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Prof Cheng Ching-Yu

MD, MPH, PhD (USA)

Head, Ocular Epidemiology Research Group, Singapore Eye Research Institute

Research Interest:

Ocular Epidemiology
Genetic Epidemiology
Ocular Imaging

Research Appointments

Head, Ocular Epidemiology Research Group, Singapore Eye Research Institute
Head, Data Science Research Platform, Singapore Eye Research Institute

Academic Appointments

Associate Professor SingHealth Duke-NUS Ophthalmology ＆ Visual Sciences Academic Clinical Programme

Clinical Appointments

Senior Clinician Scientist Glaucoma Department Singapore National Eye Centre

Profile

Professor Cheng obtained his Doctor of Medicine degree in 1995 and specialist accreditation in Ophthalmology in 2001 from Taiwan. He received his fellowship training in Preventive Ophthalmology at Wilmer Eye Institute in the United States, and completed his Master of Public Health, and PhD in Genetic Epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins University. He was a glaucoma consultant in Taipei between 2003 and 2011 before moving to Singapore.

Professor Cheng’s primary research interests are related to the epidemiology and genetics of major eye diseases. His current work involves in a variety of epidemiological, clinical, and image research on glaucoma; and identification of susceptibility genes for complex ocular diseases, using both genome-wide association approaches and next-generation sequencing technology.

He directs the Singapore Epidemiology of Eye Diseases (SEED) Program, a large multi-disciplinary research program focusing on epidemiology, imaging and genetics on eye diseases in Singapore. The SEED program includes one of the largest epidemiological databases (n >10,000) for eye diseases in the world. The achievements of the SEED program have become visible via both a number of high-impact publications in the prestigious journals and the surging amount of new knowledge in prevention of blindness. The data have also been used widely by leading international agencies.

Professor Cheng is on the editorial board of several international journals, including British Journal of Ophthalmology, Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology, Translational Vision Science and Technology, and Ophthalmic Epidemiology. He has received a number of prestigious awards, including Clinician Scientist Award (CSA) from National Medical Research Council, Singapore in 2012 and 2017, the Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology (APAO) Achievement Award, APAO Outstanding Service in Prevention of Blindness Award, and American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) Achievement Award.

Professional Appointments and Committee Memberships

Associate Professor, Centre for Quantitative Medicine, Office of Research, Duke-NUS Medical School
Associate Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore
Section Editor, British Journal of Ophthalmology (2016 - present)
Section Editor, Ophthalmic Epidemiology (2016 - present)
Committee Member, Research Standing Committee, Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology (APAO) (2016 – present)
Editorial Board Member, Translational Vision Science & Technology (2014 - present)
Section Editor (Epidemiology), Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology (2014 - present)
Member, American Society of Human Genetics, USA (2006 - present)
Member, Taiwan Agency for Prevention of Blindness, Taiwan (2003 - present)
Member, Ophthalmological Society of Taiwan, Taiwan (2001 - present)
Member, Association for Research and Vision in Ophthalmology, USA (1999 - present)

Education

PhD (USA) (2009)
MPH (1997)
MD (1995)

Awards

Achievement Award, American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) (2017)
Clinician Scientist Award (Senior Investigator), National Medical Research Council, Singapore (2017)
Achievement Award, Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology (APAO) (2014)
Outstanding Service in Prevention of Blindness Award, Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology (APAO) (2014)
Clinician Scientist Award, National Medical Research Council, Singapore (2012)
NUHS Clinician Scientist Program Award, National University Health System, Singapore (2012)
Alpha Chapter of the Delta Omega Honour Society in Public Health, USA (2009)

Research Studies

Deep Phenotyping and Genetic Landscaping of Primary Open Angle Glaucoma (2017 – 2022)
Characterizing the Role of Iris Surface Features in Iris Sponginess and their relevance to Angle-Closure Glaucoma (2016-2019)
The Singapore Chinese Eye Study 2 (SCES-2) Prospective cohort study of 6-year incidence, risk factors, and impact of major age-related eye diseases (2015-2018)
Singapore Age-related Macular Degeneration Genetic Architecture (SAGA) Study: from Population Genomics to Personalized Medicine (2012-2016)
Iris and Choroidal Characteristics in Asian Eyes: Elucidating the Mechanism of Primary Angle Closure Glaucoma (2011-2014)

