Dr Poemen PM CHAN

Assistant Professor

MBBS (HKU), M.ResMed (HKU), FRCS (Edin), FCOphthHK, FHKAM (Ophth)

Contact :

(852) 3943 5807

Academic Appointments

  • Assistant Professor, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, CUHK
  • Associate Head, Undergraduate Division, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, CUHK
  • Head, The innovative undergraduate education committee in ophthalmology, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, CUHK
  • Board member, Associated Advisory Board, World Glaucoma association (WGA)
  • Committee Member, Global Outreach Committee, WGA
  • Section leader and authors, Asia Pacific Glaucoma Society (APGS) guideline, 4th Edition
  • Committee member, Association board of APGS
  • Committee member, APGS- MicroIncision Glaucoma Surgery special interest group (APGS-MIGS special interest group)
  • Programme director, Glaucoma surgery subspecialty for the CUHK Jockey Club Ophthalmic Microsurgical Training Programme
  • Coordinator, Glaucoma Service, CUHK Eye Centre
  • Academic Coordinator, Glaucoma Service, Hong Kong Eye Hospital
  • Honorary Associate Consultant in Hong Kong Eye Hospital
  • Honorary Associate Consultant in hospitals under the New Territories East Cluster
  • Invited Consultant, Hong Kong Glaucoma interest group (HKGIG)

Biography

Dr Poemen CHAN graduated from The University of Hong Kong with multiple scholarships and awards, including CP Fong Gold Medal in Medicine, H.C. Liu Prizes in Anatomy, Mr & Mrs S. H. Wong Foundation Scholarship, BL Wong Scholarships and Yu Chun Keung Mem. Scholarships.  He started ophthalmology training in Hong Kong Eye Hospital in 2007 and was promoted associate consultant in 2014.  He granted the HC Ho Medical Education Foundation Scholarship in 2015 for his overseas clinical visit in Moorfield′s Eye Hospital (London, UK) and Prism′s Eye Institute (Toronto, Canada).  During the service, he received the Best Poster Display Award in the Hospital Authority Convention 2014, Outstanding Staff and Team Award in Hospital Authority Convention 2016 and The Best Service Provider award of Hong Kong Eye Hospital.  Since he joined the Department, he was awarded ‶Distinguished Young Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine (2021)″, “Overall Gold Award” and the “Best Self-initiated Project Award” from the Academy of Asia-Pacific Professors of Ophthalmology Academic Development Mentorship Scheme (AAPPO-ADMS) (2023).  His paper on the ten-year outcome of acute primary angle closure was also selected as ‶Paper of the month″ by the Associate Advisory Board of the World Glaucoma Association. To date, he has published >45 papers in index journals, and >10 textbook chapters. In academic conferences, he delivered >35 invited lectures, >60 conference papers, and >10 instruction courses. He obtained >$HKD 6 million research grants (including fundings from Research Grants council and Health and Medical Research Funds) and >$HKD 2 million UGC-supported teaching grants.

Dr Chan is currently the coordinator of the CUHK-HKEH-PWH International Fellowship Programme, the programme director of glaucoma surgery subspecialty for the CUHK Jockey Club Ophthalmic Microsurgical Training Programme, the Academic Coordinator of the glaucoma service of Hong Kong Eye Hospital.  He is the Associate Head of the Undergraduate Division, as well as responsible for undergraduate teaching that involved flipped classroom teaching and online e-learning.

Internationally, he was an invited participant of the World Glaucoma Association (WGA) Consensus Meeting XI in 2019.  He served as glaucoma subspecialty liaison for the World Ophthalmology Congress (WOC) 2018, Secretary and coordinator of the glaucoma subspecialty for the 33rd, 34th, 36th, and 38th Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology (APAO) Congress in 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2023.  He is an invited member of the Associate Advisory Board and the Global Outreach Committee of WGA. He is also an invited committee member of the Associated board of Asia Pacific Glaucoma Society (APGS).

Research Areas

  1. Ocular hypertension – risk assessment and cost effectiveness of treatment
  2. Cost-effectiveness analysis of glaucoma treatment
  3. New surgical techniques of glaucoma surgery
  4. Risk assessment of glaucoma
  5. Angle closure glaucoma and normal tension glaucoma
  6. Medical Education
Invited participant World Glaucoma Association (WGA) Consensus Meeting Xi (Australia)
Invited board member Associate Advisory Board, World Glaucoma Association (WGA)
Invited committee member Global Outreach Committee, World Glaucoma Association (WGA)
Invited committee member Association board of Asia Pacific glaucoma society (APGS)
Section leader and authors Asia Pacific Glaucoma Society (APGS) guideline, 4th Edition
Glaucoma Subspecialty Liaison and Session Chairs World Ophthalmology Congress 2018 (Barcelona, Spain)
Coordinator/Secretary and Session Chairs (Glaucoma Subspecialty Program) The 33rd, 34th, 36th, and 38th Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology Congress 2018 to 2023 (Hong Kong)
Congress Treasurer, Organising committee The 16th Congress of Asia-Pacific Vitreo-retina Society in Hong Kong (in conjunction with the 3rd Asia-pacific Ocular imaging Society (APOIS) congress and the 35th Annual Scientific Meeting HK Ophthalmological Symposium (ASMHK 2023)

