Diego
Garcia Ayuso

Full Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology, Optometry, Otorhinolaryngology and Pathological Anatomy, where he has carried out his academic activity since 2009. He holds a degree in Optics and Optometry and obtained his PhD in 2011 with the distinction of European Doctorate. His doctoral thesis received two national awards. His research career has been developed as a member of the Experimental Ophthalmology Research Group. He has completed five international research stays at leading institutions such as the Institute of Ophthalmology (London) and the Institut de la Vision (Paris). He is the author of 58 scientific articles published in high-impact journals (70% in Q1, several D1), which have received more than 1,600 citations, with an h-index of 28, and he has been included in the Global Optometrist Top 200 Research Ranking. He has participated in 14 competitive research projects, acting as principal investigator in four of them, and holds two officially recognized six-year research periods (sexenios). He is currently Principal Investigator of a competitive Excellence Research Group grant funded by the Region of Murcia, a distinction awarded to consolidated research teams with outstanding scientific performance. He has supervised four doctoral theses and serves as academic editor for international scientific journals. He is currently Principal Investigator of the Clinical and Experimental Optometry Research Group. In the area of knowledge transfer, he has participated in six research contracts with companies, acting as principal investigator in three. In addition, he has published outreach articles in The Conversation and has taken part in the public lecture series “The UMU and Scientific Culture”. Since May 2018, he has served as Student Coordinator at the University of Murcia (Vice-Rectorate for Students and Employability). He is a member of the Curriculum Evaluation by Compensation Committee and the Scholarship Selection Committee, and has carried out academic coordination duties in undergraduate and master’s degree programmes. He has also served as chair and member of doctoral thesis committees and participated in academic and evaluation committees. He acts as a reviewer for national and international agencies, including Unibasq, ACSUCYL and FONCyT (Argentina). As a lecturer, he has more than fifteen years of teaching experience, with two recognized five-year teaching periods (quinquenios) and an Excellent DOCENTIA evaluation (2025). He has supervised 67 Bachelor’s theses (TFG) and 11 Master’s theses (TFM) and actively participates in teaching innovation projects.