As ageing populations worldwide continue to grow, the burden of age-related, visually debilitating eye diseases increases rapidly too. In Singapore, visual impairment is ranked as one of the top disease burdens, aside from obesity, diabetes and hypertension. This calls for new models of community-based eye healthcare to manage vision problems for the population more effectively.

Meanwhile, inherited retinal disorders are a common cause of blindness in working-age adults. It represents a diverse group of progressive, visually debilitating, genetic conditions. Although gene therapy has the potential to revolutionise the treatment of inherited retinal disorders, the treatments for this disease are still limited.

Through devising precise management using innovative technologies and Artificial Intelligence, the Centre for Innovation and Precision Eye Health aims to reduce vision loss and improve population eye health, by providing the right intervention to those who need it at the right time, and transform the current way of providing eye care.

Professor Cheng Ching-Yu
Director, Centre for Innovation & Precision Eye Health