We are delighted that we continue to find brilliant speakers who either knew Jeff personally or were influenced by his work. Each speaker has managed to personally relate to Jeff and his work while presenting their cutting-edge research to the medical staff and students at Scheie. In this way, Jeff continues to move science forward in stimulating new research for which he laid the groundwork.
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2024: Stuart L. Fine, M.D.
Dr. Fine was the chair and director at Scheie while Jeff was there and was a tremendous mentor and great friend to Jeff. Dr. Fine is widely recognized worldwide for his substantial contributions to the field of ophthalmology through his leadership of numerous National Eye Institute-supported multicenter clinical trials to evaluate new and existing treatments for retinal diseases.
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2022: Nir Barzilai, M.D.
Prof. Barzilai is the director of the Institute for Aging Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the Director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biology of Human Aging Research and of the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Nathan Shock Centers of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging. Dr. Barzilai’s research interests are in the biology and genetics of aging. While he is not an ophthalmologist, he is a top researcher on mechanisms of aging, which is an area of research directly related to many eye diseases. The title of his talk was
How to Die Young at a Very Old Age.
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2021: Eyal Banin, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Banin is Director of the Center for Retinal and Macular Degenerations (CRMD) at the Department of Ophthalmology at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. Dr. Banin’s lecture focused on novel therapeutics including gene and cell-based therapies for patients with retinal and macular degenerations. Dr. Banin was a post-doctoral and medical retina fellow at Scheie and was fortunate to have Jeff as a friend and mentor. Dr. Banin, in turn, will be a mentor for students in the
SHINE program. A recording to Dr. Banin’s presentation may be found
here.
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2020: Alexander Brucker, M.D.
Dr. Brucker is the Founder’s Professor of Ophthalmology at UPenn. After completing his training, Alexander, fondly known as Sandy, has spent the rest of his brilliant career on the faculty at the Scheie Eye Institute/UPenn ultimately being named as a full Professor and Director of vitreoretinal surgery. He has served important international leadership roles including president of the Macula Society. He is the founding editor-in-chief of Retina, the leading journal on the topic. On a more personal note, Sandy cherished the time he spent as Jeff’s mentor during his vitreoretinal surgery training and he became a true friend. It was Sandy who encouraged us to create this Foundation in Jeff’s memory and he shared many of his fondest memories of Jeff. He was honored to also receive the Jeffrey Berger Golden Apple Teaching Award from the Scheie residents several times. Dr. Brucker’s lecture on “Anti-VEGF drugs for diabetic retinopathy” covered the exciting evolution of the use of these drugs to preserve vision in patients who would have otherwise lost some of their valuable central vision. He also emphasized the need to further define when and how anti-VEGF injections should be used.
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For the first time, the lecture was preceded by a retina case report by
Yafeng Li, M.D., Ph.D., a former Berger Foundation Award recipient who was finishing his residency at Scheie and applying for a fellowship in vitreoretinal surgery. It was exciting to see the fruits of our labor as we watched our awardee present so skillfully.
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2019: Tammy Movsas, M.D., M.P.H.
Dr. Movsas and Jeff crossed paths many times over the years, beginning with a shared summer at Hampshire College Summer Studies Program in Mathematics while in high school. They met again at Scheie where Dr. Movsas did a fellowship in neuro-ophthalmology and also as neighbors and friends in the same tight-knit community of Cherry Hill. Tammy shared some wonderful memories of Jeff as a student, colleague and friend. Dr. Movsas is a brilliant physician-scientist who, after practicing clinical ophthalmology for 10 years, decided to focus her career on research. With a degree in biochemistry, two ophthalmic residencies and a Masters in Public Health in epidemiology, she launched Zietchick Research Institute (ZRI), a small start-up company aimed at the development of hormonal based therapies for eye disorders such as retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) and diabetic retinopathy. Her lecture focused on ROP, its causes and potential therapies to prevent its development.
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2018: Wayne Fuchs, M.D.
Dr. Fuchs, who has been a close friend to the Berger family for many years, is a clinical professor of Ophthalmology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. Wayne knew Jeff as Alan’s younger brother and often spoke to Jeff about his career at family gatherings. He shared the family’s pride in watching Jeff’s career take off and often joked with Jeff about having him leave academia to join him in private practice. Dr. Fuchs discussed his innovative techniques in retina surgery and his research on Pseudoxanthoma Elasticum (PXE), a rare genetic connective tissue disorder which predominantly affects the skin and eyes. Based upon his vast experience treating patients with PXE, he discussed the ophthalmologic manifestations of PXE, various diagnostic tests, prevention of vision loss, treatment and future approaches. He followed many of these patients throughout the years and not only presented a clinical picture through slides and data, but also a very personal account of each patient he treated. His presentation was a reminder to all that the ultimate goal of academic research was caring for people who suffer with eye disease.
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2017: Anthony P. Adamis, M.D.
