Moran Eye Center

Old Mill and Rocky Mountian Clinics Honored for Patient Care Extraordinaire

Adj. 1. extraordinaire - extraordinary in a particular capacity; extraordinary - beyond what is ordinary or usual; highly unusual or exceptional or remarkable; "an extraordinary achievement"; "her extraordinary beauty"; "enjoyed extraordinary popularity"; "an extraordinary capacity for work."

Move over Stanly Cup, the Moran Eye Center has the traveling trophy that really counts. The Moran Old Mill Clinic and the Moran Rocky Mountain Clinic have been honored with the distinction of being the first two quarterly recipients of the University Health Care "Highest Patient Satisfaction Award.

" In fact their patients are treated so extraordinarily well that both clinics scored in the top 90 percentile for patient satisfaction Nationwide! The Press Ganey Survey is the gold standard used to measure patient satisfaction in the United States.

There are 33 clinics in the University Health Care System who vie for this new quarterly award by participating in the Press Ganey Patient Satisfaction Survey. The winner of this Highest Patient Satisfaction Award is the clinic that has the highest patient satisfaction score during each quarter. Only one clinic out of 33 is awarded this high honor. And for six months running now, this trophy has stayed in the Moran system. Congratulations to the Old Mill and Rocky Mountain Clinics, let's keep it in the family.

Circle of Excellence 2008

Again this year we had a rewarding and special evening at the Marriott Hotel on March 15th, where 148 Moran Employees were honored for going above and beyond the call of duty in their patient service. The banquet is the Circle of Excellence, which is a culmination of adhering to the behavior standards 3 out of 4 quarters during the year. The success of these employees reflects the behavioral expectations of our world-class institution. These behavioral standards reflect our core values to help us continually connect our actions to our purpose of providing excellent care and service to each other, our visitors, patients and our community.

Service brings our patients, customers, and visitors to the Moran Eye Center - trust brings them back. Everyone who enters the Moran Eye Center deserves to experience kindness and caring by faculty and staff dedicated to earning their trust. By understanding our core values, we are reminded how to live them. This is our commitment to work toward giving consistently distinguished service at the Moran Eye Center.

2009 Circle of Excellence Awards Banquet set for March 14, 2009

Mark your calendars. Next years Circle of Excellence Award Banquet will be held on March 14, 2009. We hope to see ALL of you there and want you to know that management is working together with attendees from this year's event to create a special new format for this meeting. It has always been a fantastic affair, and next year it will be more enjoyable than ever.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE MANY CIRCLE OF EXCELLENCE HIGH ACHIEVERS LISTED BELOW.

