Vision Excellence Awards: Robert Casson

Prof Casson MB,BS (Hons), M.Biostatistics, DPhil, FRANZCO is an ophthalmic surgeon-scientist with particular interest in glaucoma and ophthalmic epidemiology in the developing world.

He is proud to be a founding Director of Sight For All, where he has the role of Chief Scientific Adviser, with a particular focus on the interface between ophthalmic science and the elimination of preventable blindness in the developing world.

Professor Casson is also the Head of the Discipline of Ophthalmology and Visual Science at Adelaide University. He is an internationally recognised for his research in retinal cell biology, neuroprotection, ophthalmic epidemiology and translational ophthalmic studies. After completion of a laboratory-based DPhil in 2004 he returned to Australia and established the South Australian Institute of Ophthalmology (SAIO), including the Ophthalmic Research Laboratory co-located with Neuropathology in the Hanson Institute. In June 2017, the lab moved to the new AHMS building. He has approximately 200 publications, and multiple NHMRC grants. He is a founding board member of the ophthalmologist-led, evidence-based NGO, Sight for All, and serves as their Chief Scientific Advisor. In 2012, he completed a Masters of Biostatistics at Adelaide University.

He is currently spearheading the launch of the new Adelaide Eye Hospital, a world class outpatient facility proposed to be located in the Adelaide CBD. This new facility will also become the state’s epicentre for ophthalmology training, clinical trials and a new interdisciplinary vision and eye research centre.