Dr. Vasumathy Vedantham
Medical Director
Vitreoretinal Surgeon, Paediatric Retina Specialist
Radhatri Nethralaya
Dr. Vasumathy Vedantham
MBBS, MS, DNB, FRCS (Edinburgh, UK), FIAMS
Dr. Vasumathy Vedantham is the consultant vitreoretinal surgeon and one of the medical directors of Radhatri Nethralaya. She has the distinction of being the alumnus of premier institutions such as Madras Medical College (MMC) & RIO-GOH (Regional Institute of Ophthalmology), Chennai where she completed her M.B.B.S & M.S Ophthalmology, L.V Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI), Hyderabad, where she did her vitreoretinal fellowship and Aravind Eye Hospital, Madurai where she worked as a retina consultant for five years and Moorfields Eye Hospital, London where she did her fellowship in pediatric retina, ROP and Electrophysiology of the Eye.
She is a member of All India Ophthalmologic Society (AIOS), Tamil Nadu Ophthalmic Association (TNOA), Andhra Pradesh State Ophthalmic Society (APSOS) and Indian Women Ophthalmologists Society (IWOS). She is the National Task force member in the Indian ROP Research Group for the prevention of Childhood blindness due to Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) in preterm babies. She is a National task force member of Rashtriya Bala Swastiya Karyakram (RBSK) of the Govt of India for prevention of blindness due to Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI) in special children with cerebral palsy.
She has a distinguished academic record with fifteen gold medals including the best outgoing medical student for M.B.B.S (Lady Grant Duff Gold Medal for best outgoing Medical Student, Dr. J.A.S. Masilamani Memorial Gold Medal for the highest marks in all University Exams) and M.S Ophthalmology (the 'Thiru C. K. Kumaraswamy 51st Birthday Commemoration Gold Medal' for the highest marks obtained in the university examinations). She is the recipient of the prestigious Rakesh Sharma memorial award conferred by All India Ophthalmologic Society (AIOS) for best work in ocular trauma in India in 2005 and 48 publications in peer reviewed national and international journals and several presentations in conferences and symposia. Her area of expertise involves endophthalmitis, electrophysiology, paediatric retinal disorders, especially Retinopathy of prematurity and ocular trauma. She has been conferred with the coveted Hanumantha Reddy Award for the best work done in pediatric ophthalmology in India. The award recognizes her exemplary work on eye infections in children. She is a member of Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh, UK, having topped the FRCS examination in 1999.
Dr. Vasumathy Vedantham Medical Director Vitreoretinal Surgeon Paediatric Retina Specialist Radhatri Nethralaya
She is actively involved in community work by conducting eye camps especially in schools, eye awareness programmes, etc.,. She is the founder and managing trustee of the public charitable trust, Gurupriya Vision Research Foundation, whose motto is to eliminate all causes of preventable blindness.
By means of private-public partnership between Radhatri Nethralaya and the Govt. of Tamilnadu, she has been carrying out free screening and treatment of over 400000 (Four lakhs) preterm infants for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP, a blinding disorder) over the past 13 years in several Government hospitals in Chennai: IOG, (Egmore Baby Hospital), RSRM (Sir Raja Muthiah Hospital) at Royapuram, Stanley hospital, KMC (Kilpauk Medical College) and Gosha (Triplicane Maternity hospital).
Through Project Balanethra (Tender Vision) she has treated over 1000 infants from poor socioeconomic background free of cost by vision preserving laser surgery. Through Project Vision on wheels by teleophthalmology, more than 15,000 infants have been screened for blinding disorders and 555 treated by free laser to prevent blindness in far flung areas of rural Tamilnadu such as Tirupattur tribal belt, Tiruvannamalai, Villupuram, Chengelpet, Vellore, Kanchipuram, Gudiyattam, Ariyalur, Tiruvallur, Kallakurichi and Perambalur among others.
Dr. Vasumathy is committed to the eradication of childhood blindness, which is a big challenge in India. Radhatri Nethralaya's experience after conducting several eye camps in schools, is that 25 to 30% of school going children in Chennai need to wear glasses but are unfortunately not wearing them due to lack of awareness. Uncorrected refractive errors are thus a common cause of preventable childhood blindness. Save Sight Give Light: A series of vision screening camps along with Rotary are conducted every year by Dr. Vasumathy helping more than 24,000 children see better annually.
She has created 100 young vision ambassadors comprising of school children called Yuva Nethra Jyothi to promote awareness on preventable causes of blindness in the community.
Through Project RADAR (Radhatri Nethralaya Diabetic Retinopathy project in Association with Rotary) and Project DIATEL-R (Diabetic Retinopathy Teleophthalmology project of Radhatri Nethralaya) with the Greater Chennai Corporation, thousands of diabetic patients with diabetic retinopathy have been prevented from becoming blind. Through Project Kannoli, more than 10,000 patients belonging to poor socioeconomic background have undergone free cataract surgery under the aegis of Gurupriya Vision Research Foundation, the public charitable trust of Radhatri Nethralaya, which is a partner with the National Programme of control of Blindness of the Govt of India. A committed Rotarian, she is a member of the International Rotary action group on blindness prevention and the chairman of Eye care of Rotary district 3232.
Dr. Vasumathy Vedantham has won several awards and recognitions in her career as an eye surgeon spanning 25 years.
The Chetpet Balakrishnan Baskaran Oration for excellence in the field of retina-vitreous in 2010, by IMA (Indian Medical Association) Tamilnadu State.
Best Social service award in 2012 by WEWA (Women Entrepreneurs Welfare Association), Tamilnadu, for her community eye care awareness initiatives.
Eleventh Ophthalmology Oration & Gold Medal by IMA (Indian Medical Association) Tambaram branch, in Jan 2014, for her phenomenal work in ROP and Ocular Infections.
Deccan Dhanvantri Award by Sukar Markandeya Medical Research Foundation in March 2014 for compassion in Eye Care and Excellence in Eye Surgery.
Vocational Excellence award and citation by Inner wheel of Tamilnadu district in 2014 for Excellence in treatment of preterm babies with ROP.
Special Recognition award by Rotary club of Madras North in 2016 for free treatment of babies with ROP.
Sherpa Oration and endowment award from Nepal conferred by the Association of Community Ophthalmologists of India for Vision on Wheels project: her community work on ROP in 2018.