January 2004
Dear Friend:
As we start a new year, I want to update you about the
tremendous happenings at the John A. Moran Eye Center and our ongoing
Campaign for Vision. So much has
happened since I last saw many of you. I hope you and your family had a
wonderful and healthy holiday season.
The big news first.
2003 was a tremendous year for the Moran Eye Center. In November we received
word from the Skaggs family that the ALSAM Foundation is providing a $10
million grant to the Campaign for Vision. This gift is an absolutely
incredible vote of confidence in us and the beginning of a wonderful
partnership between the ALSAM Foundation and the Moran Eye Center.
The ALSAM grant allows us to
begin preliminary work at our building site. Formal excavation and a
groundbreaking ceremony are scheduled for this spring. We look forward to
sharing this exciting event with you and other friends and supporters of the
Moran Eye Center. The contractor tells us that once excavation begins, the
project should take approximately 24 months to complete. By fall of 2006 we
plan to be moved and open for business in a fantastic new 200,000 square
foot facility.
Although we are pleased to be
moving ahead with construction, we will continue to raise funds over the
next two years to complete the new eye center. We still need to obtain
funding for equipment needs, furnishings and other soft costs involved with
creating a world class facility.
A decade of success.
This summer we celebrated our 10th anniversary. It’s hard to
believe the progress we’ve made in such a short time. In only 10 years we’ve
grown from 26 faculty members to 42 faculty members—mostly in the basic
science research area. We also now have 11 satellite clinics across Utah
that host more than 80,000 patient visits each year. Our progress was nicely
chronicled in an article about the center that appeared in the fall issue of
the University of Utah’s Continuum magazine. If you didn’t get a
chance to see it, we’d be happy to send you a copy.
It all comes back to research. I’m pleased to
report that in 2003 we began to see the results of our intensive recruiting
efforts over the past few years. One of our rising stars in the field of
inherited retinal diseases, Kang Zhang, M.D., Ph.D., received word from the
National Institutes of Health that he had received a $1.25 million grant to
study macular degeneration in young people. Dr. Zhang believes that by
identifying the genes that cause the disease we will be able to move toward
effective pharmacological treatments and better prevention methods.
Our other research teams did equally as well. To put
things in perspective, our annual NIH funding at the end of 2003 was nearly
$4 million, compared to $750,000 in 1999.
More Awards and Honors. I’m pleased to announce
that in 2003 one of our top researchers Robert E. Marc, Ph.D., was named as
the Mary H. Boesche Professor in Honor of Maureen K. Lundergan and Mano
Swartz, M.D. Dr. Marc is truly one of the world’s most prominent vision
researchers. Known for his thoroughness and exacting standards, his research
into how the retina works has made the cover of numerous scientific
journals. Mary Boesche was a very special lady and her gift leaves an
important lasting legacy.
David Apple, M.D., and his team also showed in 2003 why
their work on intraocular lenses is considered the best in the world. Dr.
Apple received the Award of the German Academy of Natural Scientists
Leopoldlinda at a special ceremony in Halle, Germany. This highly coveted
award is the most prestigious honor given by the German scientific
community. Liliana Werner, M.D., Ph.D., also part of Dr. Apple’s team, was
named as the Olga Keith Weiss Scholar by Research to Prevent Blindness. She
is the first cataract surgeon to be named to this honor.
The end of 2003 also marked the end of Kathleen Digre’s,
M.D., term as president of the North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society.
Dr. Digre is a respected neuro-ophthalmologist at the Moran Eye Center and
one of the top headache experts in the country. Her national leadership and
work on a new database of slides, video and other media related to her
specialty continue to make her one of the premier neuro-ophthalmologists in
the world.
Alan Crandall, M.D., who many of you know, was named
Director of International Relations for the American Society of Cataract and
Refractive Surgery in 2003. I’ve also received word that Dr. Crandall will
receive the Utah Ophthalmology Society’s Lewis A. Peterson Award this
February for his humanitarian work in Africa over the past few years.
The eyes have it. We continued in 2003 with our
commitment to patient care and education in a myriad of ways. For the second
straight year we hosted free vision screenings for the community at our
satellite clinics and many local businesses. More than 5,000 adults and
children were screened for preventable eye disease and I’m pleased to report
that our efforts were successful. We identified dozens of children and
adults suffering from undiagnosed eye problems.
Lastly, Moran pediatric ophthalmologist Robert Hoffman,
M.D., was the lead Utah researcher for a national clinical study that
evaluated treatment protocols for care of premature babies suffering from a
blinding eye disease known as retinopathy of prematurity. The study, which
received national media attention, is already leading to better care for
these tiny patients.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. There is no
other way to say it. Your support of this center and our work over the years
is the reason for our remarkable success. We appreciate everything you
continue to do for us. I wish you and your family a peaceful new year. If
I, or anyone on my development staff, can be of any assistance, please do
not hesitate to call us at 801-585-9700.
Warmest regards,
Randall J Olson, MD
