Professor Stephanie Watson

Professor Stephanie Watson OAM

BSc(Med) (Hons I), MBBS (Hons I), PhD, FRANZCO

“Improving lives through restoring sight and ocular comfort is the focus of my practice. Understanding the unique issues of each person allows me to tailor treatments to their needs.”

Profile:

Professor Stephanie Watson is an eye surgeon specialising in cataract, corneal and laser surgery; with expertise in eye disease in adults and children. Her sub-specialty training was completed at Moorfield’s Eye Hospital, London and Manchester Royal Eye Hospital, UK and her PhD was awarded for developing a novel dry eye therapy.

As an international leader in research and innovation she is appointed as a Professor at the Save Sight Institute, The University of Sydney. She has over 200 publications, holds international patents and is invited to speak internationally.

Prof Watson has appointments at Sydney Eye Hospital, Sydney Children’s Hospital, Prince of Wales Hospital and the Sydney Surgical Centre, the. She is Head of the Corneal Unit at the Sydney Eye Hospital

Prof Watson is Chair of the Ophthalmic Research Institute of Australia, Editor for the Cochrane Eyes and Vision Group, and a member of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists. She is an expert advisor to the $150 million Stem Cell Therapies Mission , Chair-elect to the Association for Vision in Research and Ophthalmology (ARVOs) Advocacy and Outreach Committee and was invited to be a Fellow of the Academy of Asia-Pacific Professors of Ophthalmology.

She was awarded the Premier’s Prize for Leadership in Innovation in NSW. Prof Watson was nominated for a Care and Compassion medal in the Pride of Australia awards. She led her team to first prize in the Best Health Innovation Product Idea, IDE group and was awarded first prize for the Medical Device Commercialisation Training Program, ATP Innovations and the NSW Office for Health and Medical Research. She received the Gustav Nossal Medical and Dental Post-graduate Research NHMRC scholarship; this is awarded to the highest ranked applicant. She was awarded the ‘Les is more’ grand final award, episode winner and people’s choice award on The New Inventors, ABC Television, for developing a stem cell therapy.

Cataract Surgery

  • She has extensive experience in cataract surgery including more complicated cases and optimising vision
  • She will ensure that you are diagnosed correctly and that receive the treatment appropriate to your individual condition, including the correct choice of lens from the many options available.
  • She has been selected by the Royal Australian & New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists to train doctors performing cataract surgery.

Corneal Transplantation

  • Stephanie is a corneal specialist with experience in the range of options available to treat your specific condition to ensure you achieve the optimal visual outcome. As a specialist, she is often sought out for second opinions or referred complicated cases.
  • She has an international reputation for her innovative research on corneal surgery.
  • She trains local and international doctors in corneal surgery including all forms of transplantation (penetrating grafts, endothelial grafts (DMEK, DSEK) and lamellar grafts)

Keratoconus (Cross-Linking)

  • Stephanie is a corneal specialist and understands the complete range of options available to treat your specific condition to ensure you achieve the optimal visual outcome. As a specialist, she is often sought out for second opinions or referred complicated cases.
  • She uses the latest cross-linking equipment to ensure that your procedure is as comfortable as possible.
  • To track outcomes in keratoconus she has developed a world-first registry that is utilised by specialists across the globe

Dry Eye Management

  • Prof Watson specialises in dry eye and has assisted countless patients in improving their symptoms.
  • She is also involved in leading research into the condition and her opinion is frequently sought by industry on advisory boards.

Expertise in:

Public Hospital Appointments:

  • Sydney Eye Hospital – Head of Corneal Unit
  • Prince of Wales Hospital
  • Sydney Children’s Hospital

Teaching:

  • The University of Sydney

     

Research:

  • Save Sight Institute- University of Sydney
  • Ophthalmic Research Institute of Australia – Chair

Publiations:

The Effect of Different Digital Displays on the Ocular Surface – (PracticeUpdatewebsite, Dec 2020)

The role we all have to play in keratoconus – (Insight News, Nov 2020)

Keraclub 2020 – (MiVision Journal, MiNews Aug 2020)

Clearing corneas and restoring vision – (Stem Cell Australia, December 2019)

Stem Cell Research – (Stem Cell Australia, youtube 2019)

Progressing the long-term plan for stem cell research – (MRRF Stem Cell Mission announcement October 2019)

New hope for viral conjunctivitis sufferers – (Channel 7 news, Viral conjunctivitis September 2019)

See your way to a healthy diet. (Vitamania the movie. Genepool productions. 2018 Expert adviser to the film)

Educational videos:

Patient information:

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