When I became chair of the MU Department of Ophthalmology in July 2014, I was given the reins to expand both the clinical and the vision science research programs. We have already added a glaucoma specialist, a neuro-ophthalmologist, an oculoplastic surgeon, a cornea and laser vision specialist, and a combination medical retina specialist, ocular oncologist, and ocular pathologist. During the next two years we will add a pediatric ophthalmologist and an additional retina specialist. To accommodate our growth in clinical services, we have opened a second clinic, called University Eye Institute East, in the eastern part of Columbia, where Women’s and Children’s Hospital and other MU Health Care clinics are located. As for the research side, in 2016 plans are to increase the number of research faculty to seven full-time PhD faculty and to expand the department’s lab facilities to make room for additional postdoctoral fellows, undergraduate and graduate students, and laboratory technicians.
Our department has a long tradition of research, and four of the six articles in this issue are a glimpse of the clinical research that happens between faculty attendings and ophthalmology residents and medical students. An article on visual acuity outcomes when residents perform cataract surgery is the result of a research project by a resident, two medical students and Frank Rieger, MD, ophthalmology chief at the VA Hospital. An article on vitreoretinal surgery as a risk factor for complicated cataract surgery is from a research project by a resident, an undergraduate student, Dr. Rieger and Dean Hainsworth, MD, vitreoretinal surgeon, vice chair of the department and medical director of the Clinical Research Center of the MU Institute of Clinical and Translational Science. An article on vaccine-associated uveitis is written by a medical student and me, based on our analysis of reports of adverse ocular reactions to vaccines. An article on hyperbaric oxygen therapy for central retinal artery occlusion is by a 2015 graduate of our residency program and Kathy Lentz, MD, a comprehensive ophthalmologist on our clinical faculty.
The fifth article is by our residency director, Geetha Davis, MD, who is a comprehensive ophthalmologist. It traces the evolution of cataract surgery to the point where it has now become, for all intents and purposes, a refractive procedure. The sixth article is by our neuro-ophthalmolgist, Bokkwan Jun, MD, PhD, who describes the systematic approach to narrowing the diagnostic possibilities of transient vision loss.
The strong research foundation in the Department of Ophthalmology was laid down in the 1980s, under the leadership of Robert Burns, MD, a retina specialist who served as chair from 1979 to 1991 and was instrumental in establishing our presence in lens and retina research. Dr. Burns orchestrated in 1982 the development of the Mason Eye Institute. The department’s presence in cornea research was cultivated under the leadership of John Cowden, MD, a cornea specialist who served as department chair for 20 years, until his retirement in 2013.
Through the years the PhD research faculty in the department have garnered millions of dollars in grants from the NIH/National Eye Institute. Of the 16 clinical departments of the MU School of Medicine, ophthalmology ranks first in research funding from the National Institutes of Health. As such, ophthalmology is integral to MU’s position among the 62 universities that comprise the Association of American Universities. AAU institutions are an elite group: nearly one-half of the doctoral degrees in the United States are awarded by AAU-designated universities, and 55 percent of those degrees are in the sciences and engineering. Expansion of both the clinical and research arms of the Department of Ophthalmology will help in the campuswide effort to boost MU’s AAU standing.
The growth we have been experiencing during the past 18 months is but a beginning. We are now in the early planning stages of building a new center of excellence in eye care and vision research. We have set our sights on breaking ground for construction in two to three years. It’s an exciting time for all of us in the MU Department of Ophthalmology.
Conceptual drawing of the proposed Missouri Eye and Ear Institute, having a building footprint of 100,000 square feet. Building plans include clinical, surgical, and research space for ophthalmology and otolaryngology. MEEI is will be a center of excellence within the MU Health Care system, serving patients throughout the Midwest.
Biography
Frederick W. Fraunfelder, MD, MBA, MSMA member since 2014, is chairman and the Roy E. Mason and Elizabeth Patee Mason Distinguished Professor of the Department of Ophthalmology, Mason Eye Institute, at the University of Missouri.
Contact: fraunfelderf@health.missouri.edu
