Vision, Spring 2016

A Semiannual Publication of the Augusta University James & Jean Culver Vision Discovery Institute

SPRING 2016

SPRING 2016 VISION

DIRECTORS’ NOTE

THE DISAPPEARING DISQUALIFIER

On a recent visit with Jim and Jean Culver, I was treated to a story of the “disappearing disqualifier.” As a flight surgeon and ophthalmologist, Jim often examined pilots with eye conditions that might preclude them from piloting sophisticated military aircraft. One such young man was referred to him complaining of fluctuating vision throughout the day. Prior attempts by others to document any problems with his eyes, or even his eyesight, failed to disclose an explanation for his symptoms.

He was on the verge of being disqualified for medical reasons, but for what reason?

As this young pilot sat in Jim’s examining chair, he repeated his history, and Jim meticulously questioned him further on specific details, such as the time of the day his vision was worse. Finding that his vision was worse early in the morning and clearer throughout the remainder of the day, Jim focused on what he suspected to be the problem: the patient’s cornea, or clear “window,” at the front of the eye. This patient had a particular corneal dystrophy, or inherited corneal problem, that caused him to wake up in the morning with a swollen cornea, known as corneal edema, that then cleared as the day wore on. Jim was not only able to diagnose the problem, but he was also able to treat him, reducing the swelling and improving his morning vision.

As I reflected on this story, I realized that there was something lost, and something learned. Medicine today is at a crossroad, where the push to care for many patients collides with the time we allocate to an individual patient’s care. That conflict can result in the loss of those few precious minutes of a patient’s history that may provide just the clues we need to zero in on the problem and to help them with potential curative therapy.

The Culver Institute at Augusta University is charged with finding answers through groundbreaking research to the etiology and treatment of the world’s most blinding diseases.

We push to get those findings and potentially beneficial treatments as quickly as possible from the laboratory bench to the clinic. It is the sacred responsibility of our eye physicians to make the time to practice the basics of our profession, to really listen to our patients.

Thanks Jim and Jean, for allowing us to listen to your stories and to take away important lessons in life that we may incorporate into our busy academic and professional lives.

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IN THIS ISSUE SPRING 2016

Vision is published biannually by the Medical College of Georgia Department of Ophthalmology and the Augusta University Division of Communications and Marketing.

Please direct comments or questions to Editor Emily Renzi at erenzi@augusta.edu or 706-721-3213.

GIVING ________________________4 IN BRIEF _______________________6 CULVER SPOTLIGHT______________8 DISCOVERIES__________________12 PROGRAMS___________________13 FACULTY SPOTLIGHT____________14 BOARD SPOTLIGHT_____________16

ABOUT THE COVER

NEW FACES____________________17

Dr. James Culver helped to select the first team in space.

Read more on page 8.

NEW GRANTS__________________17 FACULTY MEMBERS ____________18 DON’T MISS___________________20 3

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GIVING

A FULL CAREER Retinal surgeon Dr. William S. Hagler helped prevent blindness in thousands of patients during his 37 years in practice.

ULTIMATE PRECISION Retinal surgery is the “epitome of endoscopic surgery,” said Dr. William S. Hagler. The precise techniques rely on tiny instruments no bigger than the needle on a syringe, and retinal surgeons work down at the micron level, using 3-D cameras to magnify operations up to 50 times.

The year was 1949, and Dr. Charles Schepens was making history.

Known as the father of modern retinal surgery, Schepens established the world’s first retina service and retinal disease fellowship at the

Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston.

And just six years later, Augusta native Dr. William S. Hagler graduated from the Medical College of Georgia and became one of Schepens’ first fellows.

“It was the birth of an

exciting new specialty in medicine,” said Hagler.

