Professor Dao-Yi Yu AM has been awarded the prestigious inaugural Byron Kakulas medal.
The award is for innovators who have changed the face of medical research, clinical practice, service delivery or community outreach to improve the health and wellbeing of the Western Australia community.
L-R Professor Bill Morgan (on Professor Yu’s behalf), Professor Steve Wilton, Valerie Kakulas, Governor Dawson, Steve Arnott (Perron Institute CEO), Professor Britta Regli-von Ungern-Sternberg, Professor Lee Yong Lim and Associate Professor David Sommerfield (PHOTO CREDIT AMMON CREATIVE).
Professor Yu led his research team (Professor Bill Morgan, Professor Paula Yu, Professor Stephen Cringle and Dean Darcey) to invent a glaucoma treatment system that would cause minimal damage to the eye yet create long term fluid drainage. The XEN® Gel Stent invention revolutionised glaucoma treatment globally and has been implanted into over 100,000 patients worldwide since approval by the FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) in 2016.
With his invention, Professor Yu simplified what was once a very invasive procedure with long recovery times and high rates of failure, transforming it into the most minimally invasive surgical technique with proven long term effectiveness.
Professor Yu has worked with the Lions Eye Institute since 1984, and now leads the Physiology and Pharmacology research group. His main areas of research include diagnostics and therapeutics for retinal diseases and glaucoma.
The Byron Kakulas medal honours the late distinguished neuropathologist Emeritus Professor Byron Kakulas AO, founding Director of WA’s Perron Institute.
Below video: the individual winner of the Byron Kakulas Medal, Professor Dao-Yi Yu AM and Professor Bill Morgan
