Mohamed Dirani

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Mohamed Dirani
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Born23 April 1980
Sydney, Australia
NationalityAustralian
CitizenshipAustralia
Occupation
  • Managing Director
  • Entrepreneur
  • Researcher
  • Author
Notable work
  • Founding Plano Pte Ltd
  • The Plano Adventures children’s books
  • Discovering genetic contributions to myopia
  • Australian National Eye Health Survey

Associate Professor Mohamed Dirani, Doctor of Philosophy, Master of Business Administration, GAICD (born 23 April 1980) is an Australian eye health Research, Entrepreneurship and author. Dirani founded and directs the Singapore-based health technology company, Plano Pte Ltd.[1] He is also an ophthalmic Epidemiology and myopia researcher with positions as Adjunct professor at the Duke–NUS Medical School and Honorary Principal investigator at the Singapore Eye Research Institute, Singapore and the Cen2021-02-16. He is also an ophthalmic Epidemiology and myopia researcher with positions as Adjunct professortre for Eye Research Australia, Melbourne, Australia.

The Plano Adventures children’s books[2]

Discovering genetic contributions to Near-sightedness[3]

Australian National Eye Health Survey[4]

Early life and education

Dirani was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, in 1980 to Sikne Dirani (his mother) and Abdul Hussein Dirani (his father, 11/11/1937 - 10/01/2013), who were working-class immigrants from the Beqaa Valley, Baalbek, Lebanon. He is the 10th of 12 children. Dirani and his family moved to Melbourne during his second year of secondary school. Dirani graduated with a Bachelor's degree of Orthoptics and Ophthalmic Science with Honours degree from La Trobe University in 2002. After graduating, Dirani began working as an ophthalmic clinical educator at an ophthalmology practice in Melbourne.

In 2004, Dirani commenced his PhD at the University of Melbourne. He conducted his research at the University of Melbourne-affiliated research institute, the Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA). His PhD thesis, titled ‘The heritability of spherical equivalent and ocular biometrics: a classical twin study: the genes in myopia (GEM) twin study’[3] investigated the genetic variance of common eye diseases, more specifically myopia (short-sightedness).[5][6][7]

Following his PhD, Dirani subsequently graduated as a Board of directors from the Australian Institute of Company Directors in 2014 and obtained a Master of Business Administration from the Australian Institute of Business in 2016.

Career

Research Dirani undertook his Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (National Health and Medical Research Council) scholarship-funded PhD at CERA (2004 – 2007), where he established the Genes in Myopia (GEM) study.[5][6][7] Under an Early Career Fellowship by the NHMRC, he subsequently commenced his postdoctoral research at the Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI) where he worked on the Strabismus, Amblyopia, and Refractive Error in Young Singaporean Children (STARS) study.[8][9] This study quantified the prevalence and Risk factor of myopia and other conditions in Singaporean children aged 6 months to 72 months. Dirani then returned to CERA and conducted a cohort study investigating the barriers to optimal diabetes care in diabetic patients with and without diabetic retinopathy.[10]

While at CERA, Dirani led the National Eye Health Survey (NEHS) which determined the nationwide prevalence and major causes of vision impairment and blindness among both Indigenous Australians and non-Indigenous Australian adults.[4][11][12][13][14] Completion of the NEHS fulfilled one of Australia’s key obligations to the World Health Organization under the Universal Eye Health Global Action Plan (2014-2019)[15] and the results were used to inform resource allocation for eye health care services by the Australian Government.[16][17] Dirani has published 119 scientific manuscripts in various Academic journal to date (February 2021).[18]

Plano In 2017, Dirani founded the Singapore-based health technology company, Plano Pte Ltd, under the Singapore Eye Research Institute-Singapore National Eye Centre (SERI-SNEC) Ophthalmic Technologies Incubator Programme.[1][19] Since its inception, Dirani led the company to develop a product ecosystem comprising of education and awareness, technological solutions and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to manage device use and eye health in children. Dirani has also co-authored five children’s books under The Plano Adventures series, with each book illustrating the different risks associated with excessive screen time.[2][20]

Philanthropic work

In 2017, Dirani partnered with the Make a Wish Foundation and ran the Singapore Marathon Standard Chartered Marathon to raise funds for a Singaporean child in need of a motorised wheelchair.[21] In 2019, he ran the Cape Town Marathon in South Africa to support the Plano-led campaign ‘Giving Sight with Every Stride’ together with The Fred Hollows Foundation to raise funds for blindness prevention and treatment in Africa.[22] He also partnered with New York-based community public art organisation, Artolution, and ran the 2019 New York City Marathon|New York City marathon in support of Artolution’s mission.[23][24]

Selected grants and awards

  • Enterprise Singapore, 2018[25]
  • National Health Innovation Centre grant, 2017[26]
  • Three independent SNEC-SERI Ophthalmic Technologies Incubator grants, 2016[27]
  • Peggy & Leslie Cranbourne Foundation, 2016-2017[28]
  • National Health and Medical Research Council Career Development Fellowship, 2015-2018[28]
  • Government Funding for a National Eye Health Survey, 2014-2016[28]
  • Novartis unrestricted education grant, 2014[28][29]

