Higher Degree by Research Application Portal

Project Synopsis

This project will investigate the practicality of point-of-care fundus photography of the retina with a commercial mobile hand-held device in patients presenting to Western Australian hospital emergency departments (ED) who have severely elevated blood pressure (BP), defined as BP ≥160/90 mmHg for the purpose of this project. The main aim of the project is to establish the feasibility and utility of retinal imaging through fundus photography at the time of presentation in the ED as an accurate tool to assess the presence or absence of severe and/or acute hypertension-caused organ (retinal) damage.

This is important since the presence of severe and/or acute retinal damage, based on established criteria, indicates the need for immediate and supervised BP reduction and usually admission to hospital, whereas isolated high BP without such damage is best managed in the community by primary care physicians and hypertension specialists. These patients can usually be safely discharged from ED and followed up in the community. Retinal imaging through fundus photography is likely to improve the ever-so-critical step of patient triaging in busy EDs. Aside from repeat BP measurements that can vary substantially in a stressful ED environment, fundus photography will add objective and easy-to-interpret evidence on the impact of the elevated BP on relevant organs, as the retina can be representative of other organs. This instant assessment of cardiovascular risk provides a means to differentiate higher risk patients requiring admission from those who may be safely discharged to community care. In the context of increasing ramping figures in Western Australian’s EDs and the large number of patients presenting with severely elevated BP, this intervention is likely to substantially ease demand on both ED and hospital resources.

How to apply

Send a CV, academic transcript, and a 1–2-page cover letter addressing the selection criteria, plus contact details for two referees, to:

Professor Markus Schlaich (markus.schlaich@uwa.edu.au),

Dr Louise Woodhams (louise.woodhams@uwa.edu.au), and

Dr Shaun Frost (shaun.frost@uwa.edu.au) by 01/04/2026. 

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to an interview.

Aims, Objectives and Outcomes

• Determine feasibility of fundus photography in ED for accurate assessment of organ damage associated with severely elevated BP. 
• Determine efficacy and accuracy of diagnostic and risk stratification algorithms/ systems in identifying acute hypertension damage.
• Determine the rate of subsequent hospitalisations due to severely elevated BP.

What you'll do

• Liaise with ED research personnel to recruit participants.
• Perform fundus photography in ED.
• Complete clinical trial activities, including additional participant assessments at the Dobney Hypertension Centre as per the trial activities schedule. 

Selection criteria

Essential

· Undergraduate bachelor’s degree in biomedical sciences, medicine, nursing, allied health, or a closely related field.

· Strong written and oral communication skills; ability to work collaboratively in a multidisciplinary team.

. Ability and willingness to work directly with patients and participants.

Desirable

· Experience with cardiovascular or ophthalmic datasets; knowledge of hypertension pathophysiology.

· Experience working with patients.

· Familiarity with deep learning for image analysis (e.g., segmentation, feature learning) and MLOps/reproducibility practices.

· Evidence of research outputs (papers, preprints, code repositories).

Eligibility & compliance

· Candidate must meet UWA PhD admission criteria.

· Project activities will comply with human research ethics and data governance requirements of the University and WA Health.

The Master of Philosophy (MPhil) is a program of independent, supervised research and is assessed solely on the basis of a thesis.

Visit the course webpage for full details of this course including admission requirements, course rules and the relevant CRICOS code/s.