Glaucoma Research Foundation

Shaffer International Glaucoma Fellowship Program

Every year, the Glaucoma Research and Education Group (GREG) in San Francisco sponsors an international ophthalmologist for an 18-month Clinical Research Fellowship.

The International Fellow has the opportunity to perform clinical research in glaucoma as well as to refine his/her skills in the diagnosis and management of this complex group of eye disorders. An additional intent of the program is that the Fellow will take her training and clinical skills back to her native country, so as to widen the circle of knowledge and help for people with glaucoma.

During the training period, each Fellow is assigned 1-2 comprehensive research projects and he/she is actively involved in all aspects of the process including study design, data collection, data analysis, presentation of results at major national scientific meetings — such as the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) and the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) — and preparation of manuscripts for submission to leading peer-reviewed ophthalmology journals.

Lidiya Rudavska, MD, the 2007-2008 fellow from Lviv, Ukraine completed her training in August 2008. Chan Li, MD, the incoming fellow from the People’s Republic of China joined us in November 2008 and like our previous fellows, she will have the opportunity to select and execute research projects integrated with her specific interests.

“I would like to gain further insight into the clinical management of glaucoma in the United States,” Dr. Li said. “I look forward to researching newer methods to treat and diagnose glaucoma. The skills that I attain here will be very useful when I return to China.”

Prior International Fellows who have completed their training at GREG include Jing Ming Shi, MD from People’s Republic of China, Umit Aykan, MD from Turkey, Mariana Mata Plathy, MD from Venezuela, and Roberto Fiallos, MD of El Salvador.

The program is named for Dr. Robert Shaffer (1912-2007), the world-renowned glaucoma specialist who started the Shaffer Fellowship in 1961. The Glaucoma Research Foundation is a major sponsor of GREG and the International Glaucoma Fellowship Program.

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Article by Sunita Radhakrishnan, MD, Research Director, Glaucoma Research and Education Group

This article appeared in the January 2009 issue of Gleams. Subscribe