Allen Foster Community Eye Health Research Centre
We conduct large-scale community studies to understand the prevalence, causes, and socioeconomic impacts of visual impairment. Activities predominantly focuses on epidemiological research around visual impairment, uncorrected refractive errors, and presbyopia.
Visual impairment in vulnerable populations especially the elderly is another core area of research. Recent research work included elderly living in residential care investigated falls, fear of falling, visual function, multimorbidity, depression, dual sensory loss, and cognition resulting in a series of publications in peer-reviewed journals.
Active projects
A randomised controlled trial designed to assess the impact and cost-effectiveness of glasses on cognitive decline and quality of life among the elderly in India.
With funding from Lion Clubs International Foundation (LCIF) – Sight First Research grant, this RARE study will help understand the unmet need for spectacles in Liberia, and potentially offer a sense of demand in the West African region.
What are the barriers to reaching a secondary level eye care service centre after a referral? Funded by IHOPE, the project will analyze the qualitative reasons for why people don’t want to follow-up on a referral, despite needing care.
The TOES study will undertake a medical review and follow up with the target population, the Dongaria Kondhs, who need screening and treatment. It will help us understand the characteristics of disease prevalence and provide a sustainable treatment for this vulnerable tribal group.
Principal Investigators
Dr Rohit C Khanna is the Network Director for the Public Health Unit at LVPEI’s Gullapalli Pratibha Rao International Centre for Advancement of Rural Eye Care (GPR ICARE). He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, USA, and a Conjoint Associate Professor at the University of New South Wales, Australia.
An active participant in several working groups of the International Agency for Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) and World Health Organization (WHO), Dr Khanna serves as the IAPB Regional Chair for the South-East Asia region. His areas of clinical interest are cataract and glaucoma.
Dr. Srinivas Marmamula is the Network Associate Director – Public Health Research and Training at LVPEI. He is the principal investigator for ‘The Hyderabad Ocular Morbidity in Elderly Study (HOMES)’ (2017-2020). He is also a faculty member at Brien Holden School of Optometry and Vision Science.
Dr. Marmamula is rated among the top 200 Optometry researchers globally and ranked first in India in 2023. His areas of interest are epidemiology of visual impairment, uncorrected refractive errors, presbyopia, eye health in the elderly and other vulnerable populations and training personnel for community eye care.