What’s In Our Pipeline? Hope.

As physicians, we help our patients choose the best therapies, lifestyle changes, or surgeries to help their unique situation.

After all, what works for one person may underperform or not work for another—and now we know more about why. Each day scientists understand more about how genetics influence our risk for developing disease and the severity of the disease.

Over the past decade, it’s become clear a personalized medicine approach tailored to each person’s genetic makeup holds so much promise. Just one gene therapy might stave off a lifetime of struggles with medicines and procedures in the healthcare system.

At the John A. Moran Eye Center, we’re not just talking about it; we’re doing it. Gregory S. Hageman, PhD, is on the cusp of achieving a dream I share with him: defeating age-related macular degeneration.

Our first therapy for this blinding disease, developed by Moran’s Sharon Eccles Steele Center for Translational Medicine (SCTM), is being tested in humans. It will take time to get results, but boy, do we have hope.

Hope is, of course, irrevocably tied to innovation and change. Visionaries like Dr. Hageman embrace it. He took a chance to study a disease the field had dubbed incurable and embraced the unorthodox as the SCTM developed a new way to speed drug development in academia.

This step for Dr. Hageman and his multidisciplinary team of experts is a testament to their approach.

We have five potential new AMD therapies in our drug pipeline and are beginning to tackle another frustrating, blinding disease: glaucoma.

Our Alan S. Crandall Center for Glaucoma Innovation, led by Iqbal “Ike” K. Ahmed, MD, FRCSC, is doing just that — raising hope. Alan would be so proud to see the impact it is poised to make.

At the forefront is a neuroprotective therapy developed by David Krizaj, PhD, and a team of multidisciplinary collaborators. And Dr. Ahmed continues to push the field forward with research on new surgical devices and approaches.

Have you ever heard of exosomes? They are a hot new research area, and our latest recruit to the Crandall Center, Fiona McDonnell, PhD, is excited to tap into their potential for new therapies and diagnostics.

The excitement doesn’t stop there, of course. In 2022, the Moran Eye Center ranked among the nation’s Top 10 eye centers. It is a remarkable honor that eye doctors around the country recognize the exceptional care we provide. We could not have done any of this without the kind donors who have supported Moran throughout the years. Some have donated eye tissue upon death to our Utah Lions Eye Bank, which just celebrated its 50th anniversary. Others have lent their financial support to our institution, putting hard-earned money behind our efforts to create a brighter future for patients.

This year’s edition of FOCUS shares these stories and more. Many of you know I like to say we swing for the fences. We’ve taken some big swings, and they are heading straight out of the park.

Sincerely,

Randall J Olson, MD

Distinguished Professor and Chair, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Utah

The Cumming Presidential Endowed Chair

CEO, John A. Moran Eye Center

Director, University of Utah Vision Institute

Randall J Olson, MD, left, and Gregory S. Hageman, PhD, are pictured shortly after they founded the Center for Translational Medicine (now the Sharon Eccles Steele Center for Translational Medicine) in 2009.

2022-2023 MORAN ADVISORY COUNCIL

TONI BLOOMBERG

La Jolla, California

WILLIAM “BILL” CHILD

Salt Lake City, Utah

THOMAS “TIM” DEE III

Salt Lake City, Utah

CHRISTENA HUNTSMAN DURHAM

Salt Lake City, Utah

SPENCER F. ECCLES

Salt Lake City, Utah

CHRISTINE A. FAIRCLOUGH

Salt Lake City, Utah

WAYNE A. IMBRESCIA

John A. Moran Eye Center

CLAUDIA S. LUTTRELL

Salt Lake City, Utah

JOHN A. MORAN

Palm Beach, Florida

RANDALL J OLSON, MD

John A. Moran Eye Center

LYNN WARD

John A. Moran Eye Center

JOHN E. WARNOCK, PhD

Los Altos, California

NORM A. ZABRISKIE, MD

John A. Moran Eye Center