Mrs Barnes qualified from Guys, Kings and St Thomas' Medical School, London in 2002.
After doing a number of senior house officer posts in Cambridge and London (including neurology and neurosurgery), she undertook specialist ophthalmology registrar training in Oxford. In 2015, Mrs Barnes furthered her training with a sub-specialist paediatric ophthalmology fellowship in Perth, Western Australia as the Joyce Henderson Fellow. She returned to the West country where she grew up, to take up the appointment of consultant ophthalmic surgeon at Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton, from September 2015.
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Subspecialty interests include paediatric ophthalmology, adult eye movement disorders and strabismus, neuro-ophthalmology and cataract surgery. She enjoys teaching both undergraduates and postgraduates.
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She lives locally with her husband, a GP, and their two boys. Outside medicine, she particularly enjoys singing, swimming, dog walks and spending time with family.