Ashwin Mallipatna

Dr. Ashwin Mallipatna is a paediatric ophthalmologist. After undergraduate and postgraduate education at St. John’s Medical College in Bangalore, Mallipatna trained at The Hospital for Sick Children in Retinoblastoma, Paediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus. Mallipatna was awarded the “Student Humanitarian Award” during this Fellowship for dedication to patient care. Mallipatna was a Pediatric Ophthalmologist at Narayana Nethralaya (Bangalore, India), Battu Eye Center (Bangalore, India) and Sree Sharada Devi Eye Hospital and Research Centre (Karnataka, India). From 2016-2018 he was Senior Medical Practitioner and led Retinoblastoma Care at Women’s and Children’s Hospital (Adelaide, South Australia). Mallipatna’s research interests include staging, classification and the early detection of retinoblastoma. 

Research

Dr. Mallipatna was the lead author on a publication investigating the use of periocular Topotecan in treating retinoblastoma, providing an experience in innovating and introducing a novel therapy into clinical practice. A peer-reviewed scientific publishing platform (F1000Prime) recognised this as work that would pave the way for novel treatments developed for the management of retinoblastoma. More recently, Mallipatna led an effort to standardize the American Joint Committee on Cancer TNM staging of retinoblastoma. This work impacted management of retinoblastoma worldwide by allowing for international treatment protocols to be tested on the same platform. Mallipatna has a keen interest the early detection of childhood blindness and retinoblastoma. This includes detection of retinoblastoma using a camera flash red-reflex and training school children to be key informants in detection of childhood blindness.  

Education and experience

• 1993–1999: MBBS Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery), St. John’s Medical College, Bangalore, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
• 2002–2005: MS Ophthalmology (Master of Surgery – Ophthalmology), St. John’s Medical College, Bangalore, Rajiv Gandhi University, Bangalore, India
• 2007: Diplomate of the National Board (Ophthalmology), National Board of Examinations, New Delhi, Ministry of Health, New Delhi, India
• 2007–2008: Clinical Fellowship, Paediatric Ophthalmology and Adult Strabismus, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto
• 2008–2009: Clinical Fellowship, Retinoblastoma, The University of Toronto, Toronto
• 2009–2015: Consultant Paediatric Ophthalmologist and Retinoblastoma Program Head, Narayana Nethralaya Post-Graduate Institute of Ophthalmology, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
• 2015–2016: Consultant Paediatric Ophthalmologist and In-Charge of the Usha Kirana Program for Childhood Blindness Screening, Sree Sharada Devi Eye Hospital and Research Centre, Pavagada, Karnataka, India
• 2015–2016: Consultant Paediatric Ophthalmologist, Battu Eye Center, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
• 2016–2018: Senior Medical Practitioner and In-charge of Retinoblastoma Care, Department of Ophthalmology, Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
• 2018–2019: Senior Registrar, Department of Ophthalmology, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
• 2020–present: Paediatric Ophthalmologist, Retinoblastoma Program & Staff Ophthalmologist, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada

Achievements

• 2009: Student Humanitarian Award - SickKids Foundation, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada
• 2011: Humanitarian of the Year - MIT Technology Review, India

1. Mallipatna A, Gallie BL, Chévez-Barrios P, Lumbroso-Le Rouic L, Chantada GL, Doz F, Brisse HJ, Munier FL, Albert DM, Català-Mora J. Retinoblastoma. AJCC cancer staging manual. 2017;8: 819-31.
2. Mallipatna AC, Dimaras H, Chan HS, Héon E, Gallie BL. Periocular topotecan for intraocular retinoblastoma. Archives of Ophthalmology. 2011 Jun 13;129(6):738-45.
3. Mallipatna AC, Sutherland JE, Gallie BL, Chan H, Héon E. Management and outcome of unilateral retinoblastoma. Journal of American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus. 2009 Dec 1;13(6):546-50.
4. Mallipatna A, Vinekar A, Jayadev C, Dabir S, Sivakumar M, Krishnan N, Mehta P, Berendschot T, Yadav NK. The use of handheld spectral domain optical coherence tomography in pediatric ophthalmology practice: our experience of 975 infants and children. Indian journal of ophthalmology. 2015 Jul;63(7):586.
5. Mallipatna A, Marino M, Singh AD. Genetics of retinoblastoma. The Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology. 2016 Jul 1;5(4):260-4.