Professor William (Bill) Morgan (MBBS, PhD, FRANZCO) an ophthalmologist and researcher at the Lions Eye Institute, is a Professor of Ophthalmology at UWA, the University of Udayana, Indonesia and is a Consultant Ophthalmologist at Royal Perth Hospital. He is also former Managing Director of the Lions Eye Institute (2019 to 2024).
Professor Morgan has based his career on the three pillars of exceptional clinical care, medical research and community – believing each serves the other in driving innovation and improved outcomes for patients facing vision loss.
Professor Morgan is a glaucoma specialist who, along with Lions Eye Institute researchers, developed a new surgical intervention for glaucoma called the XEN® Gel Stent. The XEN® Gel Stent is a microfistula implant that reduces intraocular pressure in the eye. This invention is helping thousands of glaucoma patients all over the world.
Professor Morgan is also heavily involved in community and outreach work.
In collaboration with Jakarta-based eye doctor Virna Oktariana, Professor Morgan has developed an affordable tube solution for glaucoma that will help more Indonesians access sight saving surgery.
Education/academic qualifications/roles responsibilities
- MB BS, The University of Western Australia (1983)
- Fellow of Royal Australian College of Ophthalmologists (1994)
- PhD from The University of WA, COVS (2001) “Pressure gradients across the optic disk”
Current roles/responsibilities
- Ophthalmologist, Lions Eye Institute
- Professor, The University of Western Australia
- Adjunct Associate Professor, Curtin University
- Visiting Professor, Udayana University, Indonesia
- Consultant Ophthalmologist, Centre for Ophthalmology & Visual Science, The University of Western Australia
- Consultant Ophthalmologist, Head of Department, Royal Perth Hospital and Perth Children’s Hospital
Honours and Awards
- Winner of the 1994 best scientific paper presented at Royal Australian College of Ophthalmologists annual scientific meeting, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This award is presented annually to the chief author of the best paper presented.
- Royal Australian College of Ophthalmologists Council Lecture, 1999. This is an honour given annually to an ophthalmologist who has made a significant contribution to Ophthalmology, with the lecture summarizing their work.
- Gillies Medal, 2014. This is presented by the Australian New Zealand Glaucoma Interest Group in recognition of an individual’s significant contribution to glaucoma understanding or management
- Ritch Lecturer: University of Alabama, Birmingham USA May 2017
- Indonesian WIPO Medal for Inventors, Jakarta, April 2017
Peer review involvement
- Glaucoma section editor, for “Clinical & Experimental Ophthalmology”1998-2003
- Act as invited reviewer for other journals. 4 per year.
- Review MSc and PhD theses. 2 per year.
- Grant reviews. NHMRC and ORIA
- Review Editorial Board member of Frontiers in Neuro-ophthalmology 2010
Research Panel member
- NH&MRC Training Awards Committee Assessment Panel member. 2005 onwards
- Asia Pacific Glaucoma Guidelines: South East Asian Glaucoma Interest Group Singapore, 2004
- Chairman NHMRC Glaucoma Guidelines committee 2007 – 2011
- Panel member NHMRC project grants committee 2013, 2016
Scientific discipline involvement
- Member of Australian New Zealand Glaucoma Interest Group (ANZGIG)
- Fellow of Royal Australian New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (RANZCO)
Wider community involvement
- Annual ophthalmic clinic screening visits to Central Desert Aboriginal communities with WA Department of Health
- Assist Lions Save-Sight Foundation WA Inc with community glaucoma screening program.
- Performed ophthalmic surgery in Rabaul, Papua New Guinea, 1998
- Surgical cases and teaching Surabaya, Indonesia 1999
- Surgical cases and teaching Bali (John Fawcett Foundation) 2005
- Advise and give talks to the Glaucoma Foundation (glaucoma support group)
Grants/scholarships/funding overview
- 2019-2023 NHMRC project grant APP1162615, Orbital Pressure Alteration and Interactions with Intracranial and Intraocular Pressure, $680,924.
