Speakers

Dr Hessom Razavi completed his ophthalmology training in Western Australia, before undertaking two fellowships. He was the inaugural Lions Outback Fellow, providing outreach services to remote and Indigenous communities in WA. This was followed by a medical retina fellowship at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, and the Centre for Eye Research Australia. Prior to this, Dr Razavi completed a Masters of Public Health in Eye Care at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He is developing a new ophthalmology service at St John of God Hospital in Midland, and is the unit coordinator for ophthalmology teaching at UWA.

Dr Fred Chen completed ophthalmology training at Royal Perth Hospital. He then moved to London to do research and clinical fellowships in medical and surgical retina at the University College of London Institute of Ophthalmology and Moorfields Eye Hospital. There, he also completed a doctorate in philosophy (PhD) in surgical techniques of retinal pigment epithelium transplantation for treatment of dry and wet macular degenerations. Since returning to Perth, Fred has been a Consultant Vitreoretinal Surgeon at Royal Perth Hospital and Princess Margaret Hospital for Children. He has also established and led the Ocular Tissue Engineering Laboratory at the Lions Eye Institute. His research interest includes clinical characterisation of retinitis pigmentosa and Stargardt disease, stem cell therapy and disease modelling, clinical trials in dry and wet macular degeneration and non-invasive retinal imaging.

Dr Jean-Louis deSousa trained in ophthalmology in Perth before completing fellowships in ophthalmic plastic and reconstructive surgery in Oxford and East Grinstead in the UK. He is a member of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Ophthalmic Plastic Surgeons. A consultant ophthalmologist at Royal Perth Hospital he also provides ophthalmic services to the central wheatbelt from Merredin. Dr deSousa is the WA representative for continuing professional development and a basic sciences examiner for RANZCO.

Dr Ang trained in Ophthalmology in Perth (MBBS (Hons), UWA) and the USA (MPH, Harvard) before undertaking fellowships in Cornea, Anterior Segment, and External Diseases at the Cincinnati Eye Institute, USA, and at the Singapore National Eye Centre, Singapore.Dr Ang is a consultant ophthalmologist at Royal Perth Hospital and the Lions Eye Institute. She specializes in the management of cornea, anterior segment, and external diseases, including pterygium surgery, all forms of corneal transplantation, limbal stem cell surgery, and keratoprostheses. Dr Ang also performs cataract surgery and refractive surgery including LASIK and PRK.

Professor Crawford completed his ophthalmic training in Western Australia and is a Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists and a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. He completed further subspecialty training in Oculoplastic Surgery at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London and then Cornea and Refractive Surgery at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. He is the Director of Surgical Services and the Director of the Laser Vision Centre at the Lions Eye Institute and is a Consultant Ophthalmic surgeon at Royal Perth Hospital and Princess Margaret Hospital for Children. Professor Crawford has held many positions within RANZCO including Director of Continuing Professional Development, Chairman of the Programme Committee and Chairman of Examiners. He is a co-inventor of the AlphaCor™ artificial cornea and AlphaSphere™ orbital implant and developed the techniques for insertion of these devices. He also introduced LASIK surgery into Western Australia. He serves on the committees of the Australian and New Zealand Cornea Society and the Asia Cornea Society.

Dr. Vignesh Raja is a consultant ophthalmologist and vitreo-retinal surgeon at the Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital (SCGH). He has recently been appointed as the Head of Department of Ophthalmology at SCGH. Dr. Raja undertook his primary medical degree in India and completed his 3-year Masters in Ophthalmology from the world’s largest eye care system – the Aravind Eye Hospital and Postgraduate Institute of Ophthalmology. He pursued further specialist registrar training in Ophthalmology in the United Kingdom from 2004 -2012, completing fellowships in glaucoma and vitreo-retinal surgery at Liverpool and Oxford respectively. Dr. Raja moved to Perth in 2013 to do his second fellowship in medical and surgical retina with Prof. Ian Constable at SCGH and the Lion’s Eye Institute. In August 2014, Dr. Raja commenced private practice at the Joondalup Eye Clinic where he offers specialist consultations and treatments for cataract, glaucoma and medical & surgical retinal conditions.

Associate Professor Wiffen trained in ophthalmology in Western Australia before undertaking 2-year fellowships in cornea and refractive surgery at both the Corneo-Plastic Unit, East Grinstead, UK, and the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA. He was Director of the Corneo-Plastic Unit and Eye Bank in East Grinstead 1993-1994. He is a Consultant ophthalmologist at Fremantle Hospital and Associate Professor in the Centre for ophthalmology and Visual Science, University of Western Australia, as well as Director of the Lions Eye Bank of Western Australia. He has held numerous other positions, including Head of Department of Ophthalmology Fremantle Hospital, Chair of the Qualifications and Education Committee of the WA Branch of RANZCO, Chair of Eye Banks Australia and New Zealand and Chair of the Cornea Standing Committee of the Transplantation Society of Australia and New Zealand. He has special expertise in corneal transplantation, pterygium and cataract surgery as well as refractive surgery.

Professor McAllister is actively involved in research for cures for vitreoretinal disorders, especially retinal vascular disorders, and has held ten NHMRC grants in this area as well as numerous minor grants. He has been involved for many years in statewide diabetic retinopathy screening and treatment and was vice chairman of the Ophthalmic Research Institute of Australia and chairman of the Research Board for many years. He has published over 100 papers in scientific journals and has given over 150 papers at meetings as an invited guest speaker. He has recently received a achievement award for distinguished service to ophthalmology from the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

Dr Antony Clark completed his ophthalmology training in Western Australia before undertaking two years of sub-speciality fellowship training at the University of Toronto in Canada. His first fellowship was in glaucoma and anterior segment surgery, and the second in paediatric ophthalmology and strabismus at the world-renowned Hospital for Sick Children. Dr Clark has a PhD in public health and continues his interests in epidemiology and clinical ophthalmic research. In addition to consulting at LEI, Dr Clark is a consultant ophthalmologist at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and Perth Children’s Hospital.

Dr Chandra Balaratnasingam is a consultant ophthalmologist and vitreoretinal surgeon at the Lions Eye Institute (Nedlands and Murdoch offices) and Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. He was awarded his medical degree with Honours and his PhD with Distinction from the University of Western Australia. Chandra finished ophthalmology training in Western Australia after which he undertook sub-specialty training in North America for 3 years completing a vitreoretinal surgical fellowship at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada followed by a medical retina fellowship with Lawrence Yannuzzi and K. Bailey Freund at the Vitreous, Retina, Macula Consultants of New York, USA. He was subsequently appointed to clinical faculty at New York University School of Medicine and worked as a consultant ophthalmologist and vitreoretinal surgeon in Manhattan for a year before returning to Perth. In addition to clinical work, Chandra is actively involved in clinical and laboratory-based research in retinal diseases. He has published over 80 peer-reviewed manuscripts in major ophthalmology journals and has written seven book-chapters in key retina texts. Chandra’s area of expertise is in the treatment of patients with medical and surgical diseases of the retina.