Steno North American Fellowship

Thomas Gardner, M.D., M.S., U-M Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Internal Medicine, and Molecular & Integrative Physiology, was awarded a fellowship to collaborate with fellow retinal researcher Dr. Michael Larsen at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

The Steno North American Fellowship program, made possible by a grant from the Novo Nordisk Foundation, fosters transatlantic collaboration in diabetes research between investigators from three North American partner institutions – the University of Michigan, Harvard University and the University of Toronto, and their counterparts in Steno Diabetes Centers across Denmark.

Their joint project brings together Dr. Gardner’s recent research on the impact of neural dysfunction on the retina and Dr. Larsen’s studies of the role of vascular dysfunction. “The fellowship allows us to pursue our shared hypothesis that diabetes disrupts the entire retinal neurovascular unit,” he explains.

Also in 2021, Dr. Gardner received a Distinguished Clinical and Translational Research Mentor Award from the Michigan Institute for Clinical & Health Research. The award recognizes his leadership of the Michigan Vision Clinician-Scientist Development Program, a mentored training program at Kellogg funded by an NIH K12 training grant. “I am honored by the award,” he says, “but I’m sure I learn more from these talented young investigators than they learn from me.”