace response to COVID-19
Winner of the City of Sydney Excellence in Innovation Award
Winner of the City of Sydney Outstanding Business Leader Award
Finalist in the Australian Workplace Health and Safety Awards celebrating excellence in workplace health and safety
State Finalist NSW Business Awards for Excellence in Innovation
Highly Commended NSCA Foundation/GIO National Safety Awards of Excellence for best solution to a workplace WHS risk (small to medium business)

Teaching, Mentoring and Health Education

Dr Neil Sharma has a longstanding commitment to medical education and professional development. He regularly teaches medical students, junior doctors and RANZCO-accredited ophthalmology trainees through in clinical and surgical settings. He supervises students and collaborates with colleagues in research projects, hosts elective medical students and has been involved in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching through university-affiliated activities with the University of Sydney, University of New South Wales and University of Wollongong.

Neil is regularly involved in supervising and mentoring international health science students from the United States who are interested in pursuing a career in medicine. He has been involved in the RANZCO mentor program and has been a regular invited guest to speak at career and mentoring evenings at the University of New South Wales and Sydney Grammar School.

Dr Neil Sharma is actively involved in continuing professional education. He has delivered educational presentations for general practitioners, optometrists and other healthcare professionals through clinical education evenings and professional development events. He presents at community education programs for patient advocacy organisations, including Glaucoma Australia on topics such as eye health, driving standards and fitness to drive. Neil regularly participates in public eye health education through radio and media appearances. He has been a member of patient advocacy groups including Glaucoma Australia and the Macular Disease Foundation.

As part of his interest in public health education, Dr Sharma has been a regular invited guest speaker on eye health segments for more than a decade appearing across the Macquarie Radio Network, including stations 2GB Sydney and 4BC Brisbane since 2015.

Subspeciality Fellowship Training

Macquarie University Hospital, Australian School of Advanced Medicine, University of Sydney & Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust

After completing his specialist training at Sydney Eye Hospital, Neil undertook a fellowship in general ophthalmology at the Australian School of Advanced Medicine and Macquarie University Hospital working under the guidance of Professor Stuart Graham and Dr Ross Benger (Head of Oculoplastics, Sydney Eye Hospital). During this time, Dr Sharma undertook and graduated with a Master of Medicine (Cataract and Refractive Surgery) from the University of Sydney studying cataract surgery, intraocular lens technology, phakic intraocular lens surgery and laser eye surgery.

Neil moved to the United Kingdom where he completed further sub-specialist training as as the Senior Clinical Fellow in Medical Retina at the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. He was awarded a RANZCO Eye Foundation Medical Retina Scholarship for research at Westmead Hospital and in Cambridge. Dr Sharma worked at Addenbrooke's Hospital and Royal Papworth Hospital. under the guidance of retinal consultants Mr Douglas Newman and Mr Jong Min Ong. Neil was actively involved in the training of ophthalmology trainees from the Royal College of Ophthalmologists and teaching students from the University of Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin University.

His fellowship training included the management of complex macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, retinal vein occlusions, central serous retinopathy and other retinal disorders. He gained experience in cataract surgery in patients with co-existing retinal disease, diabetic retinopathy screening and treatment, advanced intravitreal injection techniques, retinal laser therapies, wide-field angiography and photodynamic therapy (PDT).

Post-Graduate Specialist Training

Sydney Eye Hospitals Network

Dr Neil Sharma undertook his five-year specialist ophthalmology training as a registrar working in the Sydney Eye Hospital network.

He gained clinical and microsurgical experience across major tertiary teaching hospitals in New South Wales and the Northern Territory. His rotations included Sydney Eye Hospital, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (RPA), Prince of Wales Hospital, St George Hospital, Royal North Shore Hospital, Westmead Hospital, Bankstown Hospital and Concord General Hospital. He also undertook two rotations at Royal Darwin Hospital and provided ophthalmic care to remote Indigenous communities.

Undergraduate Training & Early Career

University of New South Wales (UNSW), Royal Prince Alfred Hospital & Sydney Grammar School

Dr Neil Sharma completed his 6-year undergraduate medical training at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), graduating with Honours in Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery. He concurrently undertook a Master of Public Health (MPH) at UNSW. Dr Sharma undertook a Research Scholarship at the Prince of Wales Hospital Diabetes Transplant Unit under Professor Bernie E Tuch. He was awarded the RANZCO Ophthalmology Prize and Medal and the Department of Health Rural General Practice Prize.

Neil worked at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (RPA) as an Intern, Resident Medical Officer (RMO), and Senior Resident Medical Officer (SRMO). He was awarded the prestigious RPA Patron's Prize for best research. Prior to this during his secondary education,Neil was awarded the NSW Premier's Certificate for Excellence in the Higher School Certificate for Outstanding Performance in All Courses studied, the Premier's Award and Medal for Excellence for Economics and the Australian Students Prize in National Recognition of Outstanding Achievement in Secondary Education.