McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine faculty member Joel Schuman, M.D. (pictured), chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, recently was awarded a $100,000 grant from the Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB) organization. The grant will direct department-wide research looking into the causes, treatment, and prevention of blinding diseases.
Dr. Schuman’s research interests include imaging of the eye, laser-tissue interactions, aqueous outflow, and clinical pharmacology. He holds two patents, one relating to optical imaging and the other to a method of glaucoma surgery. Dr. Schuman is also leading the organization of the Center for Ocular Regeneration and Vision Restoration, a partnership between the Department of Ophthalmology of the UPMC Health System and the McGowan Institute. At the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Schuman is Eye and Ear Foundation Professor. He also serves as director of the UPMC Eye Center, and holds secondary appointments as a professor in Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh and professor, Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, Carnegie Mellon University.
Dr. Schuman is considered to be one of the nation’s leading authorities on the treatment of glaucoma. He is a former recipient of the Lewis Rudin Glaucoma Prize from the New York Academy of Medicine. He has also been honored as a top doctor in Pittsburgh’s Top Doctors 2007, the Cambridge Who’s Who for 2007, and America’s Top Doctors—The Best in American Medicine, also the 2007 edition. He received a prestigious Physician’s Recognition Award with Commendation from the American Medical Association (AMA) for 2006-2009.
To date, the RPB organization has given grants totaling more than $3 million to the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. RPB is the leading voluntary health organization supporting eye research directed at the prevention, treatment, or eradication of all diseases that threaten vision. Today, RPB provides major eye research funding to more than 50 leading scientific institutions in the U.S. and supports the work of hundreds of talented vision scientists engaged in a diverse range of disease-oriented research.
Illustration: McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine.
Read more…
UPMC/University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences Media Relations (08/26/08)
Research to Prevent Blindness
Bio: Joel S. Schuman, MD