Science and Research
WHO Collaborating Centre for the Prevention of Blindness
CERA is proud to be Australia’s only designated World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for the Prevention of Blindness, working to reduce the global burden of vision impairment.
Overview
The WHO Collaborating Centre at CERA works to translate research that can be applied in low- and middle-income communities around Australia and the world, where more eyecare services are needed.
Our goal is to improve the quality, effectiveness and accessibility of eyecare services, supporting the World Health Organization in its critical work to reduce the global burden of blindness.
Our efforts include deploying artificial intelligence and retinal imaging for the screening of major eye diseases, and integration with broader systemic disease surveillance for accessible and effective preventive care. In parallel, we are performing health economic evaluations to inform scalable implementation across global health systems.
We are also providing evidence-based optimisation of outdoor time recommendations to WHO MyopiaEd campaign to balance myopia prevention with protection from ultraviolet-related ocular diseases.
Researchers
Associate Professor Lisa Zhuoting Zhu
Director, WHO Collaborating Centre for the Prevention of Blindness
Head of Ophthalmic Epidemiology
Associate Professor Lisa Zhuoting Zhu works on artificial intelligence in ophthalmology and the potential utility of retinal imaging in predicting important life events.
Dr Gareth Lingham
Deputy Director, WHO Collaborating Centre for the Prevention of Blindness
Dr Gareth Lingham is an orthoptist and postdoctoral research fellow interested in research areas such as ophthalmic epidemiology, biostatistics, myopia, strabismus and pterygium.
Associate Professor Zhichao Wu
Head of Clinical Biomarkers Research
Associate Professor Zhichao Wu is a clinician-scientist whose work focuses on expediting the discovery of new treatments and ways to prevent irreversible vision loss from conditions such as age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma.
Dr Wenyi Hu
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Dr Wenyi Hu works on the application of AI in ocular and systemic diseases within the emerging field of ‘oculomics’ – aiming to advance AI technology from ‘in silico’ development to real-world implementation.
Dr Yujie Wang
PhD Candidate
Dr Yujie Wang is a registered ophthalmologist with eight years of medical education in China, currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Melbourne and CERA.
Dr Leo Li
PhD candidate
Dr Leo Li is an Associate Chief Ophthalmologist with over 10 years of clinical experience in China, specialising in conditions such as myopia prevention and control, dry eye disease and cataract.