Professor Pete Williams, a globally recognised glaucoma and neuroprotection researcher, will join CERA to establish a new Neuroprotection and Repair research program in Australia.
Dr Jiang-Hui 'Sloan' Wang will return to CERA from the United States, to establish a new Ocular Genetic Therapeutics research program with an emphasis on developing new treatments for inherited retinal diseases, including Usher syndrome.
Both scientists will relocate to Australia in January 2026.
Managing Director Professor Keith Martin says the appointments will bring new research capabilities to Australia and expand CERA's global collaborations.
"The pioneering research of Pete Williams and Sloan Wang will add an exciting new dimension to CERA's discovery science program,'' says Professor Martin.
"Both are outstanding scientists with strong research track records and a commitment to translating laboratory science into real-world outcomes for people living with vision loss and blindness.
"Pete and Sloan bring valuable international experience which will expand our global reach and increase our research impact."
Both scientists currently partner with CERA as Honorary Researchers and are part of large global collaborations aimed at finding new treatments for incurable eye diseases.
Professor Pete Williams
Professor Pete Williams is Ulla and Ingemar Dahlberg Professor of Vision Science and Head of Glaucoma Research at Karolinska Institutet, and Research Group Leader at St Erik's Eye Hospital in Stockholm. He has extensive international research experience in the UK, US, Singapore and Sweden.
He will maintain dual roles in Australia and Sweden, leading active research programs at CERA and Karolinska, strengthening the collaborations between teams in both countries.
Professor Williams is recognised for his pioneering neurodegeneration research which uses the eye and optic nerve as a model for diseases of the brain and central nervous system including stroke, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Motor Neurone Disease.
His key discoveries include:
- Demonstrating the role of faulty energy supply to the optic nerve in glaucoma
- Pre-clinical studies showing that vitamin B3 can prevent and repair nerve damage caused by glaucoma
- The vital role of the enzyme NAD for enabling nerve repair
- The identification of 'druggable targets' which offer hope of new therapies for glaucoma and other neurodegenerative diseases.
Professor Williams has a strong commitment to rapid translation of his research findings and is the founder of the spin-out company Mim Therapeutics which is developing novel small molecule drugs to prevent neurodegeneration.
At CERA, he will deliver a new project funded by the Bright Focus Foundation as part of an extensive research program.
Professor Williams says he is looking forward to establishing a new research program at CERA.
"I am excited to be joining a globally recognised vision and glaucoma research team at CERA in the heart of Melbourne, one of the world's great biotechnology precincts,'' he says.
"I am looking forward to working with my new colleagues to expand CERA's global collaborations and forge new partnerships that bring us closer to new therapies that protect and restores the vision of people living with glaucoma and prevent nerve damage in brain diseases."
Dr Sloan Wang
Dr Jiang-Hui 'Sloan' Wang completed his University of Melbourne PhD at CERA and is returning to Australia after working as a Senior Research Fellow at the Gene Therapy Centre, University of Massachusetts Chan (UMass Chan) Medical School in the United States for the past three years.
Dr Wang's research focuses on developing viral vectors to improve the delivery and efficiency of potential gene therapies for inherited retinal diseases including retinitis pigmentosa, Stargardt's disease and Usher syndrome.
His unique expertise will make CERA's genetic engineering laboratory one of only a handful worldwide with expertise in developing these next generation of viral vectors - and support the work of other Australian teams conducting gene therapy research.
An early focus at CERA will be research into the development of dual vectors to deliver potential gene therapies to treat blindness in Usher syndrome 1B.
Dr Wang is also developing a lab-based screening platform that uses human-specific molecules instead of animal tests to speed up the development of gene therapies for other inherited retinal diseases.
His work at CERA is being supported by Australian Vision Research, Retina Australia, the Macular Disease Foundation of Australia and the DHB Foundation.
"I am honoured to be returning to CERA where my career as a vision scientist began,'' says Dr Wang.
"I'm looking forward to sharing innovative new techniques with my colleagues and developing new treatments that protect the sight of people with inherited retinal disease.''
CERA's Dr Jiang-Hui (Sloan) Wang has received two-year funding from the DHB Foundation to establish a game-changing lab platform to accelerate how research is conducted.
A world-first clinical trial led by the Centre for Eye Research Australia has shown that vitamin B3 (nicotinamide) could play an important role in protecting against nerve cell damage that leads to blindness in glaucoma.
