Dr. Lanning B. Kline, Chairman and EyeSight Foundation Chair, is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Ann Marie Arciniegas-Bernal as an Assistant Professor in the UAB Department of Ophthalmology, effective October 1. Dr. Arciniegas-Bernal specializes in pediatric ophthalmology and strabismus including adult strabismus. After obtaining an undergraduate degree from Duke University where she majored in history, she completed the M.D. at UAB followed by an ophthalmology residency at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. She then went on for fellowship training (AAPOS approved) in pediatric ophthalmology and strabismus at the University of Michigan’s Kellogg Eye Center. For patient appointments with Dr. Arciniegas-Bernal, please call (205) 325-8620.

The National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health has recently announced the renewal of the African Descent and Glaucoma Evaluation Study (ADAGES). Dr. Christopher Girkin, Professor of Ophthalmology and Director of the UAB Glaucoma Service, is the Principal Investigator of the ADAGES clinical center at UAB, one of three national centers for the study. NEI will provide approximately $1 million over two years to UAB Ophthalmology in order to follow participants in the study. ADAGES is the first prospectively designed multi-center, longitudinal study to follow a well-characterized cohort of glaucoma patients of African Descent on a variety of measures of visual function, optic nerve structure, risk assessment, and clinical results. The study’s purpose is to identify what factors account for the differences in glaucoma onset and rate of progression found between individuals of African descent and those of European descent and to determine whether accounting for these differences can be used to optimize algorithms for detection of glaucoma and monitoring progression. Glaucoma is five times more likely to occur in persons of African descent than in those of European descent and is the leading cause of blindness in persons of African descent.

In addition to NEI support, the EyeSight Foundation was critical in supporting the study by providing a “bridge” grant while the project was going through the competitive renewal process at NEI.

Two faculty members in the Department of Ophthalmology have recently received grant awards through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Dr. Laura Dreer, Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology, is the recipient of over $132,000 awarded as a supplement to her ongoing NIH K23 career development grant funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI). The funds will create a new post-doctoral position to participate in Dr. Dreer’s research program. There are funds to support this position for two years. Dr. Dreer is conducting a randomized clinical trial to evaluate the impact of a problem-solving intervention in reducing depression and improving quality of life in adults with low vision.

Dr. Cynthia Owsley, Professor and the Nathan E. Miles Chair of Ophthalmology, is the recipient of $318,487 from NEI as a supplement to her NIH R01 on developing vision screening strategies for licensing older drivers. There are funds to support a post-doctoral research fellow and a research staff member to contribute to the prospective study. Funds are available for two years.

Both studies are being conducted in the Department’s Clinical Research Unit, a research resource that is dedicated to providing research resources to UAB investigators who conduct patient-oriented research on eye disease and vision impairment. The Ophthalmology Clinical Research Unit is supported by a grant from the EyeSight Foundation of Alabama.