Accounting Linda Jensen
Accounting Jeanne Retz
Admin & Acad. Sup. Kris Coomans
Admin & Acad. Sup. Chandler Crane
Admin & Acad. Sup. Ann Curran
Admin & Acad. Sup. Holly Dahl
Admin & Acad. Sup. Alicia Doxon
Admin & Acad. Sup. Tiwanda Horace
Admin & Acad. Sup. Katie Kugler
Admin & Acad. Sup. Dena Magallanes
Admin & Acad. Sup. Cari Megeath
Admin & Acad. Sup. Anna Naylor
Admin & Acad. Sup. Diane Ngatuvai
Admin & Acad. Sup. Lisa Nichols
Admin & Acad. Sup. Ashley Pendleton
Admin & Acad. Sup. Elaine Schwanebeck
Admin & Acad. Sup. Joy Simpson
Admin & Acad. Sup. Brenda Stringham
Admin & Acad. Sup. Candy Turnbull
Admin. Services Chuck Dew
Admin. Services Norm Rasmussen
Billing Herenesa Alofipo
Billing Cindy Blackburn
Billing Lynda Dorrell
Billing Kim Hadley
Billing Rebecca Hurd
Billing Jennifer Loesch
Billing Sharilyn Peterson
Billing Nila Randall
Billing Jill Streeter
Billing Joni Thacker
Billing DeeAnn Vigil
Clinic Coord. Linda Burrows
Clinic Coord. Anne Chisholm
Clinic Coord. Justin Knight
Clinic Coord. Maja Miletic
Clinic Coord. Elisa Robertson
Clinic Techs. Laurie Adams
Clinic Techs. Michael Anderson
Clinic Techs. Shannon Anderson
Clinic Techs. Kathy Butcher
Clinic Techs. Melissa Chandler
Clinic Techs. Stephen Christensen
Clinic Techs. Victoria Franks
Clinic Techs. Abraham Granados
Clinic Techs. Sandra Hanseen
Clinic Techs. Crystal Maia
Clinic Techs. Jacqueline Pullos
Clinic Techs. Diana Ramirez
Clinic Techs. Sandra Staker
Clinical Studies Susan Allman
Clinical Studies Susan Bracken
Clinical Studies Bonnie Carlstrom
Clinical Studies Dixie Grimstad
Clinical Studies Ida Hunt
Clinical Studies Kimberley Wegner
Davis Becky Gwynn
Davis Luanne Harrop
Davis Natalie Patterson
Greenwood Pat Coon
Greenwood Glenna Lorange
Imaging Glen Jenkins
Imaging Paula Morris
Imaging Elizabeth Snodgrass
Institutional Adv. Aria Andrus
Institutional Adv. Eve LeClaire
IT Ann Brady
IT Susan Weidner
Medical Records Daysie Alvarez
Medical Records Helen DeLaCruz
Medical Records Sierra Smith
Medical Records Reynalda Vega
Medical Records Rebecca Veney
Medical Records Claudia Villanueva
Moran Optical Shop Keith Ericson
Moran Optical Shop Shane Hardman
Old Mill Natalee Crook
Old Mill Shanie DeWaal
Old Mill Suzanne Farish
Old Mill Neressa James
Old Mill Delane Mayhew
Old Mill Wendy Mitchell
Old Mill Jamie Newman
Old Mill Jova Sevilla
Old Mill Neil Soto
Old Mill Linda Taylor
Parkway Susan Chesnut
Parkway Teri Idle
Parkway Karina Viertel
Ped. Ophthal. Matt Lee
Ped. Ophthal. Pat Remington
Ped. Ophthal. Barbara Steele
Ped. Ophthal. Jason K. Taylor
Ped. Ophthal. Steve Watson
Ped. Ophthal. Angie Wolferts
Redwood Werner Meyer
Redwood Ramona Nielsen
Redwood Natalie Smith
Redwood Shellie Ziska
Rocky Mtn. Elizabeth Aadnesen
Rocky Mtn. Linda Brown
Rocky Mtn. Cynthia Lovendahl
Rocky Mtn. Emily Luther
Rocky Mtn. Jacqueline Madsen
Rocky Mtn. Collette Marthia
Rocky Mtn. Kelene Rowley
Rocky Mtn. Nathan Taylor
Scheduling Amy Callahan
Scheduling Misty James
Scheduling Gretchen Kimball
Scheduling Dixie Lehman
Scheduling Therry Mayes
Scheduling Whitney Sellers
South Jordan Cindy Martinez
Stansbury Cindy Burton
Stansbury Julie Dimond
Summit Kristine Blonquist
Summit Loris Largo-Rhodes
Surgical Services Marie Adonis
Surgical Services Andrew Barclay
Surgical Services Amy Baxter
Surgical Services Ronna Bernstein
Surgical Services Becky Broadhead
Surgical Services Laura Buchanan
Surgical Services Margaret Cason
Surgical Services Carolyn Chappell
Surgical Services Yohannes Dagne
Surgical Services Cathy Espinoza
Surgical Services Linda Fiedel
Surgical Services Wilma Gathers
Surgical Services Stacey Gilmore
Surgical Services Oscar Gomez, Sr.
Surgical Services Jill Holbrook
Surgical Services Mary Johnson
Surgical Services CJ Johnston
Surgical Services Kamas Jones
Surgical Services Myrna Livingston
Surgical Services Stephen Maeger
Surgical Services Jack Rapp
Surgical Services Wendy Sims
Surgical Services Collette Wride
UT Lions Eye Wade McEntire
Westridge Helen Corena
Westridge Priscilla Martin

New Office Standards A Great Reminder to Tidy Up

The Moran Eye Center Management Team would like to congratulate everyone for helping to keep our building looking new. Everyone should take pride in the fact that we have been here for over a year and a half and the integrity of our building is almost the same as when we moved here in August 2006.

Success in keeping our building looking new has been possible thanks to you. Everyone has taken personal responsibility to make sure it is clean, well maintained, and presents as a place where our patients can see the highest quality in healthcare.

Adhering to the standards we established when we moved into our new building has contributed to our ability to maintain this environment. Please take a minute to review the updated standards below and follow Norm and Barbara's example.

