Eye-health initiative wins in Google Impact Challenge

The Australian competition sought to fund non-profit innovators who had ideas of how to use technology to solve a probl and ‘make an impact’. It attracted approximately 600 applications.The Vision At Home (V@Home) syst was named one of five winners to receive a $750,000 grant. The syst comprises an evidence-based software algorithm that provides a method for patients to test their eyesight anywhere there is access to a webcam and the internet.The project was developed by Professor Mingguang He, principal investigator at the Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA) and professor of ophthalmic epidiology at the University of Melbourne, and his PhD student, Dr William Yan.“I am thrilled our proposal received such a positive response from the competition judges and the general public,” Prof He said. “Our project is a simple handheld solution for those who live far away from eye specialists and has the potential to help millions of people not only in Australia but worldwide.”Dr Yan commented, “V@Home was inspired by the Australian health gap, and how technology has already enabled and changed our lives in so many ways.“Less than 1% of eye specialists work in rote Australia, but almost all these areas have access to the internet. Improving the infrastructure to rote Australia is a lengthy and resource-intensive process, given Australia’s size and vastness, so teledicine is a shortcut and means of bridging the gap sooner.”In addition to increasing access to eye care in urban, rural, and rote communities, Dr Yan said V@Home would streamline and bring more targeted referrals to optometrists and ophthalmologists.“The syst can be used for post-operative monitoring so that the patients can test key outcome measures such as visual acuity at home, without needing to physically attend examinations at clinics,” he added.The project prototype was developed overseas over two years and Dr Yan said the priority now was to adapt the platform to suit Australian patients, with a goal of delivering the syst into communities over the next three years.“We’ve experienced a trendous amount of support and encouragent from the public and the team at Google,” Dr Yan stated. “It’s been an amazing journey so far and we look forward to delivering V@Home to power people to take control of their sight and to see better tomorrow.”CERA plans to trial the technology with post-operative patients from Melbourne’s Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, with elderly and disability patients across Victoria, and in schools across indigenous communities.