Snow Vision Accelerator

Dr Katharina Bell

Katharina Bell is a clinician-scientist and senior lecturer at the University of Sydney and works as an Ophthalmologist at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. Her research focuses on understanding which factors contribute to making retinal ganglion cells more vulnerable with age and to work towards finding more targeted treatment options for different patient groups. She has expertise in both clinical and basic research and is passionate about performing translational research.

She obtained her medical degree in at the Johannes-Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany, where she also underwent her training in Ophthalmology. There, she also gained clinical trial experience covering trials in various ophthalmologic indications. She performed her basic research focused post-Doc at the CIB in Madrid and subsequently performed a Glaucoma Clinical Research Fellowship as SERI in Singapore. She transitioned to University of Sydney in January 2023.

Associate Professor Clare Fraser

Dr Clare Fraser is an ophthalmologist specialising in neuro-ophthalmology, strabismus and visual electrodiagnostics.   She is a consultant Visiting Medical Officer at both Sydney Eye Hospital and Liverpool Hospital, and is also in private practice in Sydney.  At the University of Sydney, she holds the title of Professor of Neuro-ophthalmology. 

She completed ophthalmic training at Sydney Eye Hospital in 2006-2009 and went on to further Neuro-ophthalmic training at Moorfields Eye Hospital and the National Hospital for Neurology, London, England with Dr Gordon Plant for 18 months.  In 2011 she completed a research fellowship at Emory Eye Centre, Atlanta, USA, with Drs Nancy Newman and Valerie Biousse.  

Dr Fraser is a board director of the Royal Australian and New Zeland College of Ophthalmologists and vice-president of The Neuro-Ophthalmology Society of Australia.

Professor Ridia Lim

Dr Ridia Lim is a senior ophthalmologist, glaucoma sub-specialist and head of the glaucoma unit at Sydney Eye Hospital. She is a clinical senior lecturer at the University of Sydney.

She is dedicated to delivering state of the art medical and surgical glaucoma care to all patients. She is passionate about teaching and has trained many glaucoma fellows from all over the world. She has delivered medical education nationally and internationally via her work with the Sydney Eye Hospital, University of Sydney, RANZCO and Sight For All. She has a strong interest in metabolic health.

She obtained her medical degree at the University of NSW and her Masters in Public Health at the University of Sydney. She furthered her training in Edinburgh and completed her glaucoma fellowship in Oxford, United Kingdom. She has been active in ANZGS, RANZCO and is the lead glaucoma visionary and board director of Sight for All. She is the current Chair of the Medical Staff Council at Sydney Eye Hospital.

Dr Andrea Loreto

Andrea is a neuroscientist and Research Fellow at the University of Sydney, where he leads the Axon Degeneration Laboratory at the Charles Perkins Centre. His research investigates how impaired energy metabolism contributes to optic nerve diseases, with the goal of developing new therapies to prevent vision loss. By combining fundamental neuroscience with translational research, his work aims to bridge the gap between laboratory discoveries and clinical applications. 

Andrea completed his BSc and MSc in medical biotechnology in Italy before earning his PhD from the University of Nottingham. He then undertook postdoctoral training at the University of Cambridge, where he was awarded an early career fellowship from the Wellcome Trust. As part of this fellowship, he continued his research at the Centre for Brain Repair in Cambridge and the Kavli Institute at the University of Oxford. In December 2023, he relocated to Australia to establish his own laboratory at the University of Sydney. 

Dr Volker Patzel

Volker is German chemist who received his Ph.D. from the Ruprecht Karls University in Heidelberg and his MBA from the Steinbeis University in Berlin. He was a postdoc at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg and then research group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin. He joined the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2009 under the NUS-Cambridge Scheme and is now senior lecturer at NUS. Since more than 30/15 years, his research focusses on RNA technologies/non-viral vectors and their applications towards gene therapy, mitochondrial gene therapy, and genetic vaccination. He is experienced with multidisciplinary R&D projects and pre-clinical drug development. He is a passionate educator who created, coordinates, and teaches multiple courses on biotechnology and entrepreneurship. He also has a strong interest in translational activities, filed 16 patent families and is (Co)-founder of 3 biotech companies in Germany and Singapore holding CSO, director, and chairman positions.

Associate Professor Ben Sivyer

Benjamin is a neuroscientist and Associate Professor at the University of Sydney, where he investigates how retinal circuits process visual information and how these processes are altered by disease. His research combines electrophysiology, neuronal imaging, and molecular tools to reveal how retinal ganglion cells encode the visual world and how these cells succumb to injury in conditions such as glaucoma. His expertise spans experimental and translational research, and he is equally passionate about scientific mentorship and fostering an inclusive environment for emerging scholars in the field.