After receiving their new Moran Office Standards, Barbara and Norm immediately began to tidy up their work areas.

Vi talar många språk här på Moran Eye Center

A recent survey of the research faculty, physicians and staff at the Moran Eye Center revealed that we speak at least 17 languages. If anyone speaks a language not listed, please let us know. Moran isn't just a melting pot of diversity; it's an enjoyable fondue buffet!

• Malayalam
• Tagalog
• Romanian
• English
• Mandarin
• Tamil, Telugu
• Mandarin, Chinese
• Hindi, Punjabi
• Hindu, Urdu
• Japanese
• Samoan
• Chinese
• Indian
• Spanish
• Hungarian
• Slovenian
• Swedish

Don't Forget Payroll Deduction

If you haven't heard, all University Employees and their families can take advantage of employee deductions to pay for their eyewear and contact lenses. This might be a good time to get a new pair of sunglasses, or prescription sunglasses for the summer. Or maybe the kids can't see the blackboard because their prescription is out of date. Moran employees receive an additional discount on top of University Employee discounts.

LASIK Seminars and Discounts

The Moran Eye Center offers our employees tremendous discounts on LASIK surgery. Whether you are planning to have surgery now or in the future, you should attend one of our free seminars. Moran educational LASIK surgery forums are held one evening each month in the Moran Eye Center auditorium. When you attend, please bring your current glasses prescription or your glasses and/or if you wear contact lenses, please bring your current contact lens prescription. This will help the doctors to determine if you are a candidate for the procedure.

Our forums last approximately one hour and are presented by one of our surgeons. At the conclusion of the forum, you will have an opportunity to schedule a free consultation.

The upcoming dates for the FREE Moran LASIK seminars are as follows:
All seminars start at 6 p.m.

June 5, 2008 - Dr. Majid Mifflin
July 1, 2008 - Dr. Mark Mifflin
August 7, 2008 - Dr. Majid Moshirfar
September 2, 2008 - Dr. Mark Mifflin

Check our website for ongoing updates: http://uuhsc.utah.edu/MoranEyeCenter/patient_care/mvc/forum/forumdates.htm

Call 801-581-2352 with questions.

Doctor Digre Receives National Award

Moran Neuro-Ophthalmologist Kathleen B. Digre, M.D. was recently honored with the Distinguished Service Award at the national convention of the North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society (NANOS.) This is the highest award offered by this organization. The award is given at the discretion of the NANOS Executive Board to "…honor those who have provided a sustained and substantial service to the North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society." For the past several years there has been only one winner of the award among all the Neuro-Ophthalmologists in North America. This clearly indicates how much Dr. Digre's colleagues honor and appreciate her service to this esteemed organization and to the field of neuron-ophthalmology.

Dr. Fu Publishes New Science Regarding Human Red Cone Pigment in Nature Neuroscience

*Fu, Y., Kefalov, V., Luo, D. G., Xie, T., Yau, K.W. Quantal noise from human red cone pigment. (2008) Nature Neuroscience. 11: 565-571.

Dr. Fu describes the power of modern genetics that helped uncover this science:

"Our ability to detect dim lights is limited by noise in photoreceptors. These electrical events, i.e. dark noise, produced in the dark which is indistinguishable from the real signal produced by light especially limit visual sensitivity at low levels of illumination. The question of dark noise in vision has had a long intellectual history from the point of view of psychophysics and system neuroscience. The quantitative agreement between the quantal noise measured from single rods (done in the early and mid- 1980s) and that measured in human psychophysics was considered to be a breakthrough in the vision field and a wonderful convergence between cell physiology and human psychophysics/system neuroscience the goal of modern neuroscience after all. On the other hand, the apparent discrepancy between the bottom-up and top-down approaches regarding the quantal noise in cones (1,000-fold higher equivalent dark light in single cones than that measured from psychophysics) has remained a puzzle and setback for many years. The key stumbling block has been the impossible task of measuring quantal noise (spontaneous isomerization) of cone pigment owing to the tiny, unresolvable single-photon responses in native cones. As a way to address this long-standing problem, Dr. Fu and colleagues have successfully expressed human red cone pigment in the rods of mouse, which uses vitamin-A_1 pigments like human, so that single spontaneous isomerization events of cone pigment could be observed through the high-amplification rod transduction pathway, especially after genetic removal of a key negative-feedback regulation.

