Training Eye Disease Researchers in India

Blindness and vision impairment combined are the number one cause of disability among India’s elderly—a growing segment of the country’s population. Both in India and in the U.S., poor vision in old age is linked to increased risk of falls, dementia, depression, disability, loss of independence, longer and more frequent hospitalizations, and mortality.

Non-communicable disease accounts “for more than nine in ten cases of vision loss in older Indians, and the majority of those cases are avoidable.

The large and growing burden of preventable eye disease in India is compounded by a shortage of population health research expertise in the country—a critical barrier to developing effective, evidencebased interventions to stem the tide of vision-related disability.

The Kellogg Eye Center has proposed an ambitious training program to build clinical-epidemiological research capacity in India. The program is a partnership with the Aravind Eye Care System (AECS) located in southern India. AECS is the world’s largest eye care system, and the training program leverages a diverse array of research resources across the University of Michigan.

The consortium has been awarded an International Research Training Grant (D43) from the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Kellogg professor David Musch, Ph.D., M.P.H., is the Program Director/Principal Investigator on the grant, and is joined by co-investigator Joshua Ehrlich, M.D., M.P.H. “Kellogg and the AECS have a long and productive history of close collaboration and educational exchanges,” Dr. Musch says. “This award reflects the shared commitment of Aravind and Kellogg to pursue research that will reduce and one day eliminate vision loss.”

A needs assessment survey helped guide the development of the program’s curriculum. Post-graduate training tracks designed for early- and mid-career AECS faculty will establish a firm foundation in study design, research ethics and statistical analysis.

“Special emphasis will be placed on the tools needed to conduct life-course studies,” explains Dr. Musch, “to understand the impact of various early- and mid-life exposures on late-life vision.”

In addition to preparing India’s next generation of clinical-epidemiological eye researchers, the program will also bolster the mentoring and teaching skills of AECS faculty leaders, in anticipation of all training activities transitioning to AECS by the end of the 5-year grant period.

David Musch, Ph.D., M.P.H., and Joshua Ehrlich, M.D., M.P.H.

Aravind Srinivasan (Chief Medical Officer, Aravind Eye Hospital, Chennai, India) and Mr. Israel Gnanaraj (Hospital Architect)