Dr Charles Cleland

Clinical Research Fellow in Training

United Kingdom

Email
Charles

I am an ophthalmologist and clinical research fellow based at the International Centre for Eye Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Moorfields Eye Hospital.

My research interests are in blindness prevention and the application of new technologies to improve health care.

I was based in Tanzania (2022-2025) undertaking a PhD which implemented and evaluated the use of an artificial intelligence system to screen for diabetic retinopathy.

Prior to starting my clinical ophthalmology training in the UK, I was based in Tanzania from 2014-2016.

Affiliations

Department of Clinical Research

Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases

Teaching

I supervise MSc students and teach on the MSc Publich Health for Eye Care at LSHTM.

Research

Research Area

Randomised controlled trials

Clinical trials

Health systems

Health technology assessment

Diagnostics

Disease and Health Conditions

Eye health

Non-communicable diseases

Country

Tanzania

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa (all income levels)

Selected Publications

Independent and openly reported head-to-head comparative validation studies of AI medical devices: a necessary step towards safe and responsible clinical AI deployment.

CLELAND, CR; Tufail, A; Egan, C; Liu, X; Denniston, AK; Rudnicka, A; Owen, CG; Bascaran, C; BURTON, MJ;

2025

The Lancet. Digital health

Building the world's first truly global medical foundation model.

Tham, YC; Goh, JH L; Nderitu, P; Zhou, Y; Ran, AR; Srinivasan, S; Yang, GD; Kitema, GF; Rawlinson, P; Jiang, H; Zou, K; Cheung, CY; Keane, PA; Global RETFound Consortium,;

2025

Nature medicine

Machine learning derived retinal pigment score from ophthalmic imaging shows ethnicity is not biology.

Rajesh, AE; Olvera-Barrios, A; Warwick, AN; Wu, Y; Stuart, KV; Biradar, MI; Ung, CY; Khawaja, AP; Luben, R; Foster, PJ; CLELAND, CR; Makupa, WU; Denniston, AK; BURTON, MJ; BASTAWROUS, A; Keane, PA; Chia, MA; Turner, AW; Lee, CS; Tufail, A; Lee, AY; Egan, C; UK Biobank Eye and Vision Consortium,;

2025

Nature communications

Implementing an artificial intelligence system into a diabetic eye screening programme in Tanzania.

CLELAND, CR; Makupa, WU; Shilio, BR; Rwiza, J; MACLEOD, D; BASCARAN, C; BURTON, MJ;

2024

Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

Integrated image-based deep learning and language models for primary diabetes care.

Li, J; Guan, Z; Wang, J; Cheung, CY; Zheng, Y; Lim, L-L; Lim, CC; Ruamviboonsuk, P; Raman, R; Corsino, L; Echouffo-Tcheugui, JB; Luk, AO Y; Chen, LJ; Sun, X; Hamzah, H; Wu, Q; Wang, X; Liu, R; Wang, YX; Chen, T; Zhang, X; Yang, X; Yin, J; Wan, J; Du, W; ... Wong, TY.

2024

Nature medicine

Artificial intelligence-supported diabetic retinopathy screening in Tanzania: rationale and design of a randomised controlled trial.

CLELAND, CR; BASCARAN, C; Makupa, W; Shilio, B; Sandi, FA; PHILIPPIN, H; MARQUES, AP; Egan, C; Tufail, A; Keane, PA; Denniston, AK; MACLEOD, D; BURTON, MJ;

2024

BMJ open

Artificial intelligence for diabetic retinopathy in low-income and middle-income countries: a scoping review.

CLELAND, CR; Rwiza, J; EVANS, JR; GORDON, I; MACLEOD, D; BURTON, MJ; BASCARAN, C;

2023

BMJ open diabetes research & care

Artificial intelligence for DR screening.

CLELAND, C;

2023

Community eye health

Considerations for storing and managing retinal images.

CLELAND, C;