Singapore, 12 November 2024 – The Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC) and Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI) have entered a three-year agreement with the United States' Byers Eye Institute at Stanford University to enhance education, clinical care and research in ophthalmology. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed today by Professor Aung Tin, Chief Executive Officer, SNEC, Professor Jodhbir Mehta, Executive Director, SERI, and Professor Jeffrey Goldberg, Chair at the Department of Ophthalmology, Byers Eye Institute, Stanford University.
With the agreement in place, top trainees and junior faculty from SNEC and SERI will gain access to ophthalmic internships and fellowships at Stanford. Through such exchange programmes, participants can broaden their understanding of different healthcare systems and approaches to patient care, and receive mentorship opportunities by leading ophthalmology experts from Stanford, SNEC and SERI.
The collaboration will also see greater opportunities for the institutions to leverage each other's strengths in artificial intelligence and digital programmes, and expand retinal image datasets from diverse populations to enhance detection of eye diseases. These efforts will raise standards of patient care in ophthalmology, through improving diagnostic accuracy, remote care, and instrumentation.
The MoU comes on the back of SNEC and SERI's longstanding partnership with Stanford and marks a formal commitment to a long-term strategic alliance. The institutions have been working together on multiple joint projects over the years, in areas such as artificial intelligence-driven research, to enhance detection of chronic eye diseases like diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration. Another notable project is Singapore Biodesign, a talent development platform in partnership with Stanford's Byers Center for Biodesign, that brings clinicians and engineers to innovate for clinical challenges.
With strong track records in ophthalmic research and tissue engineering, SERI and Stanford are poised to leverage corneal and retinal biology and engineering to translate laboratory advances into clinical care to restore vision.
"SNEC and SERI are privileged to team up with Stanford's Byers Eye Institute to bring eye care to greater heights through collaborations in research and education. With vision impairment estimated to cost a global productivity loss of about US$411 billion annually, we hope that this partnership brings the ophthalmic fraternity a step closer in reducing the global burden of visual loss and blindness. We believe in the importance nurturing talent, mentoring and education so that our patients ultimately benefit from better quality care. Our work with Stanford will steer us in this direction of training the next generation of eye care professionals," said Professor Aung Tin.
"SNEC and SERI have a longstanding commitment to excellence that aligns with the Byers Eye Institute's strengths in clinical care, research and education. Our faculty are excited to grow this culture of innovation through this partnership with our colleagues and institutions in Singapore. We already anticipate great acceleration in what these groups will do working more closely together, starting with educational programming and research collaborations," said Professor Jeffrey Goldberg.
 Blindness and vision impairment (who.int)
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