Bascom Palmer Eye Institute Receives Medical Student Research Fellowship
Research to Prevent Blindness continues to make an investment in the advancement of fighting blindness as it awards a $30,000 Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB) Medical Student Eye Research Fellowship to the University of Miami’s Bascom Palmer Eye Institute.
Abigail Hackam, Ph.D.
The fellowship award will enable Adanna Udeh to take a year off from medical school and to investigate new treatments that promote optic nerve regeneration at Bascom Palmer. This research project will contribute to work taking place in the laboratory of Abigail Hackam, Ph.D., an active researcher at Bascom Palmer. Hackam, whose lab focuses on developing therapies for diseases of the retina, will serve as Udeh’s mentor and provide the expertise and training for Udeh to excel in her proposed research.
RPB is the world’s leading voluntary organization supporting eye research, and has awarded grants exceeding $ 3.3 million to the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
“Through its numerous grant programs, Research to Prevent Blindness is committed to strengthening medical research,” said Eduardo C. Alfonso, M.D., Director of Bascom Palmer – the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Miami — and the Kathleen and Stanley J. Glaser Chair in Ophthalmology. “The funding by this highly prestigious national organization confirms the excellence and strength of Bascom Palmer’s research programs.”
“I am looking forward to encouraging Udeh to further develop her research skills and academic training as a physician-scientist at Bascom Palmer,” said Hackam, an active researcher at Bascom Palmer since 2003, and previous awardee of two RPB grants. “I have had more than 70 trainees in my lab including graduate, medical, undergraduate and high school students, clinical fellows and post docs. Many have been awarded grants, scholarships and scientific prizes and have gone on to prestigious faculty and residency positions.”
About Research to Prevent Blindness
Since it was founded in 1960, RPB has channeled more than $349 million into eye research. As a result, RPB has been identified with nearly every major breakthrough in vision research in that time. For information on RPB’s grant programs, listings of RPB institutional and individual grantees, and findings generated by these awards, go to www. rpbusa.org.
About Bascom Palmer Eye Institute
Bascom Palmer Eye Institute is ranked the nation’s best in ophthalmology by U.S. News & World Report, an honor it has received for 13 consecutive years. In addition to its international reputation as one of the premier providers of eye care in the world, Bascom Palmer is the largest ophthalmic care, research and educational facility in the southeastern United States. Each year, more than 250,000 patients are treated with nearly every ophthalmic condition and more than 18,000 surgeries are performed. With five patient care facilities in Florida (Miami, Palm Beach Gardens, Naples, Plantation, and The Lennar Foundation Medical Center in Coral Gables), the institute serves as the Department of Ophthalmology for the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, part of the University of Miami Health System. Bascom Palmer faculty members also staff the Miami and West Palm Beach Veterans Affairs Medical Centers, Jackson Memorial Hospital and Miami Children’s Hospital. For information on Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, contact Marla Bercuson at (305) 326-6190 or [email protected], or visit www.bascompalmer.org.
Tags: Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Dr. Abigail Hackam, optic nerve regeneration, Research to Prevent Blindness, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine