Professor Balaratnasingam is a consultant ophthalmologist with subspecialty expertise in medical and surgical diseases of the retina.  He was awarded his medical degree with Honours and his PhD with Distinction from the University of Western Australia.  He undertook specialist training in ophthalmology in Western Australia after which he completed 3 years of post-fellowship sub-specialty training in retina diseases in North America. This included training at the University of British Columbia, Canada, Vitreous-Retina-Macula Consultants of New York, USA and Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital, USA.  Following fellowship training, Professor Balaratnasingam was appointed to clinical faculty at New York University School of Medicine, USA where he worked as a vitreoretinal surgeon prior to returning to Australia.  He has over 20 years of research experience in ophthalmology and has published over 130 scientific manuscripts and over 10 book chapters in key retina texts.  His research expertise is in the field of retinal vascular diseases with a focus on diabetic retinopathy.  Over his career, Professor Balaratnasingam has been awarded over $4 million dollars in research funding including highly competitive grants from the NHMRC.  He is an active clinical investigator and serves as the principal investigator on multiple pharma-sponsored clinical trials and investigator initiated studies that evaluate new treatments for macular degeneration and diabetes-related retina diseases.  Professor Balaratnasingam is a member of The Macula Society and The Retina Society.  Both are prestigious societies where membership is by invitation-only and extended to those with an established track record of clinical, surgical and research excellence in retina diseases. 

Roles and Responsibilities

Professor Balaratnasingam teaches clinical ophthalmology at undergraduate, fellowship and post-fellowship levels at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and The University of Western Australia. 

He is the Director of Training for the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (RANZCO).  In that role he is responsible for the selection, supervision and examination of registrars that undertake the specialist training programme in Ophthalmology in the Western Australia network.  Professor Balaratnasingam is also the co-director of the international vitreoretinal surgery fellowship programme at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital.  Through this programme he continues to train the next generation of retina specialists.  His previous fellows have returned to practice at prominent tertiary centres in the USA, Canada, Switzerland, India and Australia. 

Professor Balaratnasingam serves on the editorial board of the journals Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology, Ophthalmology Science and Retina Cases and Brief Reports.  Associate Professor Balaratnasingam has an established track record in laboratory research on diabetic retinopathy and continues to perform original studies in this field as well as supervise PhD and post-doc students for a range of research programmes at the Lions Eye Institute.

2001:  AMA J.G. Hunter Research Fellowship

Sponsor: Australian Medical Association

Value: $20,000

Role: Principal investigator

2001:  WB MacDonald Scholarship in Paediatrics

Sponsor: Princess Margaret Hospital for Children

Value: $15,000

Role: Principal investigator

2002:  Robert Vandongen Research Scholarship

Sponsor: Royal Perth Hospital

Value: $15,000

Role: Principal investigator

2005-2008:  Athelstan and Amy Saw Medical Research Scholarship

Sponsor: The University of Western Australia

Value: $120,000

Role: Principal investigator

2005-2008:  Medical Post-Graduate Research Scholarship

Sponsor: National Health and Medical Research Council Australia

Value: $150,000

Role: Principal investigator

2009:  ORIA/RANZCO EYE FOUNDATION GRANT

Sponsor: Ophthalmic Research Institute of Australia

Value: $180,000

Role: Sub-investigator

2014–2015:  RANZCO Eye Foundation/Bayer Medical Retina Scholarship

Sponsor: Bayer and RANZCO

Value: $50,000

Role: Principal investigator

2014–2015:   Allergan/RANZCO Study Scholarship                          

Sponsor: Allergan and RANZCO

Value: $15,000

Role: Principal investigator

2014–2015:  MIGA Doctors in Training Grant

Sponsor: The Medical Insurance Group

Value: $10,000

Role: Principal investigator

2016–2017:   Near-Miss Merit Grant

Sponsor: WA Department of Health

Value: $50,000

Role: Principal investigator

2017:  Ray Florence Shaw Grant

Sponsor: Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital

Value: $30,000

Role: Principal investigator

2018–2019:  Raine priming Grant

Sponsor: Raine Medical research Foundation

Value: $140,000

Role: Principal investigator

2019-2020:  Ray Florence Shaw Grant

Sponsor: Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital

Value: $30,000

Role: Principal investigator

2019-2021:  Investigator Initiated Research Grant

Sponsor: Bayer, Australia

Value: $340,000

Role: Principal investigator

2021-2022:  Equipment Grant

Sponsor: National Health and Medical research Council of Australia

Value: $50,000

Role: Co-Principal investigator

2021-2026:  Investigator Initiated Research Grant

Sponsor: Stan Perron Charitable Foundation

 Value: $ 2,425,000

 Role: Co-Principal investigator

2022-2023:  Investigator Initiated Research Grant

Sponsor: Perth Eye Foundation

Value: $ 50,000

Role: Principal investigator

2022-2023:  Investigator Initiated Research Grant

Sponsor: Telethon grant

Value: $ 89,000

Role: Principal investigator

2022-2023:  Investigator Initiated Research Grant

Sponsor: WA Near-miss Awards

Value: $ 52,000

Role: Principal investigator