Professor Chandra Balaratnasingam is a globally recognised clinician-scientist at the Lions Eye Institute, renowned for his contributions to the understanding and treatment of diabetic retinal diseases. In 2025, he was appointed Medical Director of the Institute, where he leads efforts to deliver world-class clinical care and advance pioneering ophthalmic research. As a member of the Board of Directors, he plays a vital role in shaping the strategic vision and direction of the Lions Eye Institute.
Professor Balaratnasingam has a longstanding research partnership spanning over 25 years with the Physiology and Pharmacology Laboratory at the Lions Eye Institute, led by Professor Dao-Yi Yu. His research is firmly rooted in translational science that bridges laboratory discoveries with clinical applications to improve outcomes for people with retinal diseases. He completed both his medical degree with Honours and PhD with Distinction at the University of Western Australia. His doctoral thesis, “The retinal ganglion cell axonal cytoskeleton and its significance in glaucoma and retinal diseases pathogenesis”, was awarded the prestigious Vice Chancellor’s Medal (Robert Street Prize). The Australian Academy of Science recognised the significance of his PhD work to the field of vision science, nominating him to represent Australia at the 65th Nobel Laureate Meeting in Medicine, Physiology, Physics, and Chemistry in Lindau, Germany in 2015.
Throughout his career, Professor Balaratnasingam has authored more than 150 peer-reviewed scientific publications and contributed 10 chapters to leading medical textbooks on retinal diseases. His work has been supported by over $5 million in competitive grant funding including the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), as well as from philanthropic and pharmaceutical sources. He currently serves on the editorial boards of several esteemed journals, including Ophthalmology Science, Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology, and Retinal Cases and Brief Reports.
Professor Balaratnasingam is the Principal Investigator of the Perron Paediatric Retinopathy Initiative at the Lions Eye Institute. This flagship program brings together a multidisciplinary team of clinicians and scientists working at the intersection of laboratory discovery and clinical application to prevent and treat diabetes-related vision loss in children. The Initiative exemplifies the Lions Eye Institute’s commitment to translational research, with cutting-edge experimental insights driving the development of new diagnostic technologies and therapies.
In addition to his academic and clinical leadership, Professor Balaratnasingam serves on advisory boards for major ophthalmic pharmaceutical companies, where he provides strategic guidance on therapeutic development and the evolving needs in retinal disease management.
Education/academic qualifications/roles responsibilities
Education
- 1997-2002
Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (Honours)
The University of Western Australia - 2005-2008
Doctor of Philosophy (Distinction).
Recipient of the Vice Chancellors Medal – Robert Street Prize.
Title of thesis: The retinal ganglion cell axonal cytoskeleton and its significance in glaucoma and retinal diseases pathogenesis.
The University of Western Australia
Qualifications
- Specialist Training in Ophthalmology
Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (RANZCO) - Fellowship training in Vitreoretinal Surgery
University of British Columbia, Canada - Fellowship training in medical and surgical diseases of the retina
Vitreous, Retina, Macula Consultants of New York and Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital, USA
Roles and responsibilities
- Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology, The University of Western Australia
- Medical Director of the Lions Eye Institute (2025 – Present)
- Director of the Retina and Ocular Inflammation Unit, the Lions Eye Institute (2024 – Present)
- Consultant vitreoretinal surgeon, the Lions Eye Institute and Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital
- QEC of the WA training network for the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (2023 – Present)
- Director of Training of the WA network for the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (2021 – 2023)
- Co-director of vitreoretinal surgery fellowship program at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital (2016 – Present)
Awards/Professional achievements
- More than 150 peer-reviewed scientific manuscripts
- Authored 10 book chapters in Retina and Physiology textbooks
- Principal Investigator of the Perron Paediatric Retinopathy Initiative (2021-Present)
- Principal or sub-investigator for more than 40 clinical trials
- Invited to attend the 65th meeting of Nobel Laureates in Medicine, Physiology, Physics and Chemistry in Lindau, Germany in 2015
- Advisory board member for ophthalmic pharmaceutical companies including Roche, Bayer, Novartis, Apellis, Abbvie and Astellas.
- Research published on journal front cover on 9 occasions including the journals Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Ophthalmology Retina, Diabetes and Brain Research.
Research papers that have been editorialised
- Balaratnasingam C, Morgan WH, Hazelton ML, House PH, Barry CJ, Chan H, Cringle SJ, Yu DY. Value of retinal vein pulsation characteristics in predicting increased optic disc excavation. Br J Ophthalmol. 2007;91:441-444
- Balaratnasingam C, Chae B, Remmer MH, Gomez E, Suzuki M, Engelbert M, Spaide The spatial profile of macular pigments is related to the topological characteristics of the foveal avascular zone. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2015;56(13):7859-65.
