Prestigious award honors outstanding research in ophthalmology

Boston, Mass. — The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) recently announced that Reza Dana, MD, MPH, MSc, Director of Cornea and Refractive Surgery at Massachusetts Eye and Ear and a resident of Newton, Mass., will receive the prestigious Friedenwald Award. Established in 1957 as a memorial to Dr. Jonas S. Friedenwald,...

Carolyn E. Kloek, MD, has been selected for the 2017 Women in Ophthalmology (WIO) Educator Award. This award is given to an individual who has consistently provided an exceptionally positive and rewarding training experience to medical students, residents, and fellows.

At Harvard Medical School, Dr. Kloek holds the rank of Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology. Among her leadership roles, she is Program Director of the Harvard Ophthalmology...

Eli Peli, MSc, OD, has joined the board for directors of ITN America. This non-profit provides ride services for the elderly and visually impaired. They support sustainable, community-based transportation services for seniors throughout the world by building a senior transportation network through research, policy analysis and education, and by promoting lifelong safety and mobility. Dr. Peli will work with them on technologies to allocate and assign drivers based on...

Magali Saint-Geniez, PhD, received a 2017 Alcon Research Institute (ARI) Young Investigators Grant at the ARVO Annual Meeting in May. This award is intended to encourage, and promote the early career development of clinicians and scientists in vision research and ophthalmology. Magali aims to evaluate the neuroprotective function of a potent metabolic regulator using pharmaceutical and gene augmentation approaches. She is nationally...

Dean Eliott, MD, received the Lifetime Mentorship Award from the Vit-Buckle Society at their 5^th Annual Meeting in April. The Vit-Buckle Society provides an open forum that mentors developing vitreoretinal surgeons, nurtures innovative surgical technologies and therapeutic approaches for retinal diseases, and fosters best practices. This award recognizes a retina specialist who has gone above and beyond training fellows and making a difference in...

Survival of mass extinctions helps to explain near indestructible properties of hospital "superbugs" 

Boston, Mass. — Leading hospital “superbugs,” known as the enterococci, arose from an ancestor that dates back 450...

After seven years, multi-center clinical trial finds systemic therapy better preserves visual acuity and has fewer side effects 

Boston, Mass. — Systemic therapy consisting of corticosteroids and immunosuppressants preserved vision of uveitis patients better – and had fewer adverse outcomes – than a long-lasting corticosteroid intraocular implant, according to a clinical trial funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI). After seven years, visual acuity on average remained stable among participants on systemic therapy but...

Treating donor tissue with a special cocktail of molecules improves outcomes and promotes survival of high-risk corneal transplants

Boston, Mass. — Treating donor corneas with a cocktail of molecules prior to transplanting to a host may improve survival of grafts and, thus, outcomes in high-risk corneal transplant patients, according to a new study led by researchers at Massachusetts Eye and Ear. The findings, ...

Jeremy Wolfe, PhD, has been named President of the Federation of Associations of Behavioral and Brain Sciences (FABBS). As a coalition of scientific societies, FABBS is eager to advance the sciences of mind, brain, and behavior, and share the contributions of research in these areas with policy makers and the public. He is also serving his second term as a Board Member of the Vision Sciences Society, which is committed to progress in understanding...

Findings may lead to the development of therapies to prevent damage to the retina, the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye.

Boston, Mass. — Chemical eye burns caused by alkali agents not only injure the front of the eye — the cornea, where the contact takes place —  but also cause widespread damage to the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye (the retina) as well, often leading to optic nerve damage and glaucoma. In a report...

Regulating transcription factor RUNX1 using small molecule drugs a promising novel therapy for diseases of the retina, including advanced diabetic eye disease.

Boston, Mass.— A team led by Massachusetts Eye and Ear researchers has identified a novel therapeutic target for retinal neovascularization, or abnormal blood vessel growth in the retina, a hallmark of advanced diabetic eye disease (proliferative diabetic retinopathy).... Read more about Researchers identify new target for abnormal blood vessel growth in the eyes

Jae-Hyun Jung, PhD, is the recipient of the 2017 Alice J. Adler Fellowship of the Schepens Eye Research Institute of Mass. Eye and Ear in the amount of $30,000 over one year for his project, “The best field expansion configuration for using multiplexing prism for homonymous hemianopia.” This award is part of the Eleanor and Miles Shore 50^th Anniversary Fellowship Program for Scholars in Medicine.

Joan W. Miller, MD, has been appointed to the Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology (AUPO) Board of Trustees. As Chair of Harvard Ophthalmology since 2003, Dr. Miller is committed driving innovation and quality in academic medicine, and strongly supports mentoring and developing individuals so that they may grow in their leadership positions. According to Dr. Miller, who has attended almost every AUPO meeting since becoming, “AUPO is one of the most...

Improved delivery vector better penetrates the inner ear, also restores balance in a mouse model of Usher syndrome 

Boston, Mass. — In the summer of 2015, a team at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School reported restoring...

New research findings may lead to development of new therapies to delay or prevent the development of diabetic eye disease.

Boston, Mass. — Researchers from the Schepens Eye Research Institute of Massachusetts Eye and Ear have shown that a slight increase in transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β), which is present in preclinical animal models with diabetic eye disease, protects retinal blood vessels from damage that commonly occurs in the early stages of the disease (known as diabetic retinopathy). Their findings, ...