Biography

Dr Tham is a clinically trained-optometrist with PhD training in ocular epidemiology from the National University of Singapore (NUS). He is currently an Assistant Professor (tenure-track) at the Department of Ophthalmology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS. His other positions and portfolios include: Population Data Science Co-lead and Optometry Education Program Director for the Centre of Innovation & Precision Eye Health, NUS
and Clinician Scientist at the Singapore Eye Research Institute.
His research scope focuses on digital health, generative AI, visual impairment, age-related eye diseases, and ocular imaging. As project PI, he drives new AI-related projects, develop new AI solutions to screen for visual impairment and major age-related eye diseases in the community. These AI projects involve both upstream development and downstream implementation evaluations. In the area of epidemiology, he is one of the founding members of the Asian Eye Epidemiology Consortium (AEEC), and a core member of the landmark Singapore Epidemiology of Eye Diseases (SEED) study.
To date, Dr Tham has published over 250 peer-reviewed scientific papers in notable journals such as Nature Medicine, Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology, Lancet Digital Health, Nature Biomedical Engineering, Nature Aging, Ophthalmology, JAMA Ophthalmology etc. His past accolades include the the NUS' President Graduate Fellowship Award, and the National Medical Research Council's Transition Award (TA) and HPHSR Clinician Scientist Award (HCSA). Since 2021, he has been named as one of the top 2% most cited scientist worldwide (by Stanford University). He is also listed in the Global Optometrist Top 200 Research Ranking (ranked 60th worldwide, 3rd in Asia).