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Prof Andrew Bastawrous

Professor of Global Eye Health

United Kingdom

Professor Andrew Bastawrous OBE is an Ophthalmologist (Eye Surgeon), and Professor in Global Eye Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine where he teaches on public health for eye health and leads a research portfolio. Andrew is also the Co-Founder & CEO of Peek Vision Ltd and the parent charity The Peek Vision Foundation, a spin-out from LSHTM. The company is a social enterprise which develops smartphone technology and public health tools to help eye health organisations increase their impact.

Andrew has worked and undertaken research in over twenty countries including two years living in Kenya where he was leading a major eye disease study and the development and testing of Peek. He has published over 90 peer-reviewed articles focusing on international eye health and mobile technology in healthcare and has co-authored four book chapters. Andrew was made a TED Fellow in 2014 and has given two TED talks which have together been viewed over 2.75 million times.

Peek's end-to-end services (Peek Solutions) are being used to transform eye health in 12 low- and middle-income countries including Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, India, Nepal, Ethiopia, Botswana, South Africa, Zambia and Ghana with new programmes in development with government and International NGO partners and other eye care providers. Across 56 programmes, over ¼ million people are reached each month. Peek’s vision check app, Peek Acuity, launched on Google Play store in 2016 (nominated best social impact app by Google in 2017) which has been used in over 190 countries.

The work of Andrew and the Peek team has been recognised with generous awards including the Mazda Rebels with a Cause Prize in partnership with TED, the Gifted Citizen 2014 Award, the Index Design Award, and the Rolex Awards for Enterprise. Peek was voted “best social-impact start-up in Europe” by Google and McKinsey in 2016. All prize money has been re-invested in Peek.

Andrew has been listed as one of the world’s 30 most influential people in public health, was selected as a “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum, and is listed as an “Eye Health Leader” by the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness. In 2016 he received the Clearly Vision Life Time Achievement Award and was made a Rolex Laureate. In 2018 Andrew was made an Ashoka Fellow and UBS Global Visionary and in 2019 he was declared a “Champion of Change” in The Ophthalmologist magazine’s 2019 Power List.

In 2018, Andrew was invited to address the Commonwealth Service in the presence of the British Royal Family, Prime Minister, and a global live TV and radio audience. In his address, Andrew highlighted the transformative effects of regaining lost vision, and the importance of international collaboration in ending avoidable blindness and vision loss worldwide.

As part of Peek’s mission to bring vision and health to everyone, Andrew is working with major banks, eye health organisations and funders to develop innovative financing models for eye health, the subject of his 2018 TED Talk.

In 2023 Andrew was recognised in the King's Birthday Honours list with an OBE for services to eye health overseas.

In addition to his work as CEO of Peek, Andrew has worked with astrophysicists to crowdsource retinal data, with National Geographic explorers to reach isolated communities, and with artists and activists to advocate for eye care globally (Project Light). Together with his wife Madeleine, he is establishing a social enterprise micro-bakery model in Kenya that provides employment and healthy food opportunities for the mass market. He lives in the UK with his wife and three children.

Affiliations

Department of Clinical Research
Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases

Teaching

Module Organiser

Short Course Director

Regular teacher on various Masters and Diploma courses throughout the school

TED-Ed Educator

Research

Methods

Population-surveys

Adaptive trials

Community engagement

mHealth

Eye Health

Public Eye Health

Epidemiology

Research Area
Behaviour change
Child health
Clinical trials
Decision analysis
Diagnostics
Economic evaluation
Electronic health records
Equity
Evidence use
Global Health
Health impact analysis
Health inequalities
Health services research
Health systems
Health technology assessment
Mobile technologies
Epidemiology
GIS/Spatial analysis
Operational research
Capacity development
Randomised controlled trials
Primary health care
Disease and Health Conditions
Disability
Eye health
Country
Botswana
Egypt
India
Kenya
Pakistan
Sierra Leone
Tanzania
Uganda
Zimbabwe
Region
South Asia
Sub-Saharan Africa (all income levels)

Selected Publications

Development and Validation of a Smartphone-based Contrast Sensitivity Test.
Habtamu, E; BASTAWROUS, A; Bolster, NM; Tadesse, Z; Callahan, EK; Gashaw, B; MACLEOD, D; BURTON, MJ;
2019
Translational vision science & technology
Incidence of Visually Impairing Cataracts Among Older Adults in Kenya.
BASTAWROUS, A; Mathenge, W; Nkurikiye, J; WING, K; RONO, H; Gichangi, M; WEISS, HA; MACLEOD, D; FOSTER, A; BURTON, M; KUPER, H;
2019
JAMA network open
Smartphone-based screening for visual impairment in Kenyan school children: a cluster randomised controlled trial.
RONO, HK; BASTAWROUS, A; MACLEOD, D; Wanjala, E; Di Tanna, GL; WEISS, HA; BURTON, MJ;
2018
The Lancet Global health
Six-Year Incidence and Progression of Age-Related Macular Degeneration in Kenya: Nakuru Eye Disease Cohort Study.
BASTAWROUS, A; Mathenge, W; Peto, T; Shah, N; WING, K; RONO, H; WEISS, HA; MACLEOD, D; FOSTER, A; BURTON, M; KUPER, H;
2017
JAMA ophthalmology
The incidence of diabetes mellitus and diabetic retinopathy in a population-based cohort study of people age 50 years and over in Nakuru, Kenya.
BASTAWROUS, A; Mathenge, W; WING, K; Bastawrous, M; RONO, H; WEISS, HA; MACLEOD, D; FOSTER, A; Peto, T; Blows, P; BURTON, M; KUPER, H;
2017
BMC endocrine disorders
Six-Year Incidence of Blindness and Visual Impairment in Kenya: The Nakuru Eye Disease Cohort Study.
BASTAWROUS, A; Mathenge, W; WING, K; RONO, H; Gichangi, M; WEISS, HA; MACLEOD, D; FOSTER, A; BURTON, MJ; KUPER, H;
2016
Investigative ophthalmology & visual science
Clinical Validation of a Smartphone-Based Adapter for Optic Disc Imaging in Kenya.
BASTAWROUS, A; Giardini, ME; Bolster, NM; Peto, T; Shah, N; Livingstone, IA T; WEISS, HA; Hu, S; RONO, H; KUPER, H; BURTON, M;
2016
JAMA ophthalmology
Development and Validation of a Smartphone-Based Visual Acuity Test (Peek Acuity) for Clinical Practice and Community-Based Fieldwork.
BASTAWROUS, A; RONO, HK; Livingstone, IA T; WEISS, HA; JORDAN, S; KUPER, H; BURTON, MJ;
2015
JAMA ophthalmology
Near vision data and near correction requirements from community eye health programmes in nine countries.
Katibeh, M; Watts, E; Gichangi, M; Latorre-Arteaga, S; Bolster, NM; BASTAWROUS, A;
2024
Eye (London, England)
Rapid methods for identifying barriers and solutions to improve access to community health services: a scoping review
ALLEN, LN; Azab, H; Jonga, R; GORDON, I; Karanja, S; Thaker, N; EVANS, J; RAMKE, J; BASTAWROUS, A;
2023
BJGP open
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