Looking back at his 37-year career, he was honored to be there from the start. Hagler brought his knowledge back to the South, becoming the first full-time faculty member in the Department of Ophthalmology at Emory School of Medicine in his home state—and, in fact, the first “south of Washington, D.C., and north of Miami.” Hagler was diagnosing, treating and operating on retinal detachments, offering a cure for blindness caused by this common retinal disorder for the first time in history. And like Schepens, he was passing on his knowledge— along with his partner Dr. William Jarrett—by teaching both residents and fellows, including those from his alma mater, MCG. Over the next decades, Hagler would also witness major changes in the

Scleral Buckle

Retinal Detachment medical rectus muscle

medical rectus muscle

sclera choroid

scleral buckl e

field, from the use of lasers as a preventative therapy for retinal detachments related to diabetic retinopathy to cryotherapy for retinal detachments and other disorders—again being the first to offer both in the Southeast.

“I took care of just as many patients my last year as my first,” said Hagler with pride, who retired in 1998 after a full career focusing on patient care and teaching.

His legacy is being recognized this year with the establishment of the Dr. William S. Hagler Chair in Ophthalmology at the Medical College of Georgia. “I was surprised and honored—and felt somewhat unworthy,” said Hagler.

But as one of those on the forefront of retinavitreous surgery (and a charter member of the Retina Society), it’s likely that Hagler has helped save more eyesight in the last 40 years than what was saved in the last 500.

“And I’m still excited and thrilled by what these techniques allowed us to do.”

retina vitreous body

retinal detachment retinal br eak

lateral rectus muscl e

lateral rectus muscl e

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To support the Culver VDI, contact David Cantrell, Major Gifts Officer, at 706-721-1817 or dcantrell@augusta.edu.

EYEBALLS AND EYE BALLS

When Dr. Julian Nussbaum, co-director of the Culver VDI, walked into his first meeting with the Ladies of the Landing to find the room entirely decorated in eyeballs, his jaw simply dropped.

That’s how Betty Ann Jacks, past president of the ladies organization based at Reynolds Lake Oconee, recalls it with a laugh. A longtime patient of Nussbaum’s, she credits him for successfully managing her macular degeneration.

“He’s on top of everything and has the latest research going.

Every time something new comes up, we discuss it,” said Jacks. “I thought—I would love to have him as a speaker.”

The meeting in October 2014 was part lecture, part celebration of Nussbaum’s Oct. 31 birthday—hence the decorations. The ladies even dressed in costume, with Jacks in a black skeleton jumpsuit complete with pink tutu.

But when it came time for Nussbaum to discuss the Culver VDI and the important ongoing research to cure macular degeneration, it was time for the ladies to be surprised. “You could have heard a pin drop, he was so good,” recalled Jacks. “Plus, several

The Ladies of the Landing’s Betty Ann Jacks is organizing the first-ever gala for the Culver VDI

GET YOUR TICKET Eye balls, tuxes and opera, oh my! To reserve your tickets for the Culver VDI’s first-ever Eye Ball, call 706-721-1817.

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people besides me had macular degeneration and other eye diseases, and some people had parents who had macular degeneration and some eye issues.”

The ladies and Jacks have since become stalwart supporters of the Culver VDI. In fact, Jacks is organizing the institute’s first-ever Eye Ball at the Ritz Carlton at Lake Oconee on May 14. The black-tie-optional event features Jeffrey Wells, an opera singer who leads the Oconee Performing Arts Society and regularly appears on stage at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City; Blind Driver, a popular Lake Oconee band; presentations by Nussbaum, Dean Peter Buckley of the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, physicians of the Culver VDI and others; and of course, plenty of eyeballs, confirmed Jacks.

For Jacks, who has lived all over the world with her military husband, it was good fortune that brought her to Nussbaum and the Culver VDI. “I have known 29,000 doctors in my lifetime,” she said with a laugh, “and Julian is by far the best.”

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IN BRIEF

FACULTY HONORED FOR EXEMPLARY TEACHING

8TH ANNUAL CULVER VDI RETREAT

RESEARCH SCHOLAR 6

Three Culver VDI faculty members have been recognized with Exemplary Teaching awards for their contributions to students and residents at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University.

Dr. Pamela Martin, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, was honored for her work in undergraduate medical education, based on quantity of teaching as well as student evaluations. Dr. Kathryn Bollinger, Ophthalmology, and Dr. Lane Ulrich, Ophthalmology, were both honored for their work in graduate medical education, based on innovations or impactful contributions.

