Associate Professor Robert Casson MB, BS (Hons) DPhil FRANZCO
Director, Ophthalmic Research Laboratory, SAIO & Hanson Institute

 Dr Casson graduated with Honours from Adelaide Medical School in 1992 and trained as a general ophthalmologist at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. He completed his general ophthalmic training in Oxford, and was awarded an Alcon Fellowship to undertake subspecialty training in glaucoma at the Oxford Eye Hospital and Moorfield’s Eye Hospital.

During this time he conducted research on the use of novel anti-scarring agents in glaucoma surgery and the surgical management of co-existing cataract and glaucoma, publishing a number of original articles and reviews in top-ranking clinical ophthalmology journals and presenting data at several UK and European clinical meetings. He was an invited speaker at the Royal Society of Medicine in 2003. Following the completion of his clinical training, he was awarded a prestigious scholarship to undertake a DPhil at Oxford University in the Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology. He chose to study aspects of ocular neuroprotection, with particular relevance to glaucoma and ischaemic retinopathies. He was awarded the DPhil in May 2004 and produced a number of first-author publications related to the doctoral research.

He returned to Adelaide in July 2004 to take up a position as a Senior Visiting Ophthalmologist in the Department of Ophthalmology, Royal Adelaide Hospital, and Head of Unit of the Lyell McEwin Ophthalmology Department. In addition, he is currently Director of Research in the Department and is the Director of the recently established Ophthalmic Research Laboratories in the Hanson Institute, University of Adelaide.

Dr Casson has been an invited speaker and chairman at neuroprotection-based symposia at the European Vision and Eye Research meetings and was an invited plenary speaker at the Sri Lankan Congress of Ophthalmologists meeting in Colombo 2005.

He is an invited Visiting Professor at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital 2006 programme. He is a reviewer for multiple ophthalmic journals and is a section editor for Clinical & Experimental Ophthalmology (Glaucoma Science).

Dr Casson has published over 40 peer-reviewed articles. The majority of publications are in the highest ranking journals for the field. Dr Casson was recently promoted to Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Adelaide and is a board member of the Ophthalmic Research Institute of Australia.

Research Interests

Dr Casson is involved with all aspects of glaucoma research, including laboratory-based, clinical and epidemiological research. He has published over 40 publications in the field of ophthalmology, particularly in glaucoma surgery and neuroprotection. Recently, his research interests have extended to ophthalmic epidemiology, and he has recently been involved as Chief Investigator on the Meiktila Eye Study, a large scale, population-based epidemiological study in central Myanmar, and is conducting a similar project in central Sri Lanka.