January 2019 (SINGAPORE) – We have a superstar! IGARD’s Rahjee Muthukumaran was featured on Mediacorp’s Vasantham TV channel. She provided expert opinion on Myopia Control, Orthokeratology and Vision Therapy. Rahjee was previously the Head of Orthoptics and Vision Therapy at Sankara Nethralaya Eye Hospital in India. She has many years of working experience in the U.S. and Singapore.
April 2019 (USA) – IGARD’s Dr Yap Tiong Peng was a speaker at the College of Optometrists in Vision Development (COVD) Annual Meeting in Kansas City, USA. This is the largest international meeting on vision therapy where doctors throughout the world get-together to be updated with the latest research and to share their knowledge and clinical expertise so as to provide the best outcomes for patients.
May 2019 (USA) – IGARD’s Dr Yap Tiong Peng published “Electrophysiological and Psychophysical Studies of Meridional Anisotropies in Children With and Without Astigmatism” on Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science (IOVS) – this is the world’s leading ophthalmic journal by the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO). His publication was supported by the ARVO Publications Grant and his research was highlighted as a “hot topic” – fewer than 5 to 8% of research each year are awarded these accolades at ARVO. Download full article HERE
June 2019 (MANILA & USA) – IGARD’s Dr Yap Tiong Peng attended the Asia Pacific Optometric Conference in Manila, Philippines. Dr Yap is a clinician-scientist who has a special interest in Vision Therapy. He is a reviewer of Clinical and Experimental Optometry – a scientific publication by Wiley. He was recently invited to write a book chapter on the 2020 issue of Advances in Ophthalmology and Optometry (Vol. 5, 2020; Published by Elsevier), which reviews of the most current clinical practices in both ophthalmology and optometry.
July 2019 (AUSTRALIA) – IGARD’s Dr Yap Tiong Peng was awarded a PhD by the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia, for his research thesis entitled “Electrophysiology and psychophysics of children with newly diagnosed refractive (non-strabismic) amblyopia and the effect of optical treatment”. His PhD thesis was rated Excellent and Outstanding by his examiners and he received a nomination for the Dean’s Award. His research supports the recommendation that all future clinical trials of amblyopia treatments must have an optical-treatment-phase prior to the actual clinical trial.
July 2019 (WALES, UK) – IGARD’s Senior Consultant and Vision Therapist Isobelle Wong was awarded a Master of Arts degree in Special Educational Needs from the University of Wales in the U.K. Trained in the U.K. as an optometrist, Isobelle graduated with a BSc (Honours) degree in Optometry from Glasgow in 2002. She subsequently developed a special interest in Vision Therapy and Special Educational Needs. Her dedication and professionalism in caring for children with special needs can be observed in work at IGARD. To find out more about Vision and Learning:
Download HERE (Review article by IGARD’s Dr Yap Tiong Peng on Dyslexia and Vision)
Download HERE (Newspaper interview of Dr Yap Tiong Peng on How Vision impacts Learning)
August 2019 (AUSTRALIA) – Is astigmatism correction important for classroom performance?
Here’s a recent article published by a research group from Brisbane on Clinical and Experimental Optometry. They have quoted Dr Yap’s recent publication on IOVS (Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, May 2019) which indicated that astigmatic school-age children have poorer low-contrast grating acuity and visual evoked potentials. It is evident from research that even low degrees of astigmatism (0.50 D) may benefit from correction in school-aged children.
Download HERE (PubMED)
September 2019 (SINGAPORE) – IGARD’s Senior Consultant Rachel Kelly was the chairperson of the Cornea and Specialty Contact Lens Accreditation Course – an advanced program targeted at experienced optometrists and ophthalmologists. The course was organized by Singapore International Eye Cataract Retina Centre at Farrer Park Hospital. Rachel is adept in attending to corneal patients. She has several years of experience in clinical practice, including Moorfields Eye Hospital in London. Speakers for the course were Dr Richard Wu (Pacific University, USA), Connie Tsung (Taiwan) and Dr Por Yong Ming (Ophthalmic Consultants at Mt Elizabeth Hospital). They covered a range of topics, including cornea ectasia, keratoconus and the prescribing of Scleral, Corneal and Hybrid contact lenses.
September 2019 (CHINA) – IGARD’s Dr Yap Tiong Peng was invited to speak on Paediatric Orthokeratology and Myopia Control during the 24th Congress of Chinese Ophthalmological Society. The conference was held in Suzhou, China.
October 2019 (KOREA) – IGARD’s Dr Yap Tiong Peng presented his research during the Paediatric Ophthalmology & Neuro-Ophthalmology Symposium at the International Society for Clinical Electrophysiology of Vision, held on 8 October 2019 in Seoul, South Korea. The symposium was chaired by Prof James Odom (West Virginia University, U.S.A.) and Dr Dorothy Thompson (University College London, U.K.). His presentation, entitled “Electrophysiological and psychophysical effect of optical treatment in children with refractive amblyopia”, was also published as an abstract on the world’s leading scientific journal – Documenta Ophthalmologica.
November 2019 (FLORIDA, USA) – TRIPLE AWARDS !!! IGARD’s Dr Yap Tiong Peng received a total of three awards this month – from the American Academy of Optometry (AAO) and the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO). (1) He was awarded the Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry (FAAO) for his clinical practice of optometry. The FAAO is a professional title that signifies that rigorous qualifications for the fellowship have been met. (2) He is a recipient of the 2019 AAO Travel Fellowship for his research on children amblyopia. (3) He was selected for the ARVO Publications Grant for his upcoming original scientific paper on refractive amblyopia on Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science (IOVS). It is the second time for Dr Yap to receive this competitive grant.