Awardees were nominated by their

The Keith Green Lecture was delivered by Dr. Constance Cepko, Bullard professor of genetics and neuroscience at Harvard Medical School and investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, at this year’s Culver VDI retreat, March 30 and 31. Cepko’s lab studies mechanisms that determine

Third-year Medical College of Georgia student Matthew Kaufman worked in Dr. Pamela Martin’s lab to complete two research electives as part of the Medical Scholars Program during summer 2014 and fall 2015. During his 12 weeks there, he worked on Martin’s project to characterize the GPR109A receptor and investigate its possible efficacy as a drug target to treat and prevent diabetic retinopathy. Kaufman worked on

department chairs, and more than 100 faculty all across the Medical College of Georgia were honored during the ceremony in December.

retinal cell fate during development.

They have developed tools to map neuronal circuits and novel methods to manipulate biologic activities. These tools have been applied recently as a therapy in treating a model of severe retinal degeneration.

retinal tissue culture experiments, investigating the anti-inflammatory effects of a beta-hydroxybutyrate mediated by GPR109A and also conducted animal studies with beta-hydroxybutyrate to monitor the incidence and progression of diabetic retinopathy using a variety of techniques. He also recently received a travel award to attend the ARVO annual meeting in Seattle in May.

ENDOWED CHAIR RECEPTION

ARVO ADVOCACY

SOUTHERN DAMES DONATION 7

An Augusta native, Dr. William S. Hagler graduated from the Medical College of Georgia in 1955 and was the first retinal surgeon in the Southeast, teaching hundreds of residents and treating thousands of patients during his career, which spans nearly four decades (see “A Full Career,” page 4.) A reception in his honor and to establish the Dr. William S. Hagler Chair in Ophthalmology at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University was held Saturday,

May 7, at the Augusta Country Club. The chair provides support for the study of the diseases of the eye.

Dr. Folami Lamoke Powell, a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Pamela Martin in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, was one of seven awardees selected nationwide to represent the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology and the National Alliance for Eye and Vision Research as an Emerging Vision Scientist at the ARVO Capitol Hill Advocacy Day in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 12. During her time on the Hill, Powell helped advocate for more federal funding for vision research at the National Institutes of Health and National Eye Institute.

She also received a travel award to attend the ARVO annual meeting in Seattle in May. The emerging vision scientists were nominated by departments of ophthalmology and schools/colleges of optometry from around the country.

Dr. Julian Nussbaum was a featured speaker at the 49th National Assembly of the Southern Dames in Athens in 2011, and since then, the group of women of Southern ancestry has been a regular supporter of the Culver VDI, including a donation this past May. The National Society of Southern Dames of America was chartered in 1963 in Georgia with a purpose of supporting eye programs through contributions to ophthalmic research, donations to eye banks, signatures on eye donor cards and

assistance to the blind and visually handicapped—as well as advancing the knowledge of Southern culture.

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CULVER SPOTLIGHT

TO INFINITY Dr. James Culver, for whom the James & Jean Culver Vision Discovery Institute is named, helped revolutionize aerospace medicine with his contributions to ophthalmology. In every issue of Vision, we highlight one of the many stories from Dr. Culver’s career.

As a member of the Bioastronautics Task Force in support of the Mercury and Gemini projects of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), it was part of Dr. James

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Culver’s role to help assemble the right team to take the first manned flights into space.

The candidates were all military test pilots, all with above-average

YOU HAD TO BE A LITTLE CRAZY. courage, a willingness to take significant risks and even to push the envelope—and yes, maybe just a little crazy.

For the American public, they also had to embody integrity and what it means to be a hero.

Out of more than 500 applications, 69 candidates came to Washington, D.C., to undergo extensive physical and mental exams, including spending hours on treadmills and tilt tables, submerging their feet in ice water, taking three

doses of castor oil and undergoing five enemas.

Six were rejected as being too tall, 33 failed or dropped out, and four flatly refused to complete the second round.

Culver helped select the final seven, who would become known as the Mercury Seven. Their names are familiar to us, emblazoned as they are on the history books: Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton. A

color photo from the time captures the group of clean-cut men in a moment, all cleareyed with slight smiles, posing confidently at the Manned Spacecraft Center, now Johnson Space Center, in Houston, Texas.

