Stephanie Watson

About Stephanie Watson

Head of the Corneal Research Group, Save Sight Institute, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney; Head of the Corneal Unit, Sydney Eye Hospital; Chair of Australian Vision Research, Vice Chair of the NSW Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists, Australia

Make a bold prediction for the future of ophthalmology.

In the future, I hope to see research become a part of the everyday practice in ophthalmology – this would include the routine collection and analysis of patient reported outcomes. Of course, data will be essential. Data would enable not just the efficacy and safety of treatments to be understood, but for inequity in treatment access to be addressed, which could, in turn, increase the uptake of evidence-based care. With this, ophthalmologists would soon become leaders in healthcare as they would see real-time outcomes of treatments, have a deeper understanding of the patient perspective, and take on the task of ensuring equitable delivery of eye care.