He obtained his BSc (Hons) and PhD at the University of Queensland, where he studied under David Vaney at the Queensland Brain Institute. He subsequently completed postdoctoral fellowships with Stephen Williams (QBI), Gabe Murphy (HHMI Janelia Research Campus), and Rowland Taylor (OHSU Casey Eye Institute) before joining the faculty at OHSU in 2017. In 2025, he was recruited to the University of Sydney to advance translational research in optic nerve degeneration.

Professor Jean Yang

Jean Yang is an applied statistician with expertise in statistical bioinformatics and Professor of Statistics at the University of Sydney. She is currently the Director of the Sydney Precision Data Science and a NHRMC Investigator Leadership fellow. She was awarded the 2015 Moran Medal in statistics from the Australian Academy of Science in recognition of her work on developing methods for molecular data arising in cutting edge biomedical research. In 2022, she was elected a Senior Fellow of the Australian Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Society. Her research stands at the interface between medicine and methodology development and centres on the development of methods and the application of statistics to problems in -omics and biomedical research. 

  

  

  

  

Professor Ian Constable, AO MBBS D Med Sc FRANZCO FAHMS D Sc (Hons)

(Chair)

Ian is a medical graduate of the University of Sydney and trained in Ophthalmic surgery in Sydney at Prince Alfred Hospital and then in Boston at the Schepens Eye Institute, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School.

He lead all the preclinical development at the Harvard Cyclotron for treatment of Ocular tumors, since used for many thousands of patients with melanoma.

He was appointed as Professor and Chairman of Ophthalmology at the University of Western Australia in 1975. He founded the Lions Eye Institute, Perth in 1983, an independent research and clinical establishment now with 300 research, clinical and support staff. Having stepped down as Founding Director in 2009, he is now Patron.

He established a comprehensive retinal service for international patients from South East Asia, trained retinal specialist from numerous countries and was President of the Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology and the Asia Pacific Vitreoretinal Society.

Ian held National Health and Medical research grants continuously from 1976 until 2018. He helped project manage three programs from laboratory through preclinical to local clinical trials to FDA approvals and exits. These were a polymeric cornea, AAV gene therapy for macular degeneration listed on NASDAQ and the Zen glaucoma implant used world-wide.

Having ceased surgery from 2018 Ian continues to manage medical retinal patients, advises a listed biomedical gene therapy company, and philanthropic foundations committing substantial funds to biomedical translational research and its commercialisation.

Numerous awards include National entrepreneur of the year for not for profits, the Lang medal of the Royal Society of Medicine, the Anzac Peace prize for work in Asia,  medals from the Australian institute of engineers and the institute of company directors and Western Australian Citizen of the year.

Professor Melanie Bahlo AM FAHMS

Professor Melanie Bahlo AM FAHMS is the Laboratory Head of Statistical Genetics at The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI). As a distinguished senior leader at the institute, Professor Bahlo recently concluded her five-year tenure as the "Healthy Development and Ageing" Theme Leader, where she oversaw the scientific strategy for three divisions, including the Population Health and Immunity Division, which she co-founded in 2015.

With over two decades of experience as a bioinformatician and statistical geneticist, Professor Bahlo's research focuses on gene discovery and elucidating gene function. Her expertise lies in developing innovative bioinformatic methods and novel approaches for analyzing complex genetic datasets. These contributions have led to significant genetic discoveries in neuroscience, including the diagnostically crucial identification of new genes and genetic pathways implicated in various neurological and retinal disorders. Her work has advanced understanding of conditions such as epilepsy, ataxia, macular telangiectasia type 2 (MacTel), speech disorders, and motor neuron disease.

Professor Bahlo's pioneering research and leadership continue to drive advancements in the field of statistical genetics and contribute to the broader understanding of genetic factors in human health and disease.

Professor Nigel Turner

Professor Nigel Turner is head of the Cellular Bioenergetics Laboratory at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute and a conjoint professor in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at UNSW. Prof Turner received a PhD in comparative physiology and biochemistry from the University of Wollongong. With the support of consecutive NHMRC fellowships, he subsequently conducted postdoctoral studies in the area of mitochondrial metabolism and insulin action in the Diabetes and Metabolism Division at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney. In 2012 he was awarded an ARC Future Fellowship and established the Mitochondrial Bioenergetics Laboratory in the School of Medical Sciences at UNSW Sydney. In 2022 he established his current group at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute.

Prof Turner’s research focuses on investigating factors that regulate mitochondrial function and cellular bioenergetics in healthy and diseased states. In particular, his research group employs advanced techniques and experimental models to provide insight into how aberrations in cellular energy metabolism contribute to the pathogenesis of conditions including cardiometabolic disease and cancer.

Prof Turner is President of the Australian and New Zealand Obesity Society and past chair of the Metabolism and Molecular Medicine interest group of the Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He has editorial roles with a number of prominent endocrinology and physiology journals, and is a Board member and Vice Chair of the Scientific and Medical Advisory Panel for the Mito Foundation.