- Balaratnasingam C, Cherepanoff S, Dolz-Marco R, Killingsworth M, Chen FK, Mendis R, Mrejen S, Too LK, Gal-Or O, Curcio CA, Freund KB, Yannuzzi LA. Cuticular drusen: Clinical Phenotypes and Natural History Defined Using Multimodal Imaging. Ophthalmology 2018;125(1):100-118.
Journal issues with work appearing on the front cover
- Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science (August 2007)
- Brain Research (March 2009)
- Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science (June 2009)
- Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science (January 2010)
- Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science (June 2010)
- Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science (August 2015)
- Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science (October 2018)
- Ophthalmology Retina (2019).
Grants/scholarships/funding overview
- More than $5 million in research funding
- Competitive research funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC), Macular Disease Foundation of Australia (MDFA), Telethon Kids Institute, Raine Medical Research Foundation, RANZCO Eye Foundation, WA Department of Health and Perth Eye Foundation
- Philanthropic funding from the Stan Perron Charitable Foundation
- Investigator Initiated Research Funding from Bayer pharmaceuticals and Roche pharmaceuticals
Research Activity
Professor Balaratnasingam’s research is focused on understanding the mechanisms leading to vision loss in diabetic retinopathy. Diabetes mellitus is a silent pandemic in Australia and remains an important cause of irreversible vision loss in the working-age population. Professor Balaratnasingam combines his clinical expertise as a retina specialist together with laboratory-based investigational techniques to identify diagnostic and treatment strategies for diabetic retinopathy.
His research in the field of diabetic retinopathy follows three major streams:
- Understanding early biomarkers of retinal injury in diabetes though longitudinal study and non-invasive clinical imaging.
- Unravelling pathogenic mechanisms underlying neural-vascular-glial degeneration in diabetic retinopathy using laboratory techniques.
- Evaluating new treatment strategies for the retinal complications of diabetes through clinical trial.
Leading Publications
- Studies of the retinal microcirculation using human donor eyes and high-resolution clinical imaging: Insights gained to guide future research in diabetic retinopathy. Prog Retin Eye Res. 2023 May:94:101134. doi: 10.1016/j.preteyeres.2022.101134
- Interpericyte Tunneling Nanotubes Are Nonuniformly Distributed in the Human Macula. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2024 Nov 4;65(13):28. doi: 10.1167/iovs.65.13.28.
- Quantitative study of spatial and temporal variation in retinal capillary network perfusion in rat eye by in vivo confocal imaging. Sci Rep. 2023 Nov 2;13(1):18923. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-44480-1.
- Differentiating Microaneurysm Pathophysiology in Diabetic Retinopathy Through Objective Analysis of Capillary Nonperfusion, Inflammation, and Pericytes. Diabetes. 2022 Apr 1;71(4):733-746. doi: 10.2337/db21-0737.
- Correlation between histology and optical coherence tomography angiography of the macular circulation. Ophthalmology 2019 Nov;126(11):1588-1589. doi: 10.1016/j.ophtha.2019.05.022. Epub 2019 May 23
- Visual acuity is correlated with the area of the foveal avascular zone in diabetic retinopathy and retinal vein occlusion. Ophthalmology. 2016 Nov;123(11):2352-2367. doi: 10.1016/j.ophtha.2016.07.008. Epub 2016 Aug 11.
- TENAYA and LUCERNE Investigators. TENAYA and LUCERNE: Two-Year Results from the Phase 3 Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration Trials of Faricimab with Treat-and-Extend Dosing in Year 2. Ophthalmology. 2024 Aug;131(8):914-926. doi: 10.1016/j.ophtha.2024.02.014.
- Retinal ganglion cells: Energetics, compartmentation, axonal transport, cytoskeletons and vulnerability. Prog Retin Eye Res. 2013 Sep:36:217-46. doi:10.1016/j.preteyeres.2013.07.001. Epub 2013 Jul 23.
- Correlation of histological and clinical images to determine the diagnostic value of fluorescein angiography for studying retinal capillary detail. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2010 Nov;51(11):5864-9. doi: 10.1167/iovs.10-5333. Epub 2010 May 26.
- The structural relationship between the microvasculature, neurons, and glia in the human retina. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2010 Jan;51(1):447-58. doi: 10.1167/iovs.09-3978. Epub 2009 Jul 30.
