Prof Jodhbir Mehta currently helms as the Deputy Medical Director (Research), Distinguished Professor in Clinical Innovation in Ophthalmology, Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC) and Academic Vice-Chair (Research) with the SingHealth Duke-NUS Ophthalmology and Visual Science Academic Clinical Programme. He holds concurrent appointments as Executive Director of the Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI) and heads the Tissue Engineering and Cell Therapy Research Group at SERI. He also serves as Senior Consultant and former Head of the Cornea and External Eye Disease Department at SNEC. Furthermore, he is a tenured Professor at the Duke-NUS Medical School.
A highly accomplished Clinician Scientist, Prof Mehta has been making instrumental contributions both internationally and in the Asia Pacific region. Clinically, he is one of the leading specialist in the world on corneal diseases and refractive surgical procedures; while academically he has demonstrated a remarkable track record in publications and securing funding among others. His research interests span outstandingly across all aspects of corneal external disease and refractive surgery, with corneal transplantation research as the key focus.
Directing a strong multi-disciplinary team and partnering a wide network of collaborators, Prof Mehta has driven various research projects successfully, many of which have produced breakthroughs and patents with high translational potential.
Prof Mehta exhibits a prolific publication records, with over 520 peer-reviewed papers in acclaimed international journals and authored over 24 book chapters. He has earned a high H-index of 73 (with over 20,500 citations. He has published in NEJM, Lancet, Lancet Resp Medicine, Nature Biomedical Engineering, Nature Review Disease Primers, as well as high impact eye journals e.g. PRER, Ophthalmology. He has filed 24 patents from his research work, of which 6 have been commercialised and licensed to companies. As a leader of one of the top research programmes at SERI, he has received several competitive research grants, achieving over $15 million as Principal Investigator. As a further reflection of his high standing in the global ophthalmology community; he is currently ranked number 1 in the world for expertise in Cornea and number 2 for Refractive surgery on expertscape.com. He has given over 350 invited lectures and given 19 named lectures; and serves the editorial board of several ophthalmic and visual sciences journals.
Beyond research, Prof Mehta is a committed educator. Apart from lecturing and teaching various local and international courses, he also supervises and mentors Transition awards (NMRC), Foundation grant (Singhealth), NIG (NMRC), junior clinicians, fellows (over 30 local and international fellows), researchers (PhD and MSc students) and undergraduate students.
Prof Mehta has received many international awards for the excellent contributions and achievements from his research, clinical and educational endeavours. Some of his accolades include the Nakajima Award (Asia Pacific Academy for Ophthalmology, 2013), Senior Achievement Award (American Academy of Ophthalmology, 2017 and 2023), Doug Coster Lecture (Australia and New Zealand Cornea Society, 2018), Charles Tilett Lecture (Fuchs Society, USA, 2020), Casebeer Award (International Society of Refractive Surgery, AAO, 2020), and the Charles McGhee Medal (BSRS, Oxford UK, 2023), APAO Senior Achievement Award 2023, ACE Award APACRS 2023. Recently, he has been awarded the 2024 NMEA National Outstanding Clinician Scientist Award by the Ministry of Health (MOH).