Temple Vision, Spring 2010

Spring 2010 Volume 2, Issue 2

The Temple Vision

Greetings from the sixth floor! Or should I say, “The soon to be renovated sixth floor!” Yes, you heard right. After more than 20 years of the same carpet, the renovations are starting! I owe a great deal of thanks to Tom Armstrong, MD (Res ’84) and Steve Luminais, MD (Res ’85) with whom I had a long discussion at the recent Temple AAO alumni reception in San Francisco about the state of the department. One topic was the physical plant and how it might be improved to further resident education and patient care. Out of that discussion grew an idea to initiate a fundraising campaign to raise $300,000 to renovate the department. Tom took the lead, recruiting fellow program graduates and drafting a letter of appeal that was sent out to our alumni. With Solomon Luo, MD (Res ’86) generously offering to match contributions up to a total of $150,000, the Sixth Floor Renovation Campaign began! No doubt you received the letter at the end of last December asking for your support. I am proud to report that with lead gifts from Tom and Iftikhar Chaudry, MD (Res ’97) as well as generous contributions from a number of other alumni, we have raised $190,100 in the past 4 months! I have to thank the alumni who are stepping forward to offer their support for resident education. You will read more about the capital campaign and the planned renovations in the “Department Doings” and “Alumni News” sections.

The Department continues to evolve. We decided to close our Broomall and Temple main campus offices to concentrate our efforts at the Temple medical and Jeanes campuses. I am very pleased to report that, with support from both hospitals, two new state-of-the-art Zeiss surgical microscopes equipped with retinal wide-field viewing has been purchased for each location as well as new phaco and vitrectomy machines for Jeanes. For that we thank Sandy Gomberg and Linda Grass, the CEOs of the two hospitals. The goal, as always, is better patient care and better surgical training for the residents. Our department surgery numbers climbed from 440 in academic year 2008 to 570 in 2009 and we are projected to perform close to 700 this year– many done by residents as the primary surgeon. Combine this with the VA experience and the Wilmington rotation and our residents should be able to perform over 100 cataract surgeries during their third year. Temple now provides an even more complete surgical experience for the residents– beginning with a well equipped wet lab at Temple and sophisticated surgical simulator at the VA to a larger number of surgeries in the third year. In addition, I am proud of our graduating third year residents who have accomplished so much and been witnesses to and willing participants in so many of the changes that we have instituted to the curriculum. You will read more about them in the “Resident Update” section.

In the “Alumni News” section you will read about Lou Pasquale, MD (Res ’90) who received the 2010 Research to Prevent Blindness Award, the Temple alumni event in San Francisco and our recent meeting of the Volunteer Alumni Board.

Finally, a big thank you as always to the residents, faculty, staff and alumni for their support and enthusiasm as together we move this department toward an even brighter future! Please feel free to contact me at (215) 707-2374 or [email protected].

Jeffrey D. Henderer, MD, Chair

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SpotlightDany Najjar, MD, completed his medical education at the American University of BeruitMedical School in Lebanon. This was followed by an internship and residency inOphthalmology at Temple University. Dr. Najjar also completed a fellowship in Cornea,External Diseases and Refractive Surgery at Wills Eye Institute, and another fellowshipin Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus at the University of Minnesota. After hisgraduation in 2008, he decided to join the Temple family to help build the newDepartment of Ophthalmology.

Dr. Najjar brings to Temple new corneal transplantation techniques including endothelial transplantation and Boston keratoprosthesis for patients with end-stage corneal diseases. He also has special interest in pediatric corneal diseases and transplantation. Dr. Najjar is actively involved in the teaching of medical students at Temple. He has been appointed as Director of Medical Students Education, and along with Dr. Henderer, is working to incorporate Ophthalmology in the core curriculum of the Medical School. Dr. Najjar

mailto:[email protected]


RESIDENT UPDATE3rd Year Residents

Adeela Alizai, MD Betsy Luo, MD , MPH Keith J. Mathers, MD

Adeela Alizai is a graduate of The Aga Khan University Medical College, Karachi, Pakistan. She completed her transitional internship at Brown University prior to Neurology training at Case Western Reserve University. She was trained in Neuro-ophthalmology at Kellogg Eye Institute, University of Michigan. She is board certified in Neurology and was in practice at University of South Dakota for few years prior to joining Temple. She is originally from Peshawar. She likes to watercolor, bike, swim, garden and travel besides being a mom to her three girls. She is married to Asad Ansari, MD, who is a Pediatric Pulmonology and Infectious Disease Specialist. She is looking to enter private practice.

