Childhood Ocular Diseases Clinical Research Lab (CODCRL)

This project is funded by STDF as an upgrade of the current project that deals with retinal diseases of newborns. Vision: To be a global leader in the holistic care of high-risk newborns, where every child thrives with optimal vision and development through providing cutting-edge clinical services, research, and education. We envision a world where our research and collaborations drive innovative solutions in pediatric healthcare. Mission: is to prevent childhood blindness and enhance the well-being of high-risk newborns by providing specialized pediatric ophthalmology care, early detection, neurodevelopmental assessment, and comprehensive research. We strive to expand our services to infants and children, safeguarding their visual and developmental health, while building a global network of healthcare experts and researchers dedicated to this cause. Goals: (1) to extend research and clinical services to infants and children. (2) to provide follow-up visits for the already served newborns, (3) to extend Lab services to remote areas via using of mobile and easily portable equipment, (4) to assure early detection and management of more causes lead to visual disability in children, (5) to evaluate visually inattentive babies without obvious organic etiology, (6) to assess neurodevelopmental outcome in children with ophthalmologic problems, (7) to support pediatric ophthalmology as an evolving subspecialty and (8) to increase community awareness about early diagnosis and intervention of diseases to prevent visual impairment in children.