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What's New at Scheie Eye Institute

Dean Arthur Rubenstein announces new Chair of Ophthalmology

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Joan M. O’Brien, MD, as the next Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology. Dr. O’Brien is presently a Professor of Ophthalmology and Director of the Ocular Oncology Division at the University of California at San Francisco. She assumed the Chair on January 1, 2010.

In her career to date, Dr. O’Brien has made remarkable achievements in clinical care, research, and education. The Ocular Oncology Service she directs at UCSF is a leading center for the treatment of ocular malignancies. Dr. O’Brien’s service follows one of the largest populations of retinoblastoma patients in the world. Since the mid-90’s, it has been on the forefront of a paradigm shift in treatment away from radiation towards less toxic, chemotherapy-based protocols for this disease. Her service is one of only two US centers specializing in proton beam therapy for ocular melanoma. Recently, collaborating with specialists in Hematology/Oncology at UCSF, Dr. O’Brien established intraventricular rituximab as a curative therapy for intraocular lymphoma.

Dr. O’Brien also directs the Ocular Oncology Laboratory at UCSF, which focuses on developing improved therapies and genetic screening for retinoblastoma. Hyperthermia and local carboplatin therapies for retinoblastoma were innovated by her laboratory and have entered clinical use. Recently, her laboratory developed a fibrin sealant sustained release vehicle for delivering local chemotherapy, which has been translated into clinical trials in the US and abroad. In 2005, her laboratory was one ten laboratories selected to participate in the National Ophthalmic Disease Genotyping Network (eyeGENE), a new National Eye Institute initiative designed to improve treatment and genetic testing standards for hereditary eye disease. Dr. O’Brien’s laboratory is the sole center for retinoblastoma genetic testing for eyeGENE, providing cost-free clinical diagnostic screening to retinoblastoma patients nationally through this program.

Dr. O’Brien has been nominated for several teaching awards throughout her career, and she is an inducted member of the Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators at UCSF. She has been course director of numerous ophthalmology courses; formal career advisor for a generation of students and residents; and, since 2000, Vice Chair for Education in the Department of Ophthalmology. As Primary Investigator of a study funded by the Academy of Medical Educators, she recently developed an on-line study module to quantitatively measure medical students’ clinical ophthalmology training. She also serves as an Examiner for the American Board of Ophthalmology.

Dr. O’Brien was valedictorian of her graduating class at Middlebury College and graduated from Dartmouth Medical School, where she won its Syvertson Fellowship for Outstanding Junior Student, Dean’s Medal for Outstanding Graduating Senior, was inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha. She trained in internal medicine, ophthalmology, and ophthalmic pathology at Harvard Medical School and was a clinical fellow in ocular oncology at UCSF. Dr. O’Brien was appointed to the faculty of the UCSF Department of Ophthalmology in 1992, and became Director of the Ocular Oncology Division in 1995. She currently holds the Pearl and Samuel Kimura Chair of Ophthalmology at UCSF. Reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of Dr. O’Brien’s clinical and basic science research, she is also a Professor of Pediatrics and a program member of the UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center. We expect her wide range of experience will be very useful in Penn Medicine’s highly interdisciplinary environment.

Her honors include a Young Investigator Award from Research to Prevent Blindness; a Career Development Award from the American Association for Cancer Research; and an Honor Award and a Senior Achievement Award from the American Academy of Ophthalmology. She was also the Inaugural Year Recipient of the Research to Prevent Blindness Physician-Scientist Award. Dr. O’Brien has been a frequent speaker at national and international conferences, and a visiting professor at leading universities, including Harvard, USC, Duke, and Emory.

Dr. O’Brien has published widely in her field, and her work has appeared in highly recognized journals, including Nature, Cancer Research, and Clinical Cancer Research. She had been a reviewer for numerous professional journals and serves on the editorial boards of Ophthalmology – Journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Ophthalmic Surgery, Lasers, & Imaging.

Under the leadership of Michael Mennuti, M.D., Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the search committee reviewed many worthy candidates to succeed Stuart L. Fine, M.D., as Chair of our Department of Ophthalmology. We thank the committee members for their outstanding work.

We are delighted to welcome a well-rounded and nationally recognized physician-scientist of Dr. O’Brien’s caliber to our institution. Since its creation more than 135 years ago, the Department of Ophthalmology has flourished. Given her extensive experience in patient care, research, and medical education, we are confident that Dr. O’Brien will lead the department to even greater heights.

Scheie is #2 in Funding from the NEI

Scheie Eye Institute, the Department of Ophthalmology at University of Pennsylvania, is #2 among all departments of ophthalmology and eye institutes across the U.S. in research grant awards from the National Eye Institute (NEI), National Institutes of Health (NIH).  This speak volumes about the quality and importance of the eye and vision research being conducted by physicians and scientists in the department and of the esteem and respect accorded to these various research projects by ophthalmologists and vision scientists across the U.S. who provide peer review of all grant applications to the NIH.

