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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
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."