The Chairs Perspective

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

2022 marks the 150th anniversary of the establishment of a Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Michigan. At the time of its founding in 1872, the department was only the fourth academic program in the nation devoted to vision science and eye care. From the start, we set a course to transform ophthalmology.

Among the Michigan milestones which changed the field of ophthalmology and the lives of patients:

• The U-M Heredity Clinic was established in 1941 by a faculty pioneer in human genetics and vision. In 1956 it formed the basis for the first dedicated medical school genetics department in the country.

• Beginning in the 1960s, basic science work conducted in our original Vision Research Laboratory helped form the foundation of knowledge about mechanisms of color vision and color blindness.

• In 1995 the human gene encoding the retinal pigment epithelium protein RPE65 was cloned at Kellogg, and in 1997 was linked to Leber congenital amaurosis. The disease has been treated successfully with FDA-approved gene therapy since 2017.

• Pioneering work in ophthalmology and endocrinology by U-M faculty on the repurposing of teprotumumab led to the first FDA-approved treatment for thyroid eye disease in 2020.

• Results from the Collaborative Initial Glaucoma Treatment Study (CIGTS), a multi-center NIH clinical trial led by Kellogg faculty and staff, demonstrated that intensive treatment for early glaucoma can preserve vision and that greater patient adherence with medical therapy is indeed associated with better outcomes in glaucoma.

There is no better way to honor our past than to celebrate the people and ideas which continue to propel Kellogg forward. This year’s Annual Report shares the efforts of our faculty, learners, staff and alumni to transform the scope and methods of education and learning, create and validate new treatments and therapeutic approaches, personalize individual patient care, and preserve and improve the eye health of our communities.

The innovation in this year’s report—from biomedical engineering to fresh training approaches to community models of eye care—is cultivated by collaboration and teamwork. Our team approach reflects the longstanding model of cooperation at Kellogg and across Michigan. That cooperation will be bolstered as we welcome the 15th President of the University of Michigan and renowned vision researcher, Dr. Santa Ono, to our department.

Dr. Santa Ono

President of the University of Michigan

It is with deep appreciation and admiration of our alumni, faculty, learners, staff, friends and supporters—your team effort makes all we do possible—that I invite you to learn about some of this year’s accomplishments in the 2022 Annual Report. We hope that you share our excitement to see where 2023 and the changes to come will lead us all.

Paul P. Lee, M.D., J.D.

F. Bruce Fralick Professor and Chair, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences; Director, W.K. Kellogg Eye Center