Dr Jwu Jin Khong

Head of Oculoplastic and Thyroid Eye Disease Research

PhD, MMed, MBBS (Hons), FRANZCO, FANZSOPS

Dr JJ Khong is a clinician scientist specialising in the field of oculoplastics. She is a Senior Research Fellow at CERA and a Clinical Senior Fellow at The University of Melbourne Department of Surgery.

Her research is focused on developing new treatments to prevent progression of thyroid eye disease (TED), a debilitating eye condition associated with autoimmune thyroid conditions, affecting one in four patients with Graves’ hyperthyroidism. Dr Khong is a principal investigator for multiple international clinical trials, which explore efficacy and safety of immunotherapy, developed based on disease mechanism.

She established the Australian Thyroid Associated Orbitopathy Research (ATOR) Database for exploring risk factors and genetic susceptibility in TED, which remains a rich resource for characterizing genomic, transcriptomic and proteomics profile in TED.

Supported by philanthropic funding from CERA and a Research Project Grant from The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital (RVEEH), Dr Khong is investigating determinant of site susceptibility for TED to understand why certain eye tissues are more likely affected than the other.

Her unit, in collaboration with industry partners, is working on establishing prototypal TED model for translational work.

Clinically, Dr JJ Khong specialises in treatment of orbital, plastic and lacrimal (OPAL) conditions, and oculoplastic surgery. She is a senior consultant ophthalmologist at The RVEEH OPAL Unit, the Royal Melbourne Hospital and Austin Hospital.

Dr Khong is a fellow of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Ophthalmic Plastic Surgeons (ANZSOPS), an international member of the American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (ASOPRS) and International Thyroid Eye Disease Society (ITEDS).

She is an experienced research supervisor for Doctor of Medicine (MD) research scholars, graduate and postgraduate students and a mentor for vocational ophthalmology trainees.

Key research questions

Are genes expressed differently in tissues surrounding the eye in TED which are amendable to targeted treatment?
Can we find biomarkers to predict which patients are most at risk of developing severe TED?
How does smoking affect oxidative stress in TED, and therefore can the early use of antioxidants slow down progression of TED?
Can we design, engineer and test new molecules in pre-clinical and clinical trials to reverse severity of TED and ultimately improve quality of life in patients with TED?
Can we estimate the incidence of TED and sight threatening TED in Australia using a national, multi-centre approach?

Current projects

Selected publications

My team

Key collaborators

Funding and support

Current projects

Determining tissue zonation in thyroid eye disease as a determinant of site-specific susceptibility.
Investigating the role of oxidative stress and smoking in inducing Thyroid Eye Disease.
Investigating potential therapeutic potential of investigational small molecules in an ex-vivo TED model.
Australian Experience with dysthyroid optic neuropathy: a multi-centre retrospective study.

Selected publications

Thyroid Eye Disease Related publications:

Chung IY, Hardy TG, Khong JJ. Dysthyroid optic neuropathy: a case series at a tertiary ophthalmic referral centre. Eye 2023 Dec. doi: 10.1038/s41433-023-02856-7

Boynes AC, Enright NJ, Hardy TG, Khong JJ. Interrater reliability of photographic assessment of thyroid eye disease using the VISA classification. Int Ophthalmol 2024 Feb 20;44(1):98. doi: 10.1007/s10792-024-02934-z

Yvon C, Khong JJ, Malhotra R, et al. Teprotumumab. [Updated 2022 Sep 24]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2022 Jan-.

Thia B, McGuinness MB, Ebeling PR, Khong JJ. Diagnostic accuracy of Immulite TSI immunoassay for thyroid-associated orbitopathy in patients with recently diagnosed Graves’ hyperthyroidism. Int Ophthalmol. 2022 Mar;42(3):863-870. doi: 10.1007/s10792-021-02052-0. Epub 2021 Oct 6.

Khong JJ, McNab AA. Medical treatment in thyroid eye disease in 2020. Br J Ophthalmol 2021 Mar; 105(3): 299-305. doi: 10.1136/bjophthalmol-2020-316051. Epub 2020 May 23.

