Tina Wong

Head and Senior Consultant, Glaucoma Department, Singapore National Eye Centre; Founding President Glaucoma Association of Singapore; Executive Director, National Health and Innovation Centre, National Medical Research Council; Director and Head of the Ocular Therapeutics and Drug Delivery Research Group at the Singapore Eye Research Institute, Singapore

What’s been the biggest breakthrough in ophthalmology/your specific field over the last 10 years?

Retinal cell-based therapy to recover vision in retinal degenerative diseases. The incredible bionic eye – revolutionary technology allowing the restoration of functional vision in subjects with partial to total blindness.

What would you like to see change in ophthalmology/your subspecialty over the next 10 years – and why?

Accurate stratification in the risk of disease progression and precision medicine for targeted treatment tailored to individuals as standard of care and management for glaucoma patients at every stage of disease.

Where do you predict ophthalmology/your subspecialty will be 10 years from now? 

Increased use of home monitoring/telemedicine. AI application in managing glaucoma and providing a proposed care plan for each individual.

Do you have any personal missions for the next 10 years?

Making ophthalmology greener/sustainable; for example, reducing the number of single-use disposable plastic in medical treatments (daily use preservative free anti glaucoma medications) and in surgical consumables. To introduce more use of biodegradable plastics in as many everyday consumables as possible and become more environmentally responsible.