Culver’s experience, in fact, mirrors the innovative research being successfully undertaken at his namesake institution, the Culver VDI. It required a group of highly specific characteristics to form that first team

of astronauts to propel the U.S. space program forward. And it’s true of anything: To succeed at work, success depends not just on a single person—it’s dependent on having the right team assembled around you.

SPRING 2016 VISION

DISCOVERIES

HERE COMES THE SUN Dr. Mitch Watsky is looking into the key role of vitamin D—produced by sun exposure—for corneal wound healing.

Growing up in sunny Florida, Dr. Mitch Watsky likely never imagined that his research would focus on the sunlight that gives Florida its reputation as a tourists’ playground.

The founding dean of The Graduate School at Augusta University, professor in the Department of Cellular

THE VITAMIN D CONNECTION Since the Culver VDI’s Dr. Mitch Watsky first began his research into the link between vitamin D and the eye, the field has grown exponentially. In fact, a recent study by Indian researchers published in Cornea has established a primary link between low vitamin D levels and dry eye. For more about dry eye care at the Culver VDI, see “Not a Dry Eye” on page 13.

Biology and Anatomy, and Culver VDI corneal researcher, has spent the last decade examining the link between corneal wound healing and vitamin D, an essential nutrient that’s produced primarily through, you guessed it, time spent in the sun.

Most of us know the link between vitamin D and healthy bones—as well as overall good health—but while he was attending a conference in support of his rheumatologist wife’s vitamin D and metabolic bone disease research, the longtime vision scientist started thinking. Other than the skin, the eye is the only other organ in the body that’s exposed to the sun: Could the eye also be an activation pathway for the nutrient?

His initial studies found that not only to be the case, but that the eye can also receive vitamin D through systemic pathways such as diet. And once there, Watsky also discovered through animal studies that vitamin D plays an important role in ensuring rapid wound healing to the

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corneal epithelium, the outermost cell layer of the cornea.

The finding is particularly important for human patients with diabetes since a large percentage suffer from a complication called corneal keratopathy, or surface damage.

Couple that with the fact that more than half of the average population and threequarters of AfricanAmerican and Hispanic populations are vitamin D-insufficient—and that diabetes strikes these minority populations disproportionately.

In fact, the diabetesvitamin D link is the focus of the Watsky lab’s latest research project, conducted by postdoctoral fellows Drs. Xiaowen Lu and Zhong Chen.

Meanwhile, Watsky is encouraging ophthalmologists to consider the vitamin D status of their patients.

“The role of vitamin D certainly needs to be looked at more carefully, and we’re hoping to gat at the mechanisms of the role vitamin D plays in vision.”said Watsky

PROGRAMS

NOT A DRY EYE Clinicians have long recognized the link between dry eye and dry mouth, which is often related to the autoimmune disorder Sjögren’s syndrome, graft-versushost disease (in stem cell transplant patients) or a simple deficiency of tears.

At Augusta University Health, patients with dry mouth were typically seen at the Clinical Center for Oral Medicine, while those with dry eye were seen in the Augusta University Eye Care Center—but not for much longer.

The Culver VDI is bringing together clinicians from The Dental College of Georgia and the Augusta University Eye Care Center to develop a new clinic for dry eye/dry mouth.

So your eyes and mouth are a little dry? So what?

But for the 4 million Americans who suffer from the combination of clinical dry eye and dry mouth (with 9 out of 10 of these patients being women), the effects are not just uncomfortable, but often debilitating.

“You don’t realize how

important it is to have moisture in your eyes or your mouth until you don’t have any,” said Dr. Scott DeRossi, director of Oral Medicine at The Dental College of Georgia. “It’s like waking up with your eyes full of grains of sand or not being able to chew or speak since you have no saliva.”

DeRossi and Augusta University corneal specialist Dr. Amy Estes are partnering to build the region’s first clinic for patients experiencing these related disorders.

While plans are still in the initial stages, Dr. Julian Nussbaum, co-director for the Culver VDI, saw the need for a single center to offer greater convenience for patients.

