Dr Raj is passionate about educating and empowering the community. She is a producer of the community radio show, Your Health Matters, on station 94.1FM 3WBC, which reaches a wide audience with important public health messages. Dr Raj has also featured on A Current Affair to promote the need for diligence in monitoring chronic eye disease. As a member of the RANZCO Public Health Committee, she regularly liaises with key stakeholders, policy makers and the media to advocate for crucial aspects of managing macular and diabetic eye disease.

Dr Raj continues her philanthropic work with Vision Australia, a not-for-profit organisation devoted to caring for vision-impaired individuals. She is an active member of Achilles Australia as a fully trained sighted guide and is frequently involved in community programs that educate the community on good eye health sponsored by Sight for All. Dr Raj has also been an avid supporter of mental health campaigns including AMA Peer Support and Laps for Life.

Her philanthropic work in the area of indigenous eye health is remarkable. Having worked in indigenous communities during her medical training through the John Flynn Scholarship Program, she empowers her teams to be both culturally aware and receptive.

Dr Raj’s early research with investigators at the Save Sight Institute in New South Wales looked at pathological processes of drusen that led to the irreversible sequelae in age-related macular degeneration. This research contributed to the understanding of this disease process and has been instrumental in determining how the disease is managed today. Today, she dedicates much of her clinical research to investigating the pathological processes behind other retinal diseases, in particular diabetic retinopathy and retinal vein occlusion.

Dr Raj has co-authored a chapter on diabetic retinopathy in a renowned medical textbook – Textbook of Vascular Disease, Elsevier Press. She has pioneered clinical trials investigating outcomes of patients presenting with cataract and diabetic retinopathy, which have been presented at RANZCO and European ophthalmology conferences.

Dr Raj’s research also focuses on optimising outcomes from cataract surgery, and she has recently published in several peer-reviewed ophthalmic journals on this topic. Her research team developed Eyewise, an app being used nationally to help patients better understand their journey through cataract surgery.