Betsy Luo attended high school in New Hampshire at the Phillips Exeter Academy. She went on to earn a BA in Economics from Columbia University and then attended Yale School of Public Health where she earned an MPH in Health Care Management. She worked as a health care consultant for several years with ECG Management Consultants, Inc. She then returned to school for her MD from Temple University and completed her internship year at Crozer Chester Medical Center. She is the author of 7 peer-reviewed articles in Ophthalmology, and is also an active associate at the Center for Value Based Medicine. Betsy loves to travel and enjoys music, art, running, and all outdoor activities. She will be entering private practice before pursuing an Oculoplastics fellowship.

Keith Mathers graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a degree in biomedical engineering and computer science in 2002. He then attended Jefferson Medical College and subsequently completed a Medicine internship at Abington Memorial Hospital prior to starting his Ophthalmology residency. He is originally from Drexel Hill, PA, and intends to remain in the Philadelphia area after the completion of his training. Keith enjoys video games, photography, traveling, learning Spanish, and spending time with his wife, Beverly. Keith has served admirably as Chief Resident and will be moving to Duke next year for a glaucoma fellowship.

Department DoingsMedical Students and Residents

The medical students have recently reformed the Ophthalmology Special Interest Group (OSIG) here at Temple. This group is comprised of first through fourth year students with Dr. Henderer as their advisor. The mission is to make the students more aware of Ophthalmology. The organization has sponsored several events over the past six months including information sessions for students and community glaucoma screenings. The following photos are from two of the glaucoma screenings. The enthusiasm has carried over to the residents, some of who have also participated in the screenings.

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Ardmore, PA, senior center screening October 2009 Mercy Neighborhood Ministries screening March 2010

In other medical student news, the Department would like to congratulate the five medical students from the Class of 2010 who matched in Ophthalmology!

Kenji Saito (Drexel University), Adam Sise (Georgetown University), Frank Tsai (SUNY Downstate), Daniel Upton (Geisinger Health System) and Alison Zambelli (University of Pittsburgh) all worked very hard to match in a field that continues to be very competitive. We welcome them to the profession!

Renovations

The Department has taken its first steps to renovating the sixth floor. So far we have moved several faculty offices to temporary quarters while we await permanent office space across Broad Street in the Kresge research building. By moving the faculty offices, we will be able to add two new exam rooms on Parkinson 6 and move the records to their own room. Thanks to gifts from Tom Armstrong and Iftikar Chaudry, we will be able to refurbish two resident exam rooms with new equipment, including slit lamps with teaching heads. We will be relocating the administrative/chart space to the current photography and laser area and moving these functions to a location within the clinical care area. Final color schemes and flooring have been selected and bids are in from contractors. The anticipated start date is May 17th. The plan is to complete the renovations in three phases to minimize the disruption to our department functions. We expect the two new exam rooms and renovated laser, photography and field room to be complete by July 1st and the entire project to be complete by Labor Day.

I hope to have some photos for you in the fall newsletter!

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The new floor plan

Research NewsJeff Henderer, MD, Omesh Gupta, MD, and Anjana Jindal, MD, are involved with two funded Pennsylvania grants for vision research. Temple Ophthalmology will serve as a subcontractor on both grants. The first project is in collaboration with Wills Eye Institute and involves better ways to get diabetic patients to come in for annual eye exams. The second project represents collaboration between the Scheie Eye Institute and Temple and studies the genetics of ARMD in African-Americans. The budgets are currently being finalized by the State, but between the two grants, Temple Ophthalmology will be receiving more than $600,000. Both grants will start recruiting patients this summer. These two grants help provide support for three faculty members and two staff members, as well as provide funds for a new digital retinal camera.

Dr. Gupta is working with the Temple Pulmonary department on a study to measure the prevalence of ARMD in COPD patients.

Resident research day will be part of the Graduation Ceremony on June 22. Each resident has been working on a project either alone or in conjunction with another resident or medical student.

