Presentation Information
[SL2]Application of animal myopia models towards understanding and controlling the myopia epidemic: Benefits and limitations of translational research.
Christine F Wildsoet (Univ of California Berkeley)
Affiliations: Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry and Vision Science, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA (full professor; inducted into Hall of Fame, 2023); Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia (adjunct faculty, recipient honorary doctorate, 2024); Life-time Achievement Award for Scientific Research, International Myopia Conference, Sanya, China, 2024.
Dr Wildsoet is a professor in the Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry and Vision Science at the University of California Berkeley in the USA. Her primary educational training spans clinical optometry and pharmacology, followed by PhD in visual neuroscience, with a focus on animal models of myopia (near-sightedness). all completed in Australia. Together, Queensland University of Technology and University of Queensland served as home bases for Dr Wildsoet to establish herself as an educator and myopia researcher, before joining the UC Berkeley faculty in 2000. She is a fellow of both the American Academy of Optometry (AAO) and Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), and a member of the Advisory Board of the International Myopia Institute. Her other professional responsibilities include the Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science (IOVS) editorial board (long term member), scientific advisory board of the Scandinavian Journal Optometry and Visual Science, and advisory board of the European MyoTreat Doctoral network. Dr Wildsoet is considered a world expert on refractive errors, placed in the top 0.1% of scholars writing on this topic in the last 10 years, based on Expertscape’s PubMed-based algorithms. Her lab’s research is multidisciplinary in nature, with on-going investigations into the visual environmental influences on eye growth regulation and myopia, the cellular and molecular signaling pathways involved, novel treatments (including optical and pharmacological) for myopia control, and mechanisms underlying the increased risk of myopes to secondary ocular pathologies, including glaucoma, with clinician scientists, as well as both graduate and undergraduate students playing key roles, along with collaborators, both local and international. She is a recipient of a UC Berkeley mentoring award for her work with graduate students and post-doctoral fellows.
Dr Wildsoet is a professor in the Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry and Vision Science at the University of California Berkeley in the USA. Her primary educational training spans clinical optometry and pharmacology, followed by PhD in visual neuroscience, with a focus on animal models of myopia (near-sightedness). all completed in Australia. Together, Queensland University of Technology and University of Queensland served as home bases for Dr Wildsoet to establish herself as an educator and myopia researcher, before joining the UC Berkeley faculty in 2000. She is a fellow of both the American Academy of Optometry (AAO) and Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), and a member of the Advisory Board of the International Myopia Institute. Her other professional responsibilities include the Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science (IOVS) editorial board (long term member), scientific advisory board of the Scandinavian Journal Optometry and Visual Science, and advisory board of the European MyoTreat Doctoral network. Dr Wildsoet is considered a world expert on refractive errors, placed in the top 0.1% of scholars writing on this topic in the last 10 years, based on Expertscape’s PubMed-based algorithms. Her lab’s research is multidisciplinary in nature, with on-going investigations into the visual environmental influences on eye growth regulation and myopia, the cellular and molecular signaling pathways involved, novel treatments (including optical and pharmacological) for myopia control, and mechanisms underlying the increased risk of myopes to secondary ocular pathologies, including glaucoma, with clinician scientists, as well as both graduate and undergraduate students playing key roles, along with collaborators, both local and international. She is a recipient of a UC Berkeley mentoring award for her work with graduate students and post-doctoral fellows.