At the same time, the data underscore an important quantitative difference between A1 visual pigments (used by human and other land-based animals) and A2 pigments (used by aquatic species and amphibians). The results provide an answer to another puzzle in vision: Different cone types in lower vertebrates show different sensitivities, but primate red, green, and blue cones all have comparable sensitivities. As such, the paper deals with a phenomenon that is intrinsic to our everyday existence. It also should be of interest to readers in cellular physiology, photochemistry, system neuroscience and psychophysics.

The measurement on the dark noise of human red cone pigment by Dr. Fu and co-workers, which many vision scientists have dreamed for several decades, represents a major breakthrough in this area. The successful story is a manifestation on the power of modern genetics.

Congratulations Dr. FU!

Moran's Dr. Greg Jones Receives Entrepreneur Honor

Just when you thought it was safe to assume Greg Jones couldn't get any more honors, along comes vSpring Capital and nominates him into the Top 100 Venture Entrepreneurs in Utah for 2008.

Receiving this designation means that the community and Dr. Jones' peers have chosen him as one of the 100 most likely people to lead a successful venture in Utah within the next few years. The vSpring Capital Top 100 Venture Entrepreneurs, or v|100, was created in 2004 as a way to recognize outstanding entrepreneurs and to support and promote collaborative partnering and mentoring among top entrepreneurs in the region.

Members of the v|100 are chosen through a community-nominated and peer-selected process. As a winner, Dr. Jones joins an elite list of top entrepreneurs in the region.

Congratulations Dr. Jones

Moran Scores Big at ASCRS Again

Here is a list of ASCRS awards given to Moran researchers and doctors:

1. Majid Moshirfar, "Best Paper in Session"
2. Jacob Brubaker, Ladan Espandar, Don Davis, Christopher Wilcox, Nick Mamalis. Stability of a novel photochromic IOL after simulated 20 years in the eye using Nd:YAG laser exposure test. Best-Paper-of-Session award, Session 3F, Chicago, Monday April 7, 2008.
3. Liliana Werner, Oliver Yeh, Viraj Vasavada, Vaishali Vasavada. Pathological assessment of capsular bag opacification in pseudophakic human eyes obtained postmortem with known implantation dates. Best-Paper-of-Session award, Session 3Q, Chicago, Monday April 7, 2008.
4. Viraj Vasavada, Vaishali Vasavada, Robert Hoffman, Terrence Spencer, Rishi Kumar, Alan Crandall. Endocapsular iris reconstruction devices for congenital aniridia: Outcomes in pediatric eyes. Best-Paper-of-Session award, Session 3A, Chicago, Monday April 7, 2008.
5. Dr. Sonal B. Dave is one of the newest members of the ASCRS CME Advisory Committee.

Moran Eye Center Researchers Identify Gene Linked to Risk of Severe Diabetic Eye and Kidney Diseases

The Zhang Laboratory and collaborative institutions have identified a gene called erythropoietin (EPO) that contributes to increased risk of severe diabetic eye and kidney diseases, called retinopathy and nephropathy.

The sight-threatening form of diabetic retinopathy, termed proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR), is the most common cause of legal blindness in working-aged adults in the United States, accounting for 10% of new onset blindness overall. Diabetes is also the leading cause of kidney disease, called end-stage renal disease (ESRD), in the U.S. and the Western world.

Led by Kang Zhang M.D., Ph.D., Director of the Division of Ophthalmic Genetics at the Moran Eye Center and Associate Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Utah, the study will be published online on May 5, 2008 in the journal Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Zhang explains the significance of the discovery: "We know that the development of PDR and ESRD in diabetic patients can be inherited. Although genetic factors are known to be important in the susceptibility (or resistance) to these complications, until now the genes involved have been mostly unknown"

How did the researchers discover that this gene is involved in PDR and ESRD? In this study the researchers compared 1618 people with PDR and ESDR, and 954 diabetes patients without any eye or kidney disease in three separate populations. Their studies demonstrate that if a person has a copy of mutant EPO gene, they have an increased risk of developing PDR and ESRD during their lifetime.

The discovery has important preventive and therapeutic implications, according to Hemin Chin, Ph.D., director of the Ocular Genetics Program at the National Eye Institute. "With increases in prevalence of diabetic retinopathy, finding effective prevention measures and treatment strategies is vital. This work represents a major advancement in our understanding of biological pathways underlying diabetic retinopathy. Blocking the EPO pathway may be an attractive target for prevention and treatment for diabetic retinopathy, independent of current treatment options," said Dr. Chin.

