The VHRN clinical research platform
The goals of the clinical research platform are to better understand the epidemiology and consequences of eye disease and to improve patient care. This platform benefits from the expertise of ocular epidemiologist, Ellen Freeman, ophthalmologist-epidemiologists, M-J Aubin, G. Li, and H. Boisjoly, and optometrist-epidemiologist, J. Gresset.
Drs Freeman and Boisjoly are currently conducting a prospective cohort study of the mobility and health impacts of eye disease. Their goal is to use knowledge from this project to develop interventions that can help people with eye disease to remain active in society and to enjoy a good quality of life. Dr. Li is conducting research to better understand the causes of glaucoma progression. Drs Boisjoly, Aubin, and Gresset have examined wait times for various ocular procedures in an effort to make the system more efficient.
Members of this platform make up a large part of the expertise in the clinical research of vision in Canada. One of our future goals is to develop a statistical core facility to encourage eye care clinicians to become more involved in doing research.