Associate Professor Christine Nguyen serves in the Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences within the Melbourne School of Health Sciences at the University of Melbourne. She earned her Bachelor of Optometry (BOptom) and PhD from the University of Melbourne. As Director of the Ocular Biomarker Laboratory, her research utilizes the eye's unique attributes to provide insights into cortical diseases and drug development. Current projects include developing iPad home-monitoring platforms for multiple sclerosis assessment, wireless electroretinography and visual evoked potentials for central nervous system drug testing, using the eye as a window into Alzheimer’s disease, assessing novel compounds for diagnostic retinal imaging, and in vivo physiological characterisation of Parkinson’s disease. Her research interests span neurodegeneration, diet, retina, drug discovery, optometry and vision science, glaucoma, retinal degeneration, retinal diseases, OCT, and macular degeneration.

Nguyen's career includes roles as Research Associate in the Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences since June 2010, Senior Lecturer from 2018, Melbourne Research Fellow and Rural Clinical Placements Coordinator from 2018 to 2023, and Associate Professor since 2023. She has received funding through the MDHS Innovation Seed Grant for advancing retinal imaging for early detection of Parkinson’s disease, Melbourne School of Health Sciences Seed funding, and ARC Linkage Project LP100200129 with Pfizer. Notable publications include “Keeping an eye on Parkinson’s disease: color vision and outer retinal thickness as simple and non-invasive biomarkers” (2025), “Retinal hyperspectral imaging in mouse models of Parkinson’s disease and healthy aging” (2024), “Levodopa Rescues Retinal Function in the Transgenic A53T Alpha-Synuclein Model of Parkinson’s Disease” (2024), “Intravitreal MPTP drives retinal ganglion cell loss with oral nicotinamide treatment providing robust neuroprotection” (2024), and “Retinal alpha-synuclein accumulation correlates with nigrostriatal dopamine cell loss and motor deficits in the 1–120 transgenic alpha-synuclein mouse model of Parkinson’s disease” (2023). With 1,661 citations across 84 publications, her work influences the field of ocular biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases. As an Associate Professor and optometric clinician, she contributes to preclinical and clinical research, teaching, and student placements. She leads the Parkinson’s B-eye-omarker Group as principal investigator.

Professional Email: christine.nguyen@unimelb.edu.au