The WCSM awards two Master’s Medals for early career research

The Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers awards two Master’s Medals for early career research

The Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers (WCSM) this week announced the winners of two Master’s Medals for 2025.

Fabian Yii from Edinburgh was awarded the Master’s Medal for his paper “Fundus Refraction Offset as a Personalized Biomarker for 12-Year Risk of Retinal Detachment”.

As part of his PhD, Fabian developed an AI model to predict an individual’s refractive error from a retinal photograph. He surmised that people’s eyes whose automatic prediction of myopia was greater than the actual measurement had a more stretched retina, and therefore might be at a higher risk of complications than those people whose retina was in effect less myopic than the true myopia. In this study, he provided proof of concept that his measure indeed did predict who was more likely to get a retinal detachment in the years following their retinal photographs. This may allow for future personalised or precision medicine.

Siyin Liu at UCL was awarded the Master’s Medal for the paper “Genetic and Demographic Determinants of Fuchs Endothelial Corneal Dystrophy Risk and Severity”.

In this study of almost 900 patients with a corneal condition called Fuchs endothelial cell dystrophy, Dr Liu and colleagues found that three quarters of patients had the most common genetic cause, which is an expansion of repeated CTG elements within the TCF4 gene. They showed for the first time that the longer the repeated section was, the younger the age at which affected individuals needed a corneal transplant, and that people who had two alleles with expansions also had more severe disease. This might help future prediction of severity of disease, and also inform the planning of future gene replacement studies.

The new Master Spectacle Maker, Fiona Anderson, who took office on Wednesday 1 October, said: “Congratulations to Fabian Yii and Siyin Liu for each being awarded a 2025 Master’s Medal from the Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers.

“This medal-winning research demonstrates how fast our understanding of eye health is evolving. The results point to a future where innovative research, combined with new technology, will lead to more personalised diagnosis and treatment.

“The Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers has always championed better vision for all. Supporting early career researchers like these is vital if we are to turn scientific advances into real-world impacts for patients.”