Three Australian academics in a group of global myopia experts have contributed to a collection of white papers presenting the latest research, recommendations and updates in the field.
Professor Padmaja Sankaridurg from the Brien Holden Vision Institute (BHVI), Professor Ian Morgan from Australian National University (ANU), and Dr Monica Jong from the University of Canberra have each been involved in authoring the International Myopia Institute’s (IMI) much-anticipated 2021 white papers.
Sankaridurg is chair of the IMI Impact of Myopia Taskforce and White Paper, Morgan is chair of the Environmental Risk factors in Myopia Taskforce and White Paper, and Jong is co-chair of the Yearly Digest Taskforce and White Paper.
The IMI’s 2021 white papers have been released in a special issue of the peer-reviewed Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science (IOVS) journal, following the first series published in 2019 through IOVS.
Founded by BHVI as a non-profit project, the IMI is a global group of experts committed to advancing myopia research and education, to prevent future blindness.
Jong, executive director of the IMI, said practitioners, researchers, industry and peak health bodies will find the 2021 white papers valuable.
“The original IMI 2019 white papers helped change the way clinicians thought of myopia – as an ocular condition versus a purely refractive issue – the latest IMI 2021 white papers continue to build on the evidence-base for implementing myopia management,” Jong said.
“Collaboration between all eyecare stakeholders is the key to advancing research, awareness and making clinical management affordable and accessible to all children with myopia.”
The complete IMI 2021 white papers include:
- IMI 2021 Reports and Digest – Reflections on the Implications for Clinical Practice (chair James Wolffsohn, Aston University)
- IMI Impact of myopia (chair Padmaja Sankaridurg, BHVI)
- IMI environmental risk factors in myopia (chair Ian Morgan, Australian National University)
- IMI accommodation and binocular vision in myopia development and progression (chair Nicola Logan, Aston University)
- IMI Pathologic myopia (chair Kyoko Ohno-Matsui, Tokyo Medical and Dental University)
- IMI Prevention of myopia and its progression (chair Jost B. Jonas, Heidelberg University)
- IMI Yearly Digest 2021 (Chairs Monica Jong, University of Canberra, and Earl Smith, University of Houston)
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