Ruth van Nispen (Associate professor at the department of Ophthalmology at Amsterdam UMC), has a background in psychology and epidemiology. She obtained a PhD degree in 2009 from the Faculty of Medicine of the VU University on the topic of longitudinal measurement of the older patient’s vision-related quality of life. Ruth manages the Low Vision Research group and is responsible for PhD candidates, junior researchers, postdocs and medical students. She has been publishing on the topics of evidence based rehabilitation for the visually impaired, psychological functioning and has performed psychometric studies on vision-related quality of life, reading and participation.
The focus of her research is on enhancing care in the field of low vision rehabilitation, in order to improve participation and quality of life in severely visually impaired patients. Apart from research, Ruth coordinates education and scientific internships at the ophthalmology department for medical students and she was chair of the PhD committee of the Amsterdam Public Health research institute for several years. Currently she chairs the WHO Vision 2020 Netherlands organization, which strives to eliminate blindness and visual impairment, especially in vulnerable groups in society.