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Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple Professor in Ophthalmology

Professor Aung Tin

Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple Professor in Ophthalmology, March 2018 - Current

Chair, Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences Academic Clinical Program, Duke-NUS Medical School

Chief Executive Officer/Medical Director, Singapore National Eye Centre

Group Director, Research (Scientific), SingHealth

Chairman of Board, Singapore Eye Research Institute

Senior Consultant, Glaucoma Department, Singapore National Eye Centre


Unlocking Mysteries of Glaucoma: From Silent Threat to Early Detection
When Professor Aung started his specialist training in ophthalmology in the mid-1990s, not much was known about glaucoma. This was especially true for angle closure glaucoma, which is a form of glaucoma that is much more common in East Asians than Caucasians. "I knew that any progress I made could impact the lives of many people in Singapore and the region," he says.

Glaucoma causes a buildup of pressure in the eye which damages the optic nerve. This 'silent' disease is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide and in Singapore, where more than 3.2% of the Chinese population aged 40 years and above has the disease. "Glaucoma can be treated if diagnosed in the early stages but most patients don't know they have the disease and only seek help when they have narrow tunnel vision left," says Professor Aung, adding, "Unfortunately, at this advanced stage there is little we can do to save their sight so I wanted to improve awareness, screening and detection of this disease."

Early in his specialist career, Professor Aung also discovered that many of his patients had relatives who suffered from glaucoma. He realised there must be a genetic component to the disease which he wanted to explore. "I remember one patient who had relatives living in Australia, Canada, Malaysia and the United States. When I told him that glaucoma often runs in families, he contacted more than 70 overseas relatives and advised them to go for screening. Through this exercise, about 10% were diagnosed with the condition in the early stages which meant they could receive treatment to save their sight," he recalls.


Translational Research: From Bench to Bedside and to Practice 

His research focuses on three big questions:

• Who is at risk of angle closure glaucoma? What genes are involved?
• How can the disease be picked up through screening?
• If it is discovered in the early stages, how can it be treated to prevent loss of vision?

In angle closure glaucoma, the part of the eye that drains out fluid (the angle) becomes narrow and eventually blocked.   This causes the buildup of fluid and pressure on the optic nerve. Through his research, Professor Aung and his team are improving imaging techniques of the eye to make it easier to detect narrowing of the angle. "This may result in more accurate screening programmes, enabling us to better identify people who are at risk of glaucoma," Professor Aung explains.

At the genetic level, Professor Aung and his team are studying several different genes (discovered through their research) that are linked to glaucoma to understand how they cause problems in the eye and to understand the disease biology better. Some of these findings have been published in highly-cited journals like Nature Genetics and JAMA.


Empowering Sight-Saving Breakthroughs: The Impact of Local Support on Glaucoma Research

"The fear of blindness is very real for many of my patients because it has a significant impact on their quality of life. This motivates me to keep searching for better ways to prevent and treat glaucoma," says Professor Aung, also citing the supportive local research funding bodies as a key enabler for scientific breakthroughs that improve the lives of Singaporeans. "I'm very grateful to the Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple and SNEC for this Professorship because it provides me with more flexible research funding. I've been fortunate to have received government grants through the National Medical Research Council to fund my research over the last 20 years, but they can only be used for specific work outlined in the grant proposals. Research often throws up new questions that need to be explored quickly. I can now use funds from this Professorship to uncover answers which could lead to the next sight-saving breakthrough in the fight against glaucoma."