Alumni NewsAmerican Academy of Ophthalmology Temple Reunion

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A real highlight of the recent AAO meeting in San Francisco was a very nice reception for Temple Alumni at the Westin Market Street Hotel. The reception was held on Monday night and was attended by 30 former and current residents and their families. The following photo is from the event.

Alumni Awards

The Department is proud to recognize Louis Pasquale, MD (Res ’90) on being the 2010 Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB) Physician-Scientist Award. Lou has been on the faculty of the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary since 1996 where he is the Director of the Glaucoma Service and Associate Director of the Telemedicine Service, as well as an associate professor of Ophthalmology at The Harvard Medical School. Lou writes:

“For over a decade, I dedicated my research effort to understanding the pathogenesis of primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG). At first, I focused on the role of lifestyle factors related to the development of POAG in a geographically dispersed population. Then my work moved into high gear when I postulated that POAG is governed by gene-environment interactions. I now have two publications that support this hypothesis. Recognition for my research activities by Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB) is extremely gratifying to me and the support I receive from RPB will allow me to accelerate the discovery of gene-environment interactions in primary open angle glaucoma and exfoliation glaucoma.

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I hope that the discovery of gene-environment interactions in open-angle glaucoma will lead to genotype-specific primary prevention strategies. Achieving this goal is in line with the mission of RPB: the eradication of diseases that threaten vision.”

Celebrate the Residency!

I recently learned that this year marks the 75th Anniversary of the Ophthalmology Residency at Temple University. Quite a milestone! According to a history of the department written for the 1976 Temple Medical Alumni Bulletin, the first two residents, Dr. Lewis Wolf and Dr. Joseph Lynch were appointed in 1935. I don't know when these first residents completed their training but assuming they finished in three years, this year would mark the 72nd Ophthalmology graduation at Temple.

In other exciting news, the Temple Ophthalmology Advisory Board was formed this past February. The intent is to invite alumni to help the Department provide a better educational experience for the residents. There is no better resource for our residents when it comes to understanding the actual practice of Ophthalmology and small business ownership. We would like to invite alumni to help teach the residents about the realities of earning a living. Topics can range from how to hire office staff to what to look for in a practice to hands-on surgical instruction in the wet lab. Tom Armstrong has taken the lead and has begun to assemble, what for many programs might be taken for granted, a master list of program

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Lou helping a patient visualize his disease.

From the RPB press release (courtesy of RPB)

December 2, 2009Louis R. Pasquale, M.D., of

Harvard Medical School, has been granted a $60,000 RPB Physician-Scientist Award by Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB). These awards allow M.D.s at medical institutions in the United States to devote more time to clinical eye research activities, providing greater opportunities for specialized study with direct application to the human condition. Dr. Pasquale is one of 43 physician-scientists at 23 institutions who have received the award since it was established in 2000.

For information on RPB, RPB-


graduates. The Board is also involved in helping with fundraising. I am proud to report that numerous alumni, faculty and even residents have donated money in support of the renovations. For their support, the residents, faculty and staff thank them. This is an exciting time to be at Temple!

Donors (in alphabetical order):

Adeela Alizai, MD (Res '10) Paula Ko, MD (Res '93)Omar Almallah, MD (Res '89) Lisa Linder, MD (Res '83)Tom Armstrong, MD (Res '84) Betsy Luo, MD (Res '10)Kevin Chang, MD (Res '94) Solomon Luo, MD (Res '86)Iftikhar Chaudry, MD (Res '97) Keith Mathers, MD (Res '10)Ralph DiGiovanni, MD (Res '02) Dany Najjar, MD (Res '08, staff)Gary Domeracki, MD (Res '99, staff) Lou Santore, MD (Res '84)Alan Dorfman, MD (Res '80) Shannon Wong, MD (Res '97)Maroulla Gleaton, MD (Med '83) Stephen Wong, MD (Staff)Jeff Henderer, MD (Staff) Orin Zwick, MD (Res '04)

If you are interested in supporting the department through this campaign, please contactEric Abel, Assistant Dean of Institutional Advancement at (215) 707-3023 or

[email protected].

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The 72th AnnualTemple Ophthalmology Commencement

JC Melrose Golf and Country ClubPhiladelphia, PAJune 22, 2010

5 PM

mailto:[email protected]

Documents

Temple Vision, Spring 2010