Personal life

Dirani currently resides in Singapore.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 hermes (2017-09-26). "App sets sights on addressing myopia in kids". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Search results for Plano Adventures - National Library Board Singapore - OverDrive". National Library Board Singapore. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Trove". trove.nla.gov.au. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "National Eye Health Survey Report". Vision 2020 Australia. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Dirani, Mohamed; Chamberlain, Matthew; Shekar, Sri N.; Islam, Amirul F. M.; Garoufalis, Pam; Chen, Christine Y.; Guymer, Robyn H.; Baird, Paul N. (2006-11-01). "Heritability of Refractive Error and Ocular Biometrics: The Genes in Myopia (GEM) Twin Study". Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science. 47 (11): 4756–4761. doi:10.1167/iovs.06-0270. ISSN 1552-5783.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Dirani, Mohamed; Shekar, Sri N.; Baird, Paul N. (2008-10-01). "Evidence of Shared Genes in Refraction and Axial Length: The Genes in Myopia (GEM) Twin Study". Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science. 49 (10): 4336–4339. doi:10.1167/iovs.07-1516. ISSN 1552-5783.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Dirani, Mohamed; Shekar, Sri N.; Baird, Paul N. (2008-08-01). "Adult-Onset Myopia: The Genes in Myopia (GEM) Twin Study". Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science. 49 (8): 3324–3327. doi:10.1167/iovs.07-1498. ISSN 1552-5783.
  8. ↑ Dirani, Mohamed; Chan, Yiong-Huak; Gazzard, Gus; Hornbeak, Dana Marie; Leo, Seo-Wei; Selvaraj, Prabakaran; Zhou, Brendan; Young, Terri L.; Mitchell, Paul; Varma, Rohit; Wong, Tien Yin (March 2010). "Prevalence of Refractive Error in Singaporean Chinese Children: The Strabismus, Amblyopia, and Refractive Error in Young Singaporean Children (STARS) Study". Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science. 51 (3): 1348–1355. doi:10.1167/iovs.09-3587. ISSN 0146-0404. PMC 3979485. PMID 19933197.
  9. ↑ "Myopia". www.snec.com.sg. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
  10. ↑ Lamoureux, Ecosse Luc; Fenwick, Eva; Xie, Jing; Mcauley, Annie; Nicolaou, Theona; Larizza, Melanie; Rees, Gwyn; Qureshi, Salmaan; Wong, Tien Yin; Benarous, Rehab; Dirani, Mohamed (2012). "Methodology and early findings of the Diabetes Management Project: a cohort study investigating the barriers to optimal diabetes care in diabetic patients with and without diabetic retinopathy". Clinical & Experimental Ophthalmology. 40 (1): 73–82. doi:10.1111/j.1442-9071.2011.02697.x. ISSN 1442-9071.
  11. ↑ Keel, Stuart; McGuiness, Myra B.; Foreman, Joshua; Taylor, Hugh R.; Dirani, Mohamed (June 2019). "The prevalence of visually significant cataract in the Australian National Eye Health Survey". Eye. 33 (6): 957–964. doi:10.1038/s41433-019-0354-x. ISSN 0950-222X. PMC 6707310. PMID 30755727.
  12. ↑ Keel, Stuart; Xie, Jing; Foreman, Joshua; Lee, Pei Ying; Alwan, Mostafa; Fahy, Eamonn T.; Wijngaarden, Peter van; Gaskin, Jennifer C. Fan; Ang, Ghee Soon; Crowston, Jonathan G.; Taylor, Hugh R. (2019-02-01). "Prevalence of glaucoma in the Australian National Eye Health Survey". British Journal of Ophthalmology. 103 (2): 191–195. doi:10.1136/bjophthalmol-2017-311786. ISSN 0007-1161. PMID 29699984.
  13. ↑ Keel, Stuart; McGuiness, Myra B.; Foreman, Joshua; Taylor, Hugh R.; Dirani, Mohamed (June 2019). "The prevalence of visually significant cataract in the Australian National Eye Health Survey". Eye. 33 (6): 957–964. doi:10.1038/s41433-019-0354-x. ISSN 0950-222X. PMC 6707310. PMID 30755727.
  14. ↑ "Eye disease still going undiagnosed, survey teams say". www.abc.net.au. 2016-04-16. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
  15. ↑ "Universal eye health: a global action plan 2014-2019". Vision 2020 Australia. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
  16. ↑ corporateName=Commonwealth Parliament; address=Parliament House, Canberra. "Indigenous affairs: health, housing and other measures". www.aph.gov.au. Retrieved 2021-02-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  17. ↑ "Australian Indigenous HealthBulletin : Review of eye health among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people". healthbulletin.org.au. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
  18. ↑ "Dirani M - Search Results - PubMed". PubMed. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
  19. ↑ Sainul. "plano receives funding for its app that ensures safe smart device usage for children". e27. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
  20. ↑ hermes (2019-07-23). "Home-grown children's books going places". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
  21. ↑ "Make A Wish - Running for a Purpose - The Gift of Mobility". give.asia. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
  22. ↑ - (2019-07-17). "Giving Sight With Every Stride". Vision Magazine Online. Retrieved 2021-02-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  23. ↑ "New York City Marathon". Artolution. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
  24. ↑ "New York Road Runners Official Race Results". results.nyrr.org. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
  25. ↑ "The rise of local medtech start-ups". www.enterprisesg.gov.sg. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
  26. ↑ "plano®: A Parental Management App for Safe Smart Device Use". nhic.sg. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
  27. ↑ "plano®: An Innovative Parental Monitoring App to better manage smart device use and myopia in children". nhic.sg. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 28.3 Keel, Stuart; Xie, Jing; Foreman, Joshua; Wijngaarden, Peter van; Taylor, Hugh R.; Dirani, Mohamed (2017). "Prevalence of Age-Related Macular Degeneration in Australia The Australian National Eye Health Survey". JAMA Ophthalmology. 135 (11).
  29. ↑ Annual Review 2013: transformation. Australia: Centre for Eye Research Australia. 2013.

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