Professor

David A Mackey AO

I am an ophthalmologist currently based at the University of Western Australia, with over 35 years of experience researching genetic and environmental factors associated with eye disease. In addition to my extensive work on the genetics of optic nerve disease and glaucoma, I have examined genetic and environmental factors associated with myopia.

This work included the Twins Eye Study in Tasmania and Brisbane, The Norfolk Island Eye Study, The Busselton Healthy Aging Study, The Raine Study, The Western Australian Atropine for the Treatment of Myopia Study and the ORIGINS eye study. These studies were part of the Consortium for Refractive Error and Myopia work, which identified over 400 genes associated with myopia. With over 100 papers on myopia, the team has extensive experience in the markers of time outdoors and that myopia prevention needs to balance the benefits and harms of time in the sun.

Doctor

Gareth Lingham

I am an orthoptist and Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Lions Eye Institute, Australia.

I completed a PhD on the association between childhood outdoor time and long-term risk of myopia in Perth, before moving to Dublin, Ireland to work on clinical trials of low-concentration atropine eye drops for control of myopia progression at the Centre for Eye Research Ireland.

My current work continues these research programs covering the harms of benefits of outdoor time and sun exposure to assessing myopia and myopia progression in the clinical management of myopia.