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About
Dr Jennifer Fan Gaskin
Research Fellow, Ocular Fibrosis
Dr Jennifer Fan Gaskin is a clinician-scientist glaucoma specialist and leads CERA’s ocular fibrosis research.
Dr Jennifer Fan Gaskin
Research Fellow, Ocular Fibrosis
MBChB, MD, FRANZCO
Dr Jennifer Fan Gaskin leads ocular fibrosis research at CERA and is a Consultant Ophthalmologist at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital (RVEEH).
She was awarded the prestigious Clinical Research Training Fellowship (Health Research Council NZ) in 2007 for her Doctorate in Medicine research (Keratoconus: Novel Investigations of the Diseased Cornea).
Following vocational training, she undertook two years of glaucoma fellowships (2013 – 2014) in Auckland and Melbourne respectively, and was actively recruited to join the Glaucoma Unit at RVEEH and CERA.
Dr Fan Gaskin’s current research focus is on developing an effective and safe method of controlling postoperative scarring in glaucoma surgery to prevent glaucoma blindness.
She is active in teaching ophthalmology registrars and glaucoma fellows at RVEEH. She has also supervised two University of Melbourne (UoM) MD Elective students and is currently supervising a MPhil (UoM) student.
In addition, she is a member of the Glaucoma Australia Ophthalmology committee, a Director of the Ophthalmic Research Institute of Australia, a board member of the Australian and New Zealand Glaucoma Society, the Victorian Representative of the RANZCO Continuing Professional Development Committee, a reviewer for the RANZCO Scientific Program Committee, and an examiner for the RANZCO Ophthalmic Basic Competencies and Knowledge Examination.
Key research questions
- How can we make glaucoma surgery safer and more effective?
- What are new methods of treating glaucoma?
Current projects
Selected publications
My team
Key collaborators
Funding and support
Current projects
Finding novel ways to reduce post-operative scarring in glaucoma patients.
While glaucoma filtration surgery is effective, the operation has a high rate of failure due to scarring. The current anti-scarring agents that are used are nonspecific, chemotherapy agents that have unfavourable risks. Our goal is to develop a more specific, less toxic, and clinically effective anti-scarring agent to improve the safety and efficacy of glaucoma surgery.
The availability of such an agent would also help improve the long-term benefit of the recently launched minimally- invasive glaucoma surgical devices. These devices are less invasive than traditional glaucoma surgery and have resulted in earlier adoption of surgery. However, it has already become evident that post-operative scarring is substantially reducing the long-term benefit of these devices and the manufacturers are actively seeking improved methods of fibrosis control.
Selected publications
Fan Gaskin JC, Nguyen DQ, O’Connor J, Ang GS, Crowston JG. Wound healing modulation in glaucoma filtration surgery – conventional practices and new perspectives. Part II: Anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) and novel agents. J Curr Glaucoma Pract 2014; 8(2):46-53. DOI: 10.5005/jp-journals-10008-1160
Fan Gaskin JC, Nguyen DQ, O’Connor J, Ang GS, Crowston JG. Wound healing modulation in glaucoma filtration surgery – conventional practices and new perspectives. Part I: The role of anti-fibrotic agents. J Curr Glaucoma Pract 2014; 8(2):37-45. doi: 10.5005/jp-journals-10008-1159
Fan Gaskin JC, Sandhu SS, Walland MJ. The Victorian Trabeculectomy Audit. Clin Experiment Ophthalmol. 2017 Sep;45(7):695-700. DOI: 10.1111/ceo.12948
Keel S, Xie J, Foreman J, Lee P, Alwan M, Fahy E, van Wijngaarden P, Fan Gaskin J, Ang GS, Crowston J, Taylor HR, Dirani M. The Prevalence of Glaucoma in the Australian National Eye Health Survey. Br J Ophthalmol. 2018 Apr 26. pii: bjophthalmol-2017-311786. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjophthalmol-2017-311786
Foreman J, Xie J, Keel S, van Wijngaarden P, Sandhu SS, Ang GS, Fan Gaskin J, Crowston J, Bourne R, Taylor HR, Dirani M. The Prevalence and Causes of Vision Loss in Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians: The National Eye Health Survey. Ophthalmology. 2017 Dec;124(12):1743-1752. DOI: 10.1016/j.ophtha.2017.06.001
See more publications
My team
- Dr Elsa Chan – Research Fellow
- Dr Manisha Shah – Research Fellow
Key collaborators
- OccuRx
- PolyActiva
- Glaukos
Funding and support
Thank you to the following organisations for their support:
- Ophthalmic Research Institute of Australia Research Grant
Contact Dr Jennifer Fan Gaskin
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