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Portrait of Dr Juan Cano Parra

Dr Juan Cano Parra

Cataract and refractive surgery · Medical Director of the Advanced Eye Surgery Institute · Consultant Ophthalmologist at Badalona Municipal Hospital

  • Cataract and refractive surgery
  • MD, PhD (cum laude)
  • Arruga Prize 2006
  • Doctoralia Award 2021
  • Over 30 years in practice
110papers published
in medical journals
90indexed
communications
36books and
book chapters
135conference
presentations
14clinical trials
and studies
10awards
and grants
Current practice

Cataract and refractive surgery

This is where most of his surgical work at ICOA is focused today.

Cataract surgery

Phacoemulsification under topical anaesthesia: a day-case procedure lasting around eight minutes, with no sutures and rapid visual recovery. The intraocular lens is chosen for each patient and can be multifocal, so the same operation also corrects ageing eyesight.

More about cataracts

Refractive surgery

LASIK laser correction of myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism, always preceded by a full corneal assessment: topography, pachymetry and aberrometry. For presbyopia, blended vision laser or a multifocal intraocular lens, depending on the case.

More about refractive errors
About him

A career devoted to ophthalmology

Dr Juan Cano Parra graduated in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Barcelona and trained as an ophthalmologist at La Fe University Hospital in Valencia, one of Spain's leading eye units, where he rotated through all nine subspecialties and operated in each of them.

A doctorate cum laude with a distinction prize, he has since combined clinic and theatre with research and university teaching. He has directed ICOA since 2006 and has been a consultant ophthalmologist at Badalona Municipal Hospital since 1995.

His work today is centred on the operating theatre: cataract and refractive surgery are the core of his practice at ICOA. He was among the first to introduce phacoemulsification at Badalona Municipal Hospital and has been operating on the lens and cornea ever since.

Over the course of his career he also pursued an intensive research line in uveitis and ocular inflammation, now concluded, which accounts for much of his output of more than a hundred published papers.

Career

From Bellvitge to the directorship of ICOA

  1. 1990

    Graduated in Medicine and Surgery

    Faculty of Medicine, Bellvitge Teaching Unit, University of Barcelona. Ranked 298th in the national MIR specialty entrance examination.

  2. 1991–94

    Ophthalmology residency at La Fe

    La Fe University Hospital, Valencia, rotating through all nine sections of the department: cornea and refractive surgery, glaucoma, uveitis, intraocular lenses, retina, oculoplastics, neuro-ophthalmology, strabismus and paediatric ophthalmology.

  3. 1994

    Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Miami

    Clinical observership in the Cornea and Uveitis service at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute (University of Miami), under Professor William W. Culbertson.

  4. 1994

    Doctorate awarded cum laude

    Thesis on new drugs in proliferative vitreoretinopathy, supervised by Dr José L. Menezo and Dr Manuel Díaz-Llopis. Awarded the University of Valencia's distinction prize for the best doctoral thesis in 1996.

  5. 1995

    Consultant at Badalona Municipal Hospital

    Consultant ophthalmologist since March 1995. He introduced phacoemulsification cataract surgery to the hospital and contributed to the running of the department and its teaching committee.

  6. 2006

    Medical Director of ICOA

    Medical directorship of the Advanced Eye Surgery Institute in Barcelona. That same year he received the Arruga Prize from the Spanish Society of Ophthalmology.

  7. 2021

    Doctoralia Award

    Voted second-best ophthalmologist in Spain by patients and fellow ophthalmologists.

  8. Today

    Focused on cataract and refractive surgery

    His practice centres on lens and corneal surgery at ICOA, with surgical experience accumulated at Hospital de Barcelona (SCIAS), Hospital Delfos, Hospital de Mataró, Policlínica de Granollers, Clínica Onyar in Girona and Badalona Municipal Hospital.

In 2006 he received the Arruga Prize, awarded by the Spanish Society of Ophthalmology to the Spanish ophthalmologist under 40 with the strongest curriculum vitae. Fifteen years later, patients and fellow ophthalmologists voted him second-best ophthalmologist in Spain in the 2021 Doctoralia Awards.

Spanish Society of Ophthalmology · Doctoralia
Areas of practice

The rest of his clinical work

Alongside cataract and refractive surgery, he sees and operates on patients in these areas.

Presbyopia and multifocal lenses

Blended vision laser and multifocal intraocular lenses, to stop depending on reading glasses.

Cornea

Corneal transplantation, pterygium and ocular surface disease, with topography and pachymetry.

Glaucoma

Early diagnosis, medical treatment, Argon laser and surgery when drops are not enough.

Retina and vitreoretinal disease

Vitrectomy and scleral surgery, macular degeneration and intravitreal treatments.