THE COST OF DRY EYE While it’s estimated that 4 million Americans suffer from the combination of dry eye and dry mouth, an even larger number—80 million—experience dry eye that severely impacts a patient’s overall quality of life.

The Culver VDI is actively seeking donors to help build the new dry eye/dry mouth clinic. To find out more, contact David Cantrell at 706-721-1817 or dcantrell@augusta.edu.

At the new clinical center of excellence, patients will receive a full diagnostic workup and management of these disorders, including the latest therapies. These include the LipiFlow

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Thermal Pulsation System, which applies heat and massage to remove gland obstructions in the eye and provide relief for up to a year, and equipment to produce autologous serum eye drops, which are made from a patient’s own blood serum and contain the essential nutrients found in healthy tears.

Science will be another important component of the new center, which will build on corneal wound healing research conducted at Augusta University by Dr. Mitch Watsky of the Department of Cellular Biology and Anatomy and Dr. Wendy Bollag of the departments of Physiology, Oral Biology, and Cellular Biology and Anatomy.

“The plan is to offer not only the clinical site centralization and new therapeutic options, but also a place to conduct research, breaking down the barriers so that scientists can work side by side with clinicians and patients,” said Estes. “It’s a very multidisciplinary approach.”

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FACULTY SPOTLIGHT

Dr. Dilip Thomas is working on his moves.

“TECHNICAL AND CREATIVE”

Dr. Dilip Thomas is one of the region’s only specialists in ocular plastics and neuro-ophthalmology— and he can dance, too.

The oculofacial plastic surgeon and neuro-ophthalmologist was recently asked to dance in the Alzheimer’s Association’s Dancing with the Stars fundraiser in May. “But finding the corporate sponsors creates more stress than the dancing,” he joked. Dance, after all, has a lot in common with what he does every day: it’s both highly technical and very creative.

Thomas decided later in his medical school training to pursue ophthalmology as his career path.

Ultimately, he chose to pursue a dual subspecialization in fields that encompoass and combine some of his early interests in internal medicine, general plastic surgery, ENT and neurological disease.

Being dual-trained in ocular plastics and neuro-ophthalmology is fairly uncommon, which puts Thomas

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in high demand at his various practices including Augusta University Eye Center, its West Wheeler practice, and other locations in the region.

As a neuroophthalmologist, he works closely with the Augusta University Neuroscience Center to diagnose and care for patients with neurological issues that can lead to vision problems: everything from stroke, Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis, to brain tumors. That is the cognitively challenging side of his practice, literally: “Neuroophthalmology is intellectually stimulating,” he said. “It satisfies that part of my brain, my intellectual curiosity.

It’s more like detective work—trying to figure out problems that have other physicians perplexed and that have frequently left their patients frustrated and searching for an answer.”

On the flip side, the majority of his practice focuses on oculofacial plastic/ orbital surgery. He is the only subspecialist in this field within a 50-100 mile radius of the CSRA. Given his unique training in both the eye and facial plastic surgery, he possesses a unique knowledge base. He often will assist or collaborate with colleagues in ENT, OMFS, general plastic surgery and neurosurgery to provide expertise in facial reconstructive surgery that could adversely affect the eye and potentially vision. He frequently helps correct visionthreatening conditions caused by disorders affecting the eyelid, orbit (eye socket), and tear duct system due to causes including birth disorders, age, cancer, trauma and more. Dr. Thomas works with ENT and facial and general plastics to provide reconstructive surgery surrounding the eye, caused by eyelid malpositions, cancer,

trauma and more.

Because the eye and one’s vision can be adversely affected by disease, it is such a complicated area.

“These reconstructive surgeries require detailed knowledge combined with some creativity in order to re-establish normal function, preserve vision, while providing the best cosmetic result,” he said. “It’s not the same procedure repetitively.”

For instance, he recently cared for a woman with a thyroid-related condition who had previously undergone 15 surgeries to try to repair severe eye protrusion with chronic dryness, irritation and eye pain. Standard procedures that called for removal of threefourths of the bone of eye socket had already been performed, yet the patient still had persistent downward retraction of both lower lids along with severe eye protrusion.