- 2014 – 2016 NHMRC development grant APP107310, “Non-invasive intra-cranial pressure measurement”, $619,881.
- 2012 – 2016 NHMRC project grant 1020367, “Non-invasive retinal vein pulsation pressure measurement: A new assessment of glaucoma treatment”, $524,875 WH Morgan, DY Yu, S Graham.
- 2007 – 2009 Pfizer research support grant commitment of $25,000 per year for 3 years for study of Epidemiology of Blinding Eye Diseases.
- 2007 – 2009 Private Bequest for study of Epidemiology of Blinding Eye Diseases, of $25,000 per year for 3 years.
- 2007 NH&MRC development grant 458743: New Dynamometric Techniques for Predicting Glaucoma Progression; $168,475, WH Morgan.
- 2007 – 2011 NH&MRC program grant 458737: “Advanced New Therapeutics and Diagnostics in Retinal Diseases and Glaucoma”, with $3,345,600.00 over 5 years. D-Y Yu.
- 2002–2006 NH&MRC program grant 211901: “New Treatments for Retinal Diseases and Glaucoma”, with $5,700,000 over 5 years D-Y Yu, SJ Cringle, IJ Constable, IL McAllister, WH Morgan, Y Kanagasingam.
- 2002 – 2005 NH&MRC project development grant 212062: “A Robotic Micro Drainage Surgery for Glaucoma”, $435,000 over 3 years. Yu DY, Cringle SJ and WH Morgan.
- 2002 – 2003 NIRIS (New Independent Researcher Infrastructure Support) WA Govt grant, $15,000 per year for 2 years. WH Morgan.
- 1997 – 1999 Australia China Institutional Links Program, “Development of an evolving bio-engineered microfistula for long term glaucoma therapy.” $183, 000 over 3 years, D-Y Yu and WH Morgan.
- 1996 – 1999 Four year support to build up Glaucoma research at the Centre for Ophthalmology and Visual Science, UWA. $869,159 over 4 years from McCusker family charitable trust.
- 1997 ORIA grant “Non invasive measurement of oxygen tension in the retinal and choroidal vasculature by fluorescence quenching”, $22,000 Chief Investigator on ORIA grant “ Pressure gradients across the optic disk”, $12,300.
- 1995 – 96 Raine Medical Grant, “Pressure gradients across the optic disk.”, $46,426
- 1995 – 96 NH&MRC Medical Fellowship, $44,000.
- 1995 Burt Small Grant #557954, “Application for operating microscope to assist with studies of pressure gradients across the optic disk”, $14,828.
Research Activity
Professor Morgan is interested in glaucoma and population blindness related health research. He has published longitudinal trend studies of Trachoma, Diabetic retinopathy and vision loss in Aboriginal communities. He has taught and conducted clinics in parts of Indonesia for many years.
He has also been involved in translating research to the clinic with the invention of the XEN® Gel Stent, now inserted into over 200,000 eyes and the Virna Glaucoma Drainage Device now being manufactured in Indonesia. He has an interest in the epidemiology of blindness in the general community and in Australian Indigenous communities in particular. He holds eight patents related to this work.
His current research areas are
- Pressure relationships across the optic nerve in relation to glaucoma and intracranial pressure problems
- Retinal vessel pulse wave and pulsation properties
- Effects of space travel on the optic nerve and vision
- Orbital lymphatic changes after glaucoma surgery
- Novel glaucoma surgery forms both in Australia (development of the XEN® Gel Stent at the Lions Eye Institute) and in developing countries (glaucoma drainage device in Indonesia)
Leading papers
Most highly cited paper with 224 cites:
WH Morgan, DY Yu, RL Cooper, … (1995) The influence of cerebrospinal fluid pressure on the lamina cribrosa tissue pressure gradient. IOVS
Most highly cited patent with 256 cites:
DY Yu, WH Morgan (2003) Biological microfistula tube and implantation method and apparatus. US Patent 6,544,249
To read more publications from this researcher, go to https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/.
