Our Team

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS

Prof Nathan Congdon

Prof Nathan Congdon, MD, MPH, is Ulverscroft Chair of Global Eye Health at Queen’s University Belfast and Director of Research and North Asia Advisor for ORBIS International, helping also to shape the organization’s global strategic approach to diabetic eye disease and glaucoma. Prof Congdon is a Visiting Professor at Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center (ZOC) in Guangzhou, and was based there and elsewhere in China for nearly ten years until 2015.

He received an AB degree from Princeton University and an MPhil from Cambridge in the UK, both in Oriental studies, and is fluent in written and spoken Chinese. His medical and public health education were at Johns Hopkins University, where he pursued an ophthalmology residency at the Wilmer Eye Institute. Prof Congdon’s work has focused on the design and evaluation of high-quality, low-cost models of eye care delivery in areas of limited resources throughout the world, which frequently involves NGOs working together with academic institutions in Asia and the west. In addition to other recognitions, Prof Congdon has received the Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology’s highest prize for blindness prevention work in 2009 and a Chinese government Thousand Man Plan award in 2011. His research has been supported by the UK government MRC, EU, World Diabetes Foundation, USAID, WHO, World Bank, United States NIH, several NGOs and the governments of China and Hong Kong. He has over 215 peer-reviewed publications in journals including Lancet Global Health, BMJ and JAMA.

Dr Rohit C Khanna

Dr Rohit C Khanna is the Network Director for the Public Health Unit of LVPEI – The Gullapalli Pratibha Rao International Centre for Advancement of Rural Eye Care. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at school of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Rochester, USA, and Conjoint Associate Professor at the University of New South Wales, Australia. An active participant in various working groups of the International Agency for Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) and World Health Organization (WHO), Dr Khanna is the IAPB Regional Chair for the South-East Asia region. His areas of clinical interest are cataract and glaucoma. An alumnus of the Government Medical College in Nagpur and an LVPEI fellow, he holds dual master’s degrees in Community Eye Health and Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health respectively. 

Dr Khanna has led multiple studies, including the cohort of Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease Study (APEDS) – a milestone study. He has to his credit over 150 peer-reviewed publications, is on the editorial boards of several journals, and has been awarded several prestigious research grants for his work focusing on studying the outcomes of different interventions as well as on geriatric and child eye health. In collaboration with the University of New South Wales, Dr Khanna was involved in designing the Master’s Program in Community Eye Health and is also the course convenor of the Diploma and Master’s program led by LVPEI in Community Eye Health. A recipient of the IAPB Eye Health Leader Award and Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology’s Blindness Prevention Award, Dr Khanna has vast experience in leading capacity building initiatives, and working as consultant for both national and global organizations, including IAPB and WHO.

Funders

Partners

  • Affiliated Eye Hospital of Nanchang University, China
  • Alzheimer’s and Related Disorders Society of India, India
  • Asia Injury Prevention Foundation, Vietnam
  • Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, UK
  • CBM, Zimbabwe
  • Clearly Initiatives, UK
  • Diversified Technical Systems, USA
  • Florida International University, USA
  • George Institute for Global Health, India
  • Good Business Labs Foundation, India
  • Hanoi Medical University, Vietnam
  • BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, Bangladesh
  • Johns Hopkins University, USA
  • LV Prasad Eye Institute, India
  • LV Prasad Eye Institute Clinical Trials Unit, India
  • MOMODa Foundation, Bangladesh
  • Metakave, Bangladesh
  • National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, India
  • Ningxia Medical University, China
  • New England College of Optometry, USA
  • Peek Vision, UK
  • Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine, Vietnam
  • Queen’s University Belfast, UK
  • Rural Education Action Plan, China
  • Stanford University, USA
  • South China University School of Architecture, China
  • Transport Development and Strategy Safety and Development Institute, Vietnam
  • University of Dhaka, Bangladesh
  • University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City Faculty of Public Health, Vietnam
  • University of Michigan Ross School of Business, USA
  • University of Michigan School of Medicine, USA
  • University of Ulster, UK
  • University of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe
  • Velux China Ltd, China
  • Vietnam Ministry of Transportation, Vietnam
  • Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, USA
  • VisionSpring, USA
  • Wenzhou Medical University, China
  • Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-Sen University, China
  • University of Ulster, UK
  • Zimbabwe National School of Optometry, Zimbabwe
  • Zimbabwean Optometric Association, Zimbabwe