Khong JJ, Burdon KP, Lu Y, Laurie KJ, Leonardos L, Baird PN, Sahebjada S, Walsh JP, Gajdatsy AD, Ebeling PR, Hamblin PS, Wong R, Forehan SP, Fourlanos S, Roberts AP, Doogue M, Selva D, Montgomery GW, Macgregor S, Craig JE. Pooled genome wide association detects association upstream of FCRL3 with Graves’ disease. BMC Genomics 2016; 17 (1): 939. doi: 10.1186/s12864-016-3276-z

Khong JJ, Burdon KP, Lu Y, Leonardos L, Laurie KJ, Walsh JP, Gajdatsy AD, Ebeling PR, McNab AA, Hardy TG, Stawell RJ, Davis GJ, Selva D, Tsirbas A, Montgomery GW, Macgregor S, Craig JE. Association of polymorphisms in MACRO domain containing 2 with thyroid-associated orbitopathy. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 2016; 57 (7): 3129-37. doi: 10.1167/iovs.15-18797

Khong JJ, Finch S, De Silva C, Rylander S, Craig JE, Selva D, Ebeling PR. Risk factors for Graves’ Orbitopathy; the Australian Thyroid-associated Orbitopathy Research (ATOR) Study. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2016; 101 (7): 2711-20. doi: 10.1210/jc.2015-4294

Khong JJ, McNab AA, Ebeling PR, Craig JE, Selva D. Pathogenesis of thyroid eye disease: review and update on molecular mechanisms. Br J Ophthalmol. 2016; 100 (1): 142-50. doi: 10.1136/bjophthalmol-2015-307399

Khong JJ, Wang LY, Smyth GK, McNab AA, Hardy TG, Selva D, Llamas B, Jung CH, Sharma S, Burdon KP, Ebeling PR, Craig JE. Differential gene expression profiling of orbital adipose tissue in thyroid orbitopathy. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2015; 56(11): 6438-47. doi: 10.1167/iovs.15-17185

Khong JJ, Goldstein RF, Sanders KM, Schneider H, Pope J, Burdon KP, Craig JE, Ebeling PR. Serum selenium status in Graves’ disease with and without orbitopathy: a case-control study. Clin Endocrinol (Oxf). 2014; 80 (6): 905-10. doi: 10.1111/cen.12392

Oculoplastic Related Publications:

Rana K, Beecher M, Tong JY, Bommireddy T, Ullrich K, Hart R, Khong JJ, Wilcsek G, Hardy T, Vu P, Selva D. Immunotherapy for orbital squamous cell carcinoma. Orbit. 2025 Feb 27:1-7. doi: 10.1080/01676830.2025.2469305

O’Rourke M, Tang YF, Pick Z, Tan JS, Tan PEZ, Athavale DD, O’Donnell B, Selva D, Gajdatsy A, Hardy TG, McNab A, Khong JJ. Orbital Cellulitis Secondary to dacryocystitis: A case series and literature review. Ophthalmic Plast Reconstr Surg. 2024 Dec 9. doi: 10.1097/IOP.0000000000002834

Ang T, Tong JY, Patel S, Khong JJ, Selva D. Orbital inflammation following COVID-19 vaccination: A case series and literature review. Int Ophthalmol. 2023 May 17:1-11. doi: 10.1007/s10792-023-02747-6

Vest SD, Coupland SE, Esmaeli B, Finger PT, Graue GF, Grossniklaus HE, Hindso TG, Holm F, Honavar SG, Khong JJ, Kirkegaard MK, McKelvie PA, Mikkelsen KH, Mulay K, Rasmussen PK, Siersma V, Sjo LD, Siegowski MC, Thuro BA, Venuganti GK, Heegaard S. Specific location of ocular adnexal lymphoma and mortality: an international multicentre retrospective study. Br J Ophthalmol. 2022 May 5: bjophthalmol-2021-320466. doi: 10.1136/bjophthalmol-2021-320466

Hindsø TG, Esmaeli B, Holm F, Mikkelsen LH, Rasmussen PK, Coupland SE, Finger PT, Graue GF, Grossniklaus HE, Honavar SG, Khong JJ, McKelvie PA, Mulay K, Sjö LD, Vemuganti GK, Thuro BA, Heegaard S. International multicenter retrospective cohort study of ocular adnexal marginal zone B-cell lymphoma. Br J Ophthalmol. 2020 Mar;104(3):357-362. doi: 10.1136/bjophthalmol-2019-314008. Epub 2019 Jun 8.

Olsen TG, Holm F, Mikkelsen LH, Rasmussen PK, Coupland SE, Esmaeli B, Finger PT, Graue GF, Grossniklaus HE, Honavar SG, Khong JJ, McKelvie PA, Mulay K, Sjö LD, Vemuganti GK, Thuro BA, Heegaard S. Orbital lymphoma – An International Multicenter Retrospective Study. Am J Ophthalmol. 2019 Mar; 199:44-57. doi: 10.1016/j.ajo.2018.11.002. Epub 2018 Nov 10

Yao A, Aboltins, C, McNab AA, Rosa CS, Denholm J, Khong JJ. Orbital tuberculosis: perspectives from Victoria, Australia. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol. 2018 Dec;256(12):2443-2448. doi: 10.1007/s00417-018-4099-1. Epub 2018 Aug 18.

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