About Us

Funding

The Lions Save-Sight Foundation is committed to supporting the Lions Eye Institute by awarding Scholarships to enable world class medical scientists and researchers to work at the Institute.  This support consists of the Dr Jack Hoffman Scholarship for an appointee to conduct a sight project for one year at the LEI, and the LSSF and LEI jointly funded Brian King Post Doctoral Fellowship.

The LSSF and Curtin University jointly fund the Lions-Curtin Chair of Ophthalmic Big Data Research, this is a new Chair established in 2022.

The LSSF also provides ongoing funding for research and equipment for the world class scientists conducting ground breaking research at the Institute.

The Brian King Post Doctoral Fellowship

Functional Molecular Vision Group: Michelle Carey, Sang Yoon Moon, Ben Ezzy (WAZERC), Jessica Mountford and Molly Langdale.

The prestigious Brian King Post-Doctoral Fellowship awarded to Dr Jessica Mountford, the 6th Brian King Post-Doctoral Fellow, began her work at the Institute in early March 2021. Her research funded by the Lions Save-Sight Foundation and Lions Eye Institute is “The Myopia Generation – Exploring the rise of early-onset myopia following the digital age and a world post COVID-19 lockdown.”

The incidence of myopia is rapidly becoming one of the world’s leading causes of distant visual impairment. In fact, modelling has predicted approximately 50% of the world’s population will become myopic by the year 2050. Current research indicates that the sharpest rise is occurring in school age children as young as 6 years old.

Dr Mountford’s research project has been producing some great results and LSSF are please to say that the Fellowship has been extended to the end of 2024.  Dr Mountford’s goals for 2024 involve the investigation of signalling molecular pathways of opn1lw1 (longwave visual opsin) and its involvement in high myopia.  Further to this, other genes selected from human GWAS studies continue to be screened using the zebrafish platform. Dr Mountford and her team plan to attend the international zebrafish conference hosted in Japan later this year to present their research. Additionally, she has been awarded a Raine Collaboration grant to attend Umea University in Sweden to set up a research project there to screen Swedish children for causative myopia gene variance.

Professor Andrew Turpin

Inaugural Lions-Curtin Chair of Ophthalmic Big Data Research

Since the Chair in Ophthalmic Big Data Research was established in November 2022, jointly funded by Curtin University and the Lions Save-Sight Foundation, Professor Andrew Turpin has been working hard on many a number of projects based at the Lions Eye Institute.

His research interests include application of computer science principles and methods to the collection and analysis of data related to eye health care. This includes new diagnostic techniques (visual field testing and retinal image analysis), advanced clinical data management systems (data presentation and AI), organisation of clinical systems to facilitate research, remote and telehealth care for vision (including home monitoring of vision), computational models of retinal biology and fundamental understanding of the human vision system.

This new role will enhance Western Australia’s international competitiveness in vision research and help improve the State’s burgeoning reputation as a centre for research excellence in ocular disease.  The new partnership with Curtin University will further expand the network of skills and influence that Lions can use to save sight.

Professor Turpin will further develop the Lions Eye Institute’s research reputation by undertaking internationally leading research, building new capacity in analytics across optometry and ophthalmology and also supporting research and eye care systems development involving large, related datasets. In addition to fundamental research, he will help to drive the research agenda and facilitate the translation of research knowledge into policy and practice and also help build data capability at LEI.

Dr Danial Roshandel

LSSF-Funded Postdoctoral Research Project

Dr Daniel Roshandel is a researcher at the Lions Eye Institute and he is funded by your Foundation.  Dr Roshandel is an overseas trained ophthalmologist who has specialised in ocular surface diseases and stem cell transplantation. He obtained his PhD in inherited retinal diseases from The University of Western Australia (UWA) and joined the Lions Eye Institute as a postdoctoral research fellow to continue his research on advanced cell therapies for end-stage ocular surface diseases and pursue his career as a clinician-scientist.

Dr Danial Roshandel’s current research project is developing a novel treatment for a genetic eye disease called congenital aniridia. This disease affects multiple parts of the eye and leads to profound vision loss in adolescence or early adulthood.  With your Foundations support he is researching to produce corneal cells from adult stem cells that can revolutionise the treatment of end-stage ocular surface diseases.

Recycled Spectacles

Lanna Ta Dee

Reading glasses (in good condition) are donated from far and wide in Western Australia and collected by the Lions Clubs throughout the State from a range of collection points including optometrists and funeral parlours.  Until recently all these glasses were sorted and packed by dedicated volunteers of the Foundation and then sent on to many Third World countries, including Thailand, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Ghana and Uganda.

As sorting and dispatching facilities at the Lions Save-Sight Foundation has become more limited, Lions Clubs are now encouraged to sort and send their collected spectacles directly to Lions Recycle for Sight in Queensland. Glasses sent to Queensland are graded and sent to countries in need. The Queensland hub has developed into a major centre, and in a joint venture with the Queensland Department of Correction, much of the maintenance and grading of glasses is undertaken by prisoners under day release. This is to great advantage for both parties.

For more information go to: www.lionsclubs.org.au/our-impact/recycle-for-sight-australia/

Perth Half Marathon – Run for Sight

This event takes place in August each year and is organised by the West Australian Marathon Club with the proceeds donated to the Lions Save-Sight Foundation to support research into eye diseases and blindness at the Lions Eye Institute.  Local Lions Clubs man the water stations along the course and assist as marshals as required.  Participants have the option of a 21.1 km or 5 km walk or run.  The 5 km option has been designed for those who want to be part of this great community event but feel 21.1 kms is too far.  It is ideally suited for walkers or the young with their parents.  Make a note to be part of this great fun run!

For more information go to: www.wamc.org.au