General ophthalmology

Full eye examinations with refraction, tonometry and fundus assessment, including paediatric eye checks.

Research career

Lines he pursued earlier in his career

Fields in which he researched and published over the years, and which account for much of his scientific record.

  • Uveitis and ocular inflammationHis major research line for many years: aetiological diagnosis, laboratory testing and drug-induced uveitis. He coordinated multicentre studies, directed courses at national congresses and published much of his work in this field.
  • Ocular allergy and the ocular surfacePrincipal investigator in several clinical trials of topical antihistamines and allergic conjunctivitis.
  • Proliferative vitreoretinopathyThe subject of his doctoral thesis, on the efficacy and toxicity of new drugs in an experimental model.
Curriculum vitae

The detail, section by section

Select a tab to see its contents.

Publications

  • 64 papers as first author in Spanish journalsAnnals d'Oftalmologia, Archivos de la Sociedad Española de Oftalmología and others.
  • 31 papers as co-author in Spanish journals
  • 15 papers in international journalsIncluding the British Journal of Ophthalmology, with 7 papers as first author.
  • 45 indexed national communicationsPublished in the supplement of Archivos de la Sociedad Española de Oftalmología.
  • 45 indexed international communications21 as first author, many of them at the ARVO congress.
  • 2 books and 35 book chaptersIncluding chapters in works of the Spanish Society of Ophthalmology and one book also published in English.
  • 135 conference papers and presentations119 national and 16 international, not indexed in journals.

Teaching

  • University of Valencia · Faculty of MedicineAssociate professor running ophthalmology seminars for fourth-year students (1993).
  • University of Valencia · Faculty of PhysicsAssociate professor in the Optics department, appointed by competitive examination, 1997–98.
  • Postgraduate courses for optometristsFive courses on «Principles of Ocular Pathology and Pharmacology» (1993–1994).
  • Doctoral coursesFive continuing-education courses in ophthalmology for the Surgery department of the University of Valencia (1992–1996).
  • Training family doctorsOphthalmology tutor for family medicine residents at Badalona Municipal Hospital (1996–2001).
  • Thesis supervisionCo-supervisor of two doctoral theses: «PCR in ophthalmology» and a study of high-resolution perimetry.
  • University of BarcelonaInternal student in the Histology department, appointed by competitive examination (1985), assisting with practical classes and research projects.

Research

  • 14 clinical trials and studiesPrincipal investigator in five of them, covering ocular allergy, antibiotic prophylaxis in cataract surgery and glaucoma treatment.
  • Three Health Research Fund projectsAb interno sclerostomy with diode laser, variable-power intraocular lenses and foscarnet iontophoresis.
  • National coordinator of the GEMU groupMulticentre study of the ophthalmic manifestations of AIDS in Spain (1990–92), and member of the scientific committee of its congresses between 2003 and 2007.
  • Experimental researchCristóbal Garrigosa Memorial grants (1995, 1996 and 1997) for experimental surgery at the Municipal Institute of Medical Research in Barcelona.
  • Uveitis: his research line for many yearsCoordination of multicentre studies, direction of courses at the congresses of the Spanish Society of Ophthalmology, and most of his publications. This chapter of his research career is now closed.
  • 16 courses and round tables directedAt congresses of the Spanish Society of Ophthalmology, the Catalan Society of Ophthalmology and GEMU.

Awards and grants

  • Doctoralia Award 2021Second-best ophthalmologist in Spain, as voted by patients and fellow professionals.
  • Arruga Prize 2006Awarded to the Spanish ophthalmologist under 40 with the strongest curriculum vitae, presented at the national congress of the Spanish Society of Ophthalmology.
  • Doctoral distinction prize, 1996University of Valencia, for the best doctoral thesis in the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry.
  • Menarini Prize, runner-up, 1999For the best doctoral thesis at the University of Valencia over the previous five years.
  • Dr Juan Pallarés Prize, 1993 and 1997For ophthalmic research, awarded by the Valencian Medical Institute.
  • First prize for best free paperSECOIR Congress, Tenerife 2005.
  • Badalona Serveis Assistencials research prize, 2003For the best publication of the year.
  • Catalan Society of Ophthalmology grant, 1994
  • Cristóbal Garrigosa Memorial grant, 1995–1997
  • Second prize, artistic photography70th Congress of the Spanish Society of Ophthalmology, Tenerife 1994.

Memberships

  • American Academy of OphthalmologyMember in training.
  • ARVOAssociation for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology.
  • International Ocular Inflammation Society
  • Spanish Society of OphthalmologyMember since 1993 and reviewer for the journal Archivos SEO between 1996 and 2003.
  • Catalan Society of OphthalmologyMember since 1991.
  • Academy of Medical Sciences of Catalonia and the Balearic Islands

Languages: Spanish · Catalan · English · French.

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