Ophthalmology takes part in Penn clinical research initiative

Joan DuPont, Project Manager for Clinical Research Studies in Ophthalmology, was invited join Penn’s new Clinical Research Coordination and Management Advisory Committee (CRCMAC) Executive Committee.  CRCMAC was established to provide a professional forum for UPENN Clinical Research Coordinators (CRCs) in order to elevate the visibility and importance of the profession, to create a forum for advancing the profession, to enhance networking and synergy among CRCs and to provide a mechanism for CRC input into institutional strategic planning and process improvement.  The University chose Ophthalmology as the first Department to take part in a new initiative to introduce a School of Medicine strategic approach to supporting clinical research.  DuPont, a member of Scheie’s research enterprise for more than 25 years, was instrumental in the success of this project.

Scheie Researcher Receives Foundation Fighting Blindness Board of Directors Award and Grants from Hope for Vision

Tomas S. Aleman, MD, recently received the 2009 Foundation Fighting Blindness Board of Directors Award.  The award was presented to scientists who contributed to groundbreaking gene therapy clinical trials for Leber Congenital Amaurosis.  Dr. Aleman is also the recipient of the 2006, 2007 and 2008 Hope for Vision awards to support his research in inherited retinal degenerative diseases at the Center for Hereditary Retinal Degenerations at Scheie Eye Institute. Hope for Vision is an organization dedicated to raising awareness of retinal degenerative and other blinding diseases, to providing information and community tools to help those coping with vision loss, and to developing the tools required to support a grassroots movement to raise urgently needed funding for scientific research.

Former Chair Receives Lifetime Achievement Award

Stuart L. Fine, MD, received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) for his contributions to the Academy and the ophthalmology profession. The AAO is the world's largest association of eye physicians and surgeons.

Scheie to Participate in Trial to Evaluate Retinal Gene Therapy

The National Eye Institute of NIH has funded a clinical trial to evaluate gene therapy for children and adults with Leber Congenital Amaurosis (LCA), a blinding eye disease. The trial will be led by Samuel G. Jacobson, MD, PhD and his team and conducted at Scheie’s Center for Hereditary Retinal Degenerations and at the University of Florida College of Medicine in Gainesville.

Scheie Lands Major NIH Grant to Study AMD Drugs

On September 30, 2006, the National Eye Institute awarded grants to three institutions to compare the efficacy of two drugs for the treatment of the neovascular (wet) stage of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of severe vision loss in the U.S. According to NEI officials, the study will cost approximately $16 million. Daniel F. Martin, MD of Emory University is the Study Chair, and Stuart L. Fine, MD is the Vice-Chair. Maureen G. Maguire, PhD, Professor and Director of our Center for Preventive Ophthalmology and Biostatistics, directs the Coordinating Center which is responsible for orchestrating the study and collecting and analyzing the data from 1,200 patients at 40 clinical centers. Glen Jaffe, MD, Professor at Duke University, directs the OCT Reading Center, and Juan E. Grunwald, MD, Professor and Director of the Vivian Simkins Lasko Retinal Vascular Research Laboratory at Scheie, directs the Photograph Reading Center. Enrollment of more than 1200 patients was completed in December 2009 and one year results will be published in early 2011.  The former Deputy Director of the National Eye Institute has stated that this trial is the National Eye Institute’s highest priority! 

Scheie Faculty Garner Important Awards

Samuel G. Jacobson, MD, PhD, Director of the Center for Hereditary Retinal Degenerations, received the Ruth and Milton Steinbach Fund Award and the Alcon Research Institute Award to support his on-going research into the causes of inherited retinal degenerations.

Kenneth S. Shindler, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Neuro-ophthalmology and scientist at the F. M. Kirby Center for Molecular Ophthalmology, received a Career Development Award from RPB. This $200,000 grant is the seventh Career Development Award to faculty at Scheie Eye Institute

Juan E. Grunwald, MD, Professor of Ophthalmology and Director of the Vivian Simkins Lasko Retinal Vascular Research Laboratory, was awarded a grant from the National Eye Institute to investigate the relationship between retinopathy and end stage renal disease in patients with chronic renal insufficiency. Grunwald and colleagues will assess whether retinal vascular abnormalities can provide information of prognostic value regarding the progression of renal and cardiovascular disease. Non-invasive retinal photographs might provide unique information about the microvasculature that would not be available through any other means. Such information could identify new risk factors for end-stage kidney disease.

New Dry Eye Center at the Scheie Eye Institute

Drs. Mina Massaro and Vatinee Bunya have established a new ocular surface and dry eye center now located on the 2nd floor of the Scheie Eye Institute.  Since this is the first center of its kind in the Delaware Valley, it began to receive patient referrals from the entire Delaware Valley from the time the doors opened.  It is anticipated that this service will expand and have a strong presence in the new Perelman Center and that its patient volume and reputation will continue to grow.

Scheie Eye Institute Stands Tall Among Departments Of Ophthalmology

  • A recent publication from the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research disclosed that Scheie Eye Institute at Penn ranked #2 among 61 departments of ophthalmology that received funding from the National Eye Institute in 2008
  • Cited repeatedly in Ophthalmology Times as among best in U.S. in eye research and ophthalmology residency programs
  • Cited by AUPO’s Resident Matching Program as #1 among all U.S. medical schools with respect to number of medical students applying for ophthalmology residency

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