Dr. Zhang explains the current use and cost of EPO for disease prevention and how this discovery may affect its use: "EPO is used extensively to help in the production of red blood cells when treating patients with anemia resulting from renal failure or chemotherapy. In the United States, erythropoietin represents one of the largest single drug expenses for the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services, approximately one billion dollars per year. Patients with anemia due to chronic renal disease (many of whom have diabetes) who receive frequent dosing of EPO to maintain higher hemoglobin levels have a higher rate of cardiovascular complications than patients who maintain a lower hemoglobin level. A similar effect of EPO on accelerating the decline of kidney function had been suggested by earlier studies. Our study suggests that caution may be warranted when maintaining higher hemoglobin concentration using exogenous EPO treatment in diabetic patients, as it might accelerate progression to PDR and ESRD".

"Though there is no proven pharmacologic treatment for diabetic vascular eye diseases, inhibiting the growth of unwanted blood vessels using antibodies directed against vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF therapy) has been advocated," said Dr. Dean Li, who is a co-author from the Program in Human Molecular Biology and Genetics, also at University of Utah, "This study suggests that future therapeutic strategies need to consider blunting the effects of erythropoietin in addition or as an alternative to an anti-VEGF strategy."

In addition to Dr. Zhang's team at the Moran Eye Center, other investigators contributing to the new findings are from the Program in Human Molecular Biology and Genetics, Department of Human Genetics at the University of Utah; the Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences & Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, China; Beetham Eye Institute, Joslin Diabetes Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Doheny Eye Institute, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, California Retina Consultants and Research.

Dr. Crandall Honored Speaker

Moran's Dr. Alan Crandall was the honored guest lecture for the Stephen A. Obstbaum Lecture at ASCRS Glaucoma Day. The title of his lecture was: The 30 Year Journey: Combined Glaucoma From ICCE to 2.2mm. This was a great honor for Dr. Crandall and we congratulate him for this great recognition by his peers.

Dr. Baehr Published in Prestigious Journal of Neuroscience

In April 2008, the Journal of Neuroscience published the article "Trafficking of Membrane-associated Proteins to Cone Photoreceptor Outer Segments Requires the Chromophore 11-cis-Retinal" (JN-RM-0317-08.R1), in collaboration with a group of the Medical University of South Carolina. The research described in this paper determines mechanisms of cone degeneration in mouse models in which two key retinoid cycle genes were deleted.

Photon absorption by photosensitive visual pigments in rod and cone photoreceptors initiates vision. Visual pigments are G protein-coupled receptors using as their ligand 11-cis-retinal, which isomerizes to the all-trans form with light. Regeneration of 11-cis-retinal in the retinoid cycle is essential for maintaining normal visual function.

In the absence of LRAT and RPE65, 11-cis-retinal cannot be produced. In the Lrat-/- mouse, only trace amounts of all-trans-retinyl esters were detected. In contrast, in the Rpe65-/- mouse, retinyl esters accumulate. The Baehr lab showed that as a consequence of absence of chromophore, cone opsins and polypeptides of the cone phototransduction cascade failed to transport to the cone outer segments, vision cannot be initiated, and moreover, cone photoreceptors rapidly degenerated. A key discovery was that early and repeated intraperitoneal administration of exogenous 11-cis-retinal to mutant mice much delayed cone degeneration and prevented these mislocalizations. The data suggest that 11-cis-retinal binding to cone opsin is required for correct targeting and trafficking.

Figure 1. The retinoid cycle works like this: After photobleaching, all-trans-retinal separates from rhodopsin and cone opsins, and is reduced to all-trans-retinol (Vitamin A). All-trans-retinol, in turn, is exported to the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) where it is converted into retinyl esters by lecithin retinol acyltransferase (LRAT). All-trans retinyl esters are the substrate for RPE65, recently identified as the retinoid isomerase that generates 11-cis-retinol. After oxidation to 11-cis-retinal, the chromophore is exported back to the photoreceptors for the regeneration of functional pigments. Correct functioning of the retinoid cycle is of fundamental importance in mammalian vision. Defects in retinoid cycle genes cause severe retina dystrophies, including macular degeneration, Leber congenital amaurosis, and retinitis pigmentosa (see Figure).