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The Australian developer of retinal software to predict the risk of cardiovascular disease has won his country’s prestigious Health Minister’s Award for Excellence in Health and Medical Research.

Associate Professor Tien Wong, from the Centre for Eye Research, received the A$50,000 award at this week’s Australian Society Medical Research annual dinner.

‘It is an ambitious goal,’ he said, ‘but our ultimate aim is to develop a web-based imaging system from which optometrists and ophthalmologists can upload images which will then be assessed for retinal markers of future cardiovascular disease.’

Professor Wong received a  grant of £128,000 by Pfizer for his research (News, February 10), to develop specialised retinal software to analyse images of the eye and show predictors of cardiovascular disease including stroke, hypertension and heart failure.

Development of the retinal imaging system followed, claimed to be the first in the world to categorically demonstrate that subtle damage to blood vessels in the retina can predict cardiovascular disease.

‘The idea that the eye is a window to the human body and can predict other areas of human health has been around for more than a century,’ he said.

‘Changes in blood vessels in the eye may identify people who may be at risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes. These conditions and the most common cause of death, disability and hospitalisation in Australia and worldwide and therefore, the potential impact of this research is timely and significant.’

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