Andrew Bastawrous

Andrew Bastawrous is an ophthalmologist (eye surgeon) and clinical lecturer in International Eye Health based at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Andrew has worked and undertaken research in Sierra Leone, Peru, Belize, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Uganda and has recently returned from living in Kenya where he was leading a major eye disease study and the development and testing of Peek, the Portable Eye Examination Kit, a new smartphone based tool to detect eye diseases in the world’s most challenging areas.

In 2009, Andrew received the Lachlan McNeill Scholarship for his work in Sierra Leone and in 2011, he was awarded the first prestigious Medical Research Council and Fight for Sight PhD Fellowship to perform a longitudinal population-based study of eye disease in Africa, the first of its kind. He was further awarded the International Glaucoma Association Award and a pump-priming grant from the British Council for the Prevention of Blindness to further the development of novel mobile phone based technologies for use in resource-poor settings.

Andrew won the Max Perutz Science Writing Award from the Medical Research Council and his published article was followed up by the BBC, receiving global media coverage. He was made a TED Fellow in 2014 and his TED talk has now been viewed close to one million times.

In 2014 Andrew was awarded the Mazda Rebels with a Cause Prize (in partnership with TED) and the Gifted Citizen 2014 Award presented at the Ciudad de las Ideas in Mexico. Andrew was recently voted one of the world’s 30 most influential people in public health, one of the world’s “Top 40 Ophthalmologists under the age of 40” by The Ophthalmologist magazine and was selected as a “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum. He is on the scientific steering committee for TED and the eHealth working group for the International Coalition for Trachoma Control and is listed as an “Eye Health Leader” by the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness.

Peek recently ran one of the top-ten of all time crowd-funding campaigns in the health sector on Indiegogo, together with prize money this has enabled them to bring Peek Retina to market.

Andrew has published over 35 peer-reviewed articles focusing on international eye health and mobile technology in healthcare and has co-authored four book chapters.

Andrew is also working with astrophysicists to crowd source retinal data, TED Fellows to map health systems, National Geographic explorers to reach isolated communities and with his wife Madeleine has established a social enterprise bakery in Kenya that provides employment and profits pay for eye care. 

Awards for Peek:
Design Museum Digital Design of the Year Award
Tech4Good Award Winner
Nesta/New Radicals 2014, Top 50
Winner - Five Ideas to Shake the World (London Design Festival)
Sustainia  - Top 100 Global Innovation Solutions
Mazda Rebels / TED Fellows Grant
Gifted Citizen Award 2014
Icon Awards
Nominet 100 Trust Award
Index Design Award (World’s biggest design award)