Professor Padmaja Sankaridurg, BOptom, PhD, MIP, is an internationally recognised optometrist, researcher, innovator, and expert in myopia management and refractive error research. 

From 2023 to 2026, she served as Head of Myopia Innovation at ZEISS Vision Care, leading global myopia initiatives and development of spectacle lens products to slow myopia progression. Prior to this, from 1996 to 2022, she held senior research, innovation, and leadership positions at the Vision CRC, CRC for Eye Research and Technology (CRCERT), and the Brien Holden Vision Institute where she led major clinical and translational research programs evaluating myopia, with a particular emphasis on commercial outcomes.

Professor Sankaridurg began her career at the L. V. Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI), India, helping establish contact lens and clinical research services. 

She has authored more than 150 scientific publications, is an inventor on more than 20 patents and patent applications and has extensive experience translating research into commercial products and clinical practice. She continues to play a leading role in international efforts to address the global myopia epidemic, including contributing to international consensus statements and evidence-based guidelines for myopia management and also served as task force chair for the International Myopia Institute. She has served on advisory and editorial board for industry and scientific organisations and has supervised numerous postgraduate research students and has mentored emerging researchers and clinicians throughout her career. 

Currently she also serves as an advisory board member for ALOKA Vison Programme, ZEISS VisionCare a social program that provides much needed eyecare to rural and underserved population in India.