Publications

Tan NYQ, Tham YC, Koh V, Nguyen DQ, Cheung CY, Aung T, Wong TY, Cheng CY. The effect of testing reliability on visual field sensitivity in normal eyes: The Singapore Chinese eye study. Ophthalmology. 2018;125(1):15-21
Chua J, Thakku SG, Tun TA, Nongpiur ME, Tan MC, Girard MJ, Wong TY, Quah JH, Aung T, Cheng CY. Iris crypts influence dynamic changes of iris volume. Ophthalmology. 2016;123(10):2077-84
Tham YC, Liao J, Vithana EN, Khor CC, International Glaucoma Genetics Consortium, Teo YY, Tai ES, Wong TY, Aung T, Cheng CY. Aggregate effects of intraocular pressure and cup-to-disc ratio genetic variants on glaucoma in a multi-ethnic Asian population. Ophthalmology. 2015;122(6):1149-57
Tham YC, Li X, Wong TY, Quigley HA, Aung T, Cheng CY. Global prevalence of glaucoma and projections of glaucoma burden through 2040: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Ophthalmology. 2014;121(11):2081-90
Hysi PG*, Cheng CY*, Springelkamp H, Macgregor S, Bailey JN, Wojciechowski R, et al. Genome-wide analysis of multi-ancestry cohorts identifies new loci influencing intraocular pressure and susceptibility to glaucoma. Nature Genetics. 2014; 46(10):1126-30. [*Co-first author]
Ting DSW, Cheung CY, Lim G, Tan GSW, Quang ND, …, Cheng CY*, Cheung GCM*, Aung T*, Hsu W*, Lee ML*, Wong TY*. Development and validation of a deep learning system for diabetic retinopathy and related eye diseases using retinal images from multi-ethnic populations with diabetes. JAMA. 2017;318(22):2211-2223. [*Co-last author]
Chong YH, Fan Q, Tham YC, Gan A, Tan SP, Tan G, Wang JJ, Mitchell P, Wong TY, Cheng CY. Type 2 diabetes genetic variants and risk of diabetic retinopathy. Ophthalmology. 2017;124(3):336-342
Fan Q, Maranville JC, Fritsche L, Sim X, Cheung CMG, Chen LJ, …, Cheng CY. HDL-cholesterol levels and risk of age-related macular degeneration: a multi-ethnic genetic study using Mendelian randomization. International Journal of Epidemiology. 2017;46(6):1891-1902
Bailey JN, Loomis SJ, Kang JH, Allingham RR, Gharahkhani P, Khor CC, ..., Cheng CY, et al. Genome-wide association analysis identifies TXNRD2, ATXN2 and FOXC1 as susceptibility loci for primary open-angle glaucoma. Nature Genetics. 2016;48(2):189-94
Cheng CY, Yamashiro K, Chen LJ, Ahn J, Huang L, Huang L, et al. New loci and coding variants confer risk for age-related macular degeneration in East Asians. Nature Communications. 2015;6:6063
Chua J, Tham YC, Liao J, Zheng Y, Aung T, Wong TY, Cheng CY. Ethnic differences of intraocular pressure and central corneal thickness: The Singapore epidemiology of eye diseases study. Ophthalmology. 2014;121(10):2013-22
Sidhartha E, Gupta P, Liao J, Tham YC, Cheung CY, He M, Wong TY, Aung T, Cheng CY. Assessment of iris surface features and their relationship with iris thickness in Asian eyes. Ophthalmology. 2014;121(5):1007-12
Cheng CY, Allingham RR, Aung T, Tham YC, Hauser MA, Vithana EN, Khor CC, Wong TY. Association of common SIX6 polymorphisms with peripapillary retinal nerve fibre layer thickness: The Singapore Chinese eye study. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science. 2014;56(1):478-83
Wong WL, Su X, Li X, Cheung CMG, Klein R, Cheng CY,* Wong TY.* Global prevalence of age-related macular degeneration and disease burden projection for 2020 and 2040: A systematic review and meta-analysis. The Lancet Global Health. 2014;2(2):e106-16. [*Co-last author]
Cheng CY, Schache M, Ikram MK, Young TL, Guggenheim JA, Vitart V, et al. Nine loci for ocular axial length identified through genome-wide association studies, including shared loci with refractive error. American Journal of Human Genetics. 2013;93(2):264-77