Dr Fernando José Palomar
Fernando José Palomar, Director of the Palomar Ophthalmology Centres, President of the Association of Hemianopic Patients and full member of the Royal European Academy of Doctors (READ), was invested as a Knight of the Order of the Way of St James during the celebration of the institution’s 30th General Chapter, held on 18 and 19 July in Santiago de Compostela and Melide. Also Knights and Dames of the Order are the full members Alfredo Rocafort, Maria Àngels Calvo, Jaume Llopis and Joaquim Gironella, as well as corresponding member Cecilio Venegas. The recently deceased full member Marita Souto was also a Commander of the Order.
The Order of the Way of St James, present in more than 40 countries, brings together prominent figures from the political, academic, business, judicial, healthcare and religious spheres, all united in the defence and promotion of the Way of St James as a World Heritage Site and in their commitment to the values that underpin the history of the Jacobean tradition: honour, justice, loyalty, humility, nobility and generosity. In doing so, it preserves the legacy of a centuries-old spiritual, cultural and humanistic tradition that forms part of the foundations of Europe. Among the initiatives supporting its foundational mission are publications and campaigns to encourage pilgrimages and strengthen links with the territories crossed by the Way of St James, as well as the dissemination of the cultural and ethnographic heritage of the different routes, thereby helping to promote cultural, religious and spiritual tourism.
The Order is today the largest international network of pilgrims and defenders of the Way, with thousands of members on every continent. Its cooperation agreements with numerous cultural and religious organisations also provide a platform for the development of shared solidarity projects connecting different territories and generations through the spirit of the centuries-old pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.
A former lecturer in the Department of Optometry at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Palomar is regarded internationally as a pioneer in the rehabilitation of complete homonymous hemianopia and sectoral visual field loss, as well as the creator of the first online visual therapy platform with visual neurorehabilitation programmes. He belongs to various national and international scientific societies and is the author of two reference works: “Neuro-Ophthalmology: Examination, Tests and Diagnosis” and “Treatment of Homonymous Hemianopia with Palomar Clip-On Prisms.”