So Thomas had to “think outside the box” for a non-

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HERE’S MUD IN YOUR EYE Along with clinical care, Dr. Dilip Thomas enjoys providing resident education. Residency can be hard work for his three residents, but he keeps it fun, too. For example, for the second year in a row, he’s challenged his resident graduates to participate in the Fort Gordon Marine Mud Challenge, a four-mile run through obstacles (with plenty of mud!), as a unique “final exam,” before they leave Augusta to start their independent careers.

standard solution for this patient’s persistent problems: essentially using cheek implant combined with a cheek lift to build up the bony projection below the eye in order to raise the lower eyelids to cover the bottom portion of the eye. And the surgery was a success.

When he’s not at his busy practice, Thomas stays active. “I pretty much never sit still at home,” said the father of three, who also is a tennis player and recreational runner. Dancing is a new thing, but like his practice: “I want to give them a good result that they’re happy with.”

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BOARD SPOTLIGHT

CARING FOR OTHERS

they first met Nussbaum— or Dr. Julian as they fondly call him. That was eight years ago—and today, after careful follow-up and treatment, Mixon’s eyesight is nearly 20/20, pretty good for an 81-year-old.

Advisory board members Thomas and Cindy Mixon see a future in vision research.

Thomas Mixon has been taking care of others his entire life.

only had to consider the request a short time before they said yes.

After he survived an automobile accident that killed his father, sister and a family friend when he was just 8 years old, he had to grow up quickly.

And after he lost his stepfather at just age 21, he found himself the man of the house—taking care of his mother for the next 50 years.

After all, Mixon himself was a vision patient. Eight years ago, he visited a local ophthalmologist after his reading glasses were no longer working.

He didn’t expect what he heard next: “You’re in the beginning stages of macular degeneration.”

So when Dr. Julian Nussbaum of the Culver VDI invited Mixon and his wife, Cindy, to help care for others with vision problems by supporting the institute’s work, they

The couple joined the Culver VDI’s Advisory Board earlier this year and have already become invested in the work the institute is doing to educate the next generation of ophthalmologists at Augusta University, as well as ongoing research into diseases like macular degeneration.

For example, they’ve toured the simulation training center where ophthalmology students are honing their skills in operating on sensitive parts of the eye. They are also close friends with Augusta University’s Dr. Mitch Watsky, who is researching corneal

“You can imagine how we felt,” said Cindy, “total panic, frightened, ‘now what do we do’—it was that kind of scenario.”

A close friend suggested they visit the Eye Care Center at Augusta University, which is where

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wound healing with the Culver VDI. For the Mixons, the future of what’s possible in eye research and care at the Culver VDI is limitless, and they’re looking forward to being a part of it. “First and foremost, being right there in the thick of it when you’re possibly losing your vision, that’s step one [of why we wanted to be involved],” said Cindy. “We want to get behind something that’s going to make someone else’s life better and improve their vision.

And it’s just wonderful learning what it takes to do that.”

“It’s a wonderful program,” added Mixon.

“Most everything at Augusta University is.”

WELCOME, NEW VDI FACULTY MEMBERS

WELCOME, FIRST-YEAR RESIDENTS!

ANDREA PROSSER, MD

JORDAN PATTON, MD

Ophthalmology

Ophthalmology

Dr. Prosser is a 2008 graduate of the Medical College of Georgia.

Her practice provides eye care for adults and children, including cataracts, glaucoma, refractive error and strabismus, as well as eye surgery and laser procedures.

KATHRYN SHMUNES, MD

TAM BLOOMQUIST, MD

Ophthalmology

Ophthalmology

Dr. Bloomquist is a 2011 graduate of the Medical College of Georgia.

Her clinical interests include medical retina and comprehensive eye care for adults and children, focusing on refractive error, diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration, as well as laser treatments and cataract surgery.

ALDO ESPINOZA, MD

Ophthalmology

MEGAN BUNING, PHD

Department of Counselor Education

An assistant professor of research, Dr. Buning’s interests include athlete behavior, coach communication and athletic technology in the classroom to enhance student learning, specifically the use of visual training software developed for athletes and its effect on students’ reading performance.

