Chronic eye diseases are on the rise, especially with the silver tsunami. Vision loss - due to conditions such as cataract, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and age-related macular degeneration - causes a significant deterioration of one’s quality of life. Its economic healthcare burden exceeds other common chronic conditions, such as coronary heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and hypertension. Early detection is key to monitor for the onset of chronic eye diseases and prevent irreversible the deterioration of sight. However, accessibility is a major barrier to getting the appropriate eye care services, especially among the under-served and elderly populations.

Today, there is a lack of sustainable models for chronic eye disease monitoring. This leads to a higher risk of preventable visual impairment, a higher cost of monitoring, and consequently over-burdened ophthalmology clinics.

The primary goal of the Community Eye Care core is to develop and evaluate novel, scalable, and community-friendly medical technologies and models of care for Centre for Innovation and Precision Eye Health. To do so, we will adopt the following structured approach:

1. We will perform a Health Technology Assessment and Economic Analysis to outline the foundation of proposed interventions/technologies and identify the key elements of success for real-life adoption.


2. Through behavioral science, we will identify key difficulties and touchpoints from stakeholders to pinpoint opportunities for improvement in community eye care.


3. We will design, create, and validate a suite of novel, user-friendly devices that are suitable for use in the community or at home by both patients and caregivers, for the long-term monitoring of chronic eye diseases.