Professor Andrew Bastawrous OBE is an Ophthalmologist (Eye Surgeon), and Professor in Global Eye Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Andrew teaches on public health, eye health and leads a research portfolio including PhD supervision. Andrew is the Founder & CEO of Peek Vision, a not-for-profit social enterprise spin-out from LSHTM. Peek provides a software and data intelligence platform that makes eye health services more efficient, effective and equitable. Governments and international NGOs use Peek to strengthen health systems and connect more people to better vision.
Andrew's Inaugural Lecture: Making the Invisible, Visible.
Andrew has worked and undertaken research in over twenty countries including two years living in Kenya where he was leading a major eye disease study and the development and testing of Peek. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles focusing on international eye health and mobile technology in healthcare and has co-authored four book chapters. Andrew was made a TED Fellow in 2014 and has given two TED talks which have together been viewed over 2.75 million times.
Peek's end-to-end services (Peek Solutions) are being used to transform eye health in 12 low- and middle-income countries in more than 80 programmes, with over 100,000 people reached each month. Peek’s vision check app, Peek Acuity, launched on Google Play store in 2016 (nominated best social impact app by Google in 2017) which has been used in over 190 countries.
The work of Andrew and the Peek team has been recognised with generous awards including the Mazda Rebels with a Cause Prize in partnership with TED, the Gifted Citizen 2014 Award, the Index Design Award, and the Rolex Awards for Enterprise. Peek was voted “best social-impact start-up in Europe” by Google and McKinsey in 2016. All prize money has been re-invested in Peek.
Andrew has been listed as one of the world’s 30 most influential people in public health, was selected as a “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum, and is listed as an “Eye Health Leader” by the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness. In 2016 he received the Clearly Vision Life Time Achievement Award and was made a Rolex Laureate. In 2018 Andrew was made an Ashoka Fellow and UBS Global Visionary and in 2019 he was declared a “Champion of Change” in The Ophthalmologist magazine’s 2019 Power List.
In 2018, Andrew was invited to address the Commonwealth Service in the presence of the British Royal Family, Prime Minister, and a global live TV and radio audience. In his address, Andrew highlighted the transformative effects of regaining lost vision, and the importance of international collaboration in ending avoidable blindness and vision loss worldwide.
As part of Peek’s mission to bring vision and health to everyone, Andrew is working with major banks, eye health organisations and funders to develop innovative financing models for eye health, the subject of his 2018 TED Talk.
In 2023 Andrew was recognised in the King's Birthday Honours list with an OBE for services to eye health overseas.
In addition to his work as CEO of Peek, Andrew has worked with astrophysicists to crowdsource retinal data, with National Geographic explorers to reach isolated communities, and with artists and activists to advocate for eye care globally (Project Light). Together with his wife Madeleine, he is establishing a social enterprise micro-bakery model in Kenya that provides employment and healthy food opportunities for the mass market. He lives in the UK with his wife and three children.
Affiliations
Teaching
Short Course Director
Regular teacher on various Masters and Diploma courses throughout the school
TED-Ed Educator
Research
Population-surveys
Adaptive trials
Community engagement
mHealth
Eye Health
Public Eye Health
Epidemiology