NEW GRANTS Neural Correlates of Recognizing Camouflaged Objects: A Human fMRI and EEG Study Army Research Office, Jay Hegde, PhD Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Vision Impairment After TBI National Institutes of Health, Nilkantha Sen, PhD miR-182 and TM Dysfunction in High Tension Glaucoma BrightFocus Foundation, Yutao Liu, MD,PhD

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FACULTY MEMBERS

STEWARDS OF OUR VISION Mohamed Al-Shabrawey, PhD

William Caldwell, PhD

Oral Biology

Emeritus Faculty

Bill Andrews, MA, CMI, FAMI

Raymond Chong, PhD

Medical Illustration

Physical Therapy

Babak Baban, PhD

Hannes Devos, PT, PhD

Oral Biology

Allied Health Sciences

Manuela Bartoli, PhD

Yanbin Dong, MD, PhD

Ophthalmology

Georgia Prevention Center

Tam Bloomquist, MD

Azza El-Remessy, PhD

Ophthalmology

University of Georgia Experimental Therapeutics

David Bogorad, MD

Diego Espinosa-Heidmann, MD

Ophthalmology

Ophthalmology

Wendy Bollag, PhD

Amy Estes, MD

Physiology

Ophthalmology

Kathryn Bollinger, MD

Sumner Fishbein, MD

Ophthalmology

Ophthalmology

Julia Brittain, PhD

Stephanie Goei, MD

Cellular Biology and Anatomy

Ophthalmology

Megan Buning, PhD

Diana Gutsaeva, PhD

Department of Counselor Education

Ophthalmology

Ruth Caldwell, PhD

Joyce Haskell, PhD

Cellular Biology and Anatomy

Adjunct Faculty (Cellular Biology and Anatomy)

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Jay Hegde, PhD

Alan Saul, PhD

Ophthalmology

Ophthalmology

Michael Jensen, MD, CMI

Lakshman Segar, PhD

Medical Illustration

University of Georgia Experimental Therapeutics

Daniel Killingsworth, MD

Nilkantha Sen, PhD

Ophthalmology

Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine

Mallory Lanier, MHS, OTR/L

Shruti Sharma, PhD

Allied Health Sciences

Biotechnology and Genomic Medicine

Gregory Liou, PhD

Sylvia Smith, PhD

Ophthalmology

Cellular Biology and Anatomy

Yutao Liu, MD, PhD

Amany Tawfik, MD

Cellular Biology and Anatomy

Oral Biology

Brendan Marshall, PhD

Dilip Thomas, MD

Cellular Biology and Anatomy

Ophthalmology

Pamela Martin, PhD

Lane Ulrich, MD

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Ophthalmology

Priya Narayanan Namboothiri, PhD,

Mitchell Watksy, PhD

Allied Health Sciences

Cellular Biology and Anatomy

Julian Nussbaum, MD

Zhiyong Yang, PhD

Ophthalmology

Ophthalmology

Albert Pan, PhD

Ming Zhang, PhD

Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine

Cellular Biology and Anatomy

Tadd Patton, PhD Psychology

Puttur Prasad, PhD Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Andrea Prosser, MD Opthalmology

Peter Rosen, MD Ophthalmology

We welcome your feedback. If you have suggestions for articles or other comments/questions about the newsletter, contact Editor Emily Renzi at erenzi@augusta.edu or 706-721-3213.

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Communications and Marketing 1120 15th Street, AD- 1104 Augusta, Georgia 30912

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Tell us by email at updateinfo@augusta.edu Go online to augusta.edu/updateinfo Or call us at 706-721-4001

EVENT LISTINGS The following seminars are held in the Lee Auditoria Center, room 140, 4-5 p.m.:

DISTINGUISHED SEMINAR SERIES

April 19 Topic to be announced Rebecca M. Sappington, PhD Vanderbilt Eye Institute October 18 Topic to be announced John Danias, PhD State University of New York (SUNY) November 15 Topic to be announced Janey Wiggs, MD, PhD Massachusetts Eye and Ear Harvard Medical School Visit culvervdi.org/seminars for information on future events.

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