Research Programmes

  1. Ocular Hypertension: risk assessment, treatment approach and the applicability of new imaging technique in the management algorithm.
  2. Cost-effectiveness analysis of various glaucoma treatments – particularly, management approaches that could reduce medication use (which constitute the major cost of treatment) and improve quality of life.
  3. New surgical techniques and devices of glaucoma surgery – improvement of success rate, reduction of surgical complication and the use of medication.
  4. Genetic in glaucoma: Phenotypic characterisation, family linkage, genomic investigation of juvenile open angle glaucoma
  5. Ocular imaging: new anterior segment devices, risk assessment in primary angle closure glaucoma, microvascular assessment in normal tension glaucoma and primary angle closure glaucoma
  6. Primary angle closure disease and normal tension glaucoma – new treatment approaches, risk assessment and ocular imagining
  7. Medical education – flipped classroom, service-learning, and virtual-learning and teaching (VLT) in ophthalmology

Results of Note

  1. Developed a safe, protocol-driven system of reducing medication use for patients with ocular hypertension
  2. Established the largest number of ocular hypertensive cohort in the Asian population and currently undergoing a randomized controlled trial
  3. Demonstrated that combined phacotrabeculectomy is more cost-effective than phacoemulsification alone for treating primary angle closure glaucoma, as well as the importance of medication cost and how this would affect the cost-effectiveness of treatment in primary angle closure glaucoma
  4. Demonstrated how different methods of assessing vertical cup-to-disc ratio could affect the risk assessment for untreated ocular hypertensive eyes and how such variability could affect treatment decision

Representative Publications

  1. Chan PP#, Lee VWY, Yam JCS, Brelén ME, Chu WK, Wan KH, Chen LJ, Tham CC, Pang CP. A randomized trial comparing a flipped classroom case learning (FCCL) module versus a traditional lecture-based (TLB) module to teach ophthalmology in medical school. Acad Med. 2023
  2. Agyekum S, Chan PP*, Zhang Y, Huo Z, Yip BHK, Ip P, Tham CC, Chen LJ, Zhang XJ, Pang CP, Yam JC. Cost-effectiveness analysis of myopia management: A systematic review. Front Public Health. 2023 Feb 27;11:1093836.
  3. Chan PP#, Shen R, Cheung CY, Ling A, Yu M, Pang CP, Tham CC. Longitudinal change of peripapillary vessel density and retinal nerve fibre layer thickness in normal tension and primary angle closure glaucoma. Br J Ophthalmol. 2022.
  4. Shen R, Wang YM, Cheung CY, Tang FY, Lam A, Tham CC, Chan PP#. Relationship between macular intercapillary area measured by optical coherence tomography angiography and central visual field sensitivity in normal tension glaucoma. Br J Ophthalmol. 2022 Feb 2
  5. Shen R, Wang YM, Cheung CY, Chan PP#, Tham CC. Comparison of optical coherence tomography angiography metrics in primary angle-closure glaucoma and normal-tension glaucoma. Sci Rep. 2021 Nov 20;11(1):23136.
  6. Chan TCY, Yu MCY, Chiu V, Lai G, Leung CKS, Chan PPM#. Comparison of two novel swept-source optical coherence tomography devices to a partial coherence interferometry-based biometer. Sci Rep. 2021 Jul 21;11(1):14853.
  7. Chan PP#, Tang FY, Leung DY, Lam TC, Baig N, Tham CC. Ten-year clinical outcomes of acute primary angle closure randomized to receive early phacoemulsification versus laser peripheral iridotomy. J Glaucoma. 2021 Arp 1;30(4):332-339.
  8. Chan PP, Lai G, Chiu V, Chong A, Yu M, Leung CK. Anterior chamber angle imaging with swept-source optical coherence tomography: comparison between CASIAII and ANTERION. Sci Rep. 2020 Oct 30;10(1):18771.
  9. Chan PP#, Wong LY, Chan TC, Lai G, Baig N. The Tenons’ layer repositioning approach of trabeculectomy – a longitudinal case series of a mixed group of glaucoma patients. J Glaucoma. 2020 May;29(5):386-392.
  10. AR Ran, CY Cheung, X Wang, H Chen, L Luo, Chan PP, MOM Wong, RT Chang, SS Mannil, AL Young, HW Yung, CP Pang, PA Heng, CC Tham. Detection of glaucomatous optic neuropathy with spectral-domain optical coherence tomography: a retrospective training and validation deep-learning analysis. The Lancet Digital Health vol.1 no.4 e172-e182 pgs. Elsevier Ltd, 2019.08
  11. Chan PP, Pang JC, Tham CC. Acute primary angle closure-treatment strategies, evidences and economical considerations. Eye (Lond). 2019 Jan;33(1):110-119.
  12. Chan PP#, Chiu V, Wong MO. Variability of vertical cup to disc ratio measurement and the effects of glaucoma 5-year risk estimation in untreated ocular hypertensive eyes. Br J Ophthalmol. 2019 Mar;103(3):361-368.
  13. Chan PP, Li EY, Tsoi KKF, Kwong YY, Tham CC. Cost-effectiveness of Phacoemulsification Versus Combined Phacotrabeculectomy for Treating Primary Angle Closure Glaucoma. J Glaucoma. 2017 Oct;26(10):911-922.
  14. Chan PP, Leung CK, Chiu V, Gangwani R, Sharma A, So S, Congdon N. Protocol-driven adjustment of ocular hypotensive medication in patients at low risk of conversion to glaucoma. Br J Ophthalmol. 2015 Sep;99(9):1245-50.

*co-first author; # corresponding author.

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