SINGAPORE, 7 APRIL 2026 —In eye clinics and clinical trials, doctors increasingly rely on patients’ own reports of how eye disease and treatment affect daily life. Yet these patient questionnaires are often long, repetitive and difficult to use in real-time care, limiting their value in both research and care improvement.
A spin-off from the Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI) and Duke-NUS Medical School, PROMinsight is tackling this problem by using AI-driven, computerised adaptive tests (CATs) to measure patients’ quality of life quickly and precisely, turning lived experiences into data that clinicians and researchers can act on for better vision care. The core technology was developed by leveraging years of specialised ophthalmic research and data from SERI.
AI-driven PROMs capture more targeted patient feedback
The system adapts in real time to patients’ previous answers, selecting only the most relevant questions. This shortens assessments, improves completion rates and captures more meaningful insights when compared to fixed questionnaires. These adaptive tests enhance the accurate capture of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs), which reflect patients’ health status, quality of life and overall well-being.
PROMinsight’s Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Ecosse Lamoureux , who holds joint appointments at Duke-NUS’ Health Services Research & Population Health Programme and SERI as Director of Population Health and Epidemiology Platform, said:
“AI-enabled computerised PROMs are still rarely used in eye care. To harness the potential of this emerging approach, we developed our tools incorporating feedback and data from thousands of patients with various eye conditions, together with established psychometric methods. By asking relevant questions that are adapted to patients’ ability levels in real time, these assessments capture their quality of life more accurately and efficiently than traditional, fixed questionnaires.”
Built using technology developed by Professor Lamoureux, PROMinsight’s CATs are tailored for patients with diabetic retinopathy and macular edema, cataract & refractive error, myopia, glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration (AMD). By measuring patients’ experiences with vision impairment, including mobility and visual comfort, emotional concerns and treatment management, the CATs translate these insights into precise, clinically meaningful data that can inform both care and research.
PROMinsight has licensed three CAT-based technologies from the SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre:
With cloud-based delivery and real-time scoring, the CATs are designed to integrate into routine workflows, enabling clinicians to act on patient-reported insights during consultations.
In a one-year implementation study conducted at the Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC) to test the feasibility and uptake of PROMinsight’s eye-related CATs in patients undergoing treatment for diabetic macular edema, glaucoma, and cataract, outcomes exceeded expectations.
The CATs were very well-received by patients with a high uptake rate of more than 80 per cent and patients reporting a very positive experience using the CATs. Discussions are on-going to roll this out soon across several departments in SNEC.
“ The questionnaire asked about things my doctor doesn’t usually ask, like coping with daily vision problems. This is what is lacking right now in the current clinical situation. ”
Doctors also found value in having the Quality of Life (QoL) scores available in SNEC’s electronic medical records to guide clinical management.
“ One patient had good vision but poor QoL scores. Without CAT, I'd have assumed everything was fine and moved on. ”
Associate Professor Christopher Laing , Vice-Dean for the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Duke-NUS and Co-Chair of the SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medicine Innovation Institute (AMII), said:
“PROMinsight shows what’s possible when clinicians, researchers and entrepreneurs come together and put patient care at the centre of their collaboration. By translating research into tools that clinicians can use immediately, we shorten the distance between discovery and better care.”
Dr Fang Xiaoqin, Director of Technology Development & Commercialization at the Singapore Eye Research Institute, added:
“This collaboration between Duke-NUS and SERI demonstrates how academic partnerships can accelerate innovation, turning research discoveries into practical tools for ophthalmologists and bringing better eye care to patients faster.”
Improving care through patient-centred measurement
PROMinsight is internationally recognised in the PROMs field, with collaborations spanning pharmaceutical and MedTech companies, ophthalmologists at tertiary eye centres worldwide, and organisations such as the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement, the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency.
Most recently, PROMinsight received a significant non-dilutive investment from one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies specialising in ophthalmology. This provides strong support for the company’s plans to deploy these technologies across clinical trials and healthcare settings.
Dr Eva Fenwick, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of PROMinsight, who’s also an Adjunct Associate Professor at Duke-NUS Medical School, said:
“Our CATs will support pharmaceutical companies and contract research organisations in capturing robust patient-reported data on the effectiveness of new therapies and devices. In clinical care, they will help eye clinics and hospitals monitor outcomes, support follow-up and advance value-based care initiatives.”
As healthcare systems place greater emphasis on outcomes that matter to patients, tools that can reliably capture lived experience at scale are becoming essential. PROMinsight’s work shows how patient-centred measurement can move from research into everyday clinical practice.
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About Duke-NUS Medical School
Duke-NUS is Singapore’s flagship graduate entry medical school, established in 2005 with a strategic, government-led partnership between two world-class institutions: Duke University and the National University of Singapore (NUS). Through an innovative curriculum, students at Duke-NUS are nurtured to become multi-faceted ‘Clinicians Plus’ poised to steer the healthcare and biomedical ecosystem in Singapore and beyond. A leader in ground-breaking research and translational innovation, Duke-NUS has gained international renown through its five Signature Research Programmes and ten Centres. The enduring impact of its discoveries is amplified by its successful Academic Medicine partnership with Singapore Health Services (SingHealth), Singapore’s largest healthcare group. This strategic alliance has led to the creation of 15 Academic Clinical Programmes, which harness multi-disciplinary research and education to transform medicine and improve lives.
For more information, please visit www.duke-nus.edu.sg
About Singapore Eye Research Institute
Established in 1997, Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI) is Singapore’s national research institute for ophthalmic and vision research. SERI’s mission is to conduct high-impact eye research that prevents blindness, low vision and major eye diseases common to Singaporeans and Asians. Over the last decade, SERI has conducted land-mark research projects that have led to tangible outcomes, patient benefits, and success stories. It has paved the way for significant improvements in how eye diseases are treated and prevented, not just for Singaporeans or Asians, but on a global scale.
At its inception, SERI saw a national remit in ophthalmic and vision research. SERI has grown from a founding team of five in 1997 to a faculty of more than 250 staff, encompassing clinician scientists, scientists, research fellows, PhD students and support staff. This makes SERI one of the largest research institutes in Singapore, as well as the largest eye research institute in the Asia Pacific region. SERI has also over 250 adjunct faculties from various eye departments, biomedical institutes and tertiary centres in Singapore. SERI has published an impressive array of 5,942 scientific papers and has secured external peer-reviewed competitive grants. As of December 2024, SERI’s faculty has been awarded with more than 1,425 national and international prizes and filed 188 patents.
As the research institute of the SNEC, and directly affiliated to the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, as well the Duke-NUS Medical School, SERI undertakes vision research in collaboration with local clinical ophthalmic centres and biomedical research institutions, as well as major eye centres and research institutes throughout the world. SERI ranks first globally in terms of eye publications per capita, far ahead of the US, UK and Japan. SERI is also ranked 1st in Ophthalmology among all non-academic institutes, and 2nd in ophthalmology among all institutes in ScholarGPS®. With its impressive publication track record, SERI is comparable to renowned eye institutes, both regionally and internationally.
For more information, visit www.seri.com.sg
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