Dr. Adamis was on the faculty of the Harvard Medical School for 11 years before moving to the biopharmaceutical industry, working for Genentech, Inc. He was the Director of the Residency Training program at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary when Jeff was a resident there and shared some wonderful memories of Jeff. Dr. Adamis is a specialist in ocular vascular disease and ocular drug delivery. He co-discovered the role VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) plays in new blood vessel growth and blood vessel leakage related to various diseases of the eye. His discussion regarding the delivery of drug therapies into the retina was fascinating.
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2016: Jean Bennett, M.D.
Dr. Bennett spoke about her ground-breaking research in ocular gene therapy. Studies in her lab range from identifying the molecular bases of retinal degenerations, generating animal models for these diseases and actually utilizing gene replacement therapies for reversal of sensory loss and rescuing vision through gene-based treatments. Her success has been popularized in the September 2016 issue of National Geographic and her presentation of her work was awe-inspiring. Dr. Bennett began her career at Scheie with Jeff and they were not only colleagues, but good friends.
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2015: Maureen G. Maguire, Ph.D.
It was an honor to have
Dr. Maguire present the lecture, particularly because she was a co-editor with Jeff of the seminal textbook entitled, Age-related Macular Degeneration published in 1999. Dr. Maguire’s talk was also geared to the younger doctors in the room as she provided a look-back at how research and treatment for neovascular AMD has changed in the last 15 years, focusing on issues which would have been of particular interest to Jeff. It is inspiring to know that 20 years ago, wet AMD represented an irreversible path to blindness for patients and today, we have developed therapies which can preserve vision. Her discussion, included the many exciting advances as well as some of the frustrating setbacks, challenging the younger physician/scientists to persevere through it all.
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2014: Joan W. Miller, M.D.
Dr. Miller, Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School kept up the family’s interest in her talk on Macular Degeneration when she shared pictures of Jeff’s daughters, Adina and Tamar taken at Jeff’s graduation from his residency at Harvard. She was also a contributor to the seminal textbook entitled, Age-related Macular Degeneration published in 1999 edited by Jeff.
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2013: Michael B. Gorin, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Gorin‘s primary research focus was molecular genetics of hereditary eye disorders at the Jules Stein Eye Institute in Los Angeles. His research was the first to identify genetic regions that contribute to age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and his discussion of his ongoing genetic research was fascinating. Dr. Gorin enjoyed returning to Penn for this lecture as he, like Jeff, obtained his medical and doctoral degrees there. He shared some fond memories of Jeff, whom he admired as a young “
rising star” in the field, who was sought out by himself and many others because Jeff was known to be a great collaborator.
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2012: Jay Ambati, M.D.
Dr. Ambati, a professor of ophthalmology at the University of Kentucky School of Medicine, continued Jeff’s goals of developing novel therapeutics to prevent and treat age-related macular degeneration (AMD). His laboratory made fundamental discoveries about AMD pathogenesis and the immune pathways that trigger both the atrophic and neovascular forms of this disease which have profound implications for clinical therapeutic applications. Hearing him lecture was inspiring as he continues to build on the work Jeff had begun in battling the devastating effects of AMD.
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2011: Kenneth S. Shindler, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Shindler spoke of Jeff as a mentor. He spoke of the time he came to interview for a residency at Scheie and Jeff brought him up to his lab and took the time to explain his research and his work at Scheie. Jeff made such a strong impression on Dr. Schindler that he subsequently joined the team at Scheie where he established his own research laboratory. The main focus of his lab is understanding mechanisms of retinal ganglion cell damage during optic neuritis. He is also an active investigator in several clinical trials in neuro-ophthalmology and retinal degenerative diseases. While his lecture regarding therapies which may be useful in treating MS patients was fascinating, it was also truly satisfying to see that some of the prior JWB medical student awardees had worked in his lab as well.
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2010: David Zacks, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Zacks spoke of his research at University of Michigan where he was focused on understanding the mechanisms underlying photoreceptor cell death and degeneration during retinal disease. The goal of Dr. Zacks’ research was to gain new insight into the molecular biology of apoptotic photoreceptor cell death and to develop therapies for improving vision in patients with retinal disease. He acknowledged that Jeff’s contributions to diagnostic imaging were invaluable and he, along with many others in the field, continues to use Jeff’s initial work and build on it.
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2009: Jacque L. Duncan, M.D.
Before joining the faculty at UCSF faculty in 2000,
Dr. Duncan completed a medical retina fellowship at Scheie, where she focused on patients with age-related macular degeneration and inherited retinal degeneration and worked with Jeff on several publications. Today, she specializes in treating retinal degenerative diseases, such as retinitis pigmentosa, Usher syndrome, cone-rod dystrophy and Stargardt.
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2008: Dr. Alexander C. Walsh
Dr. Walsh is from the Doheny Eye Institute of the University of Southern California. While he had only met Jeff once on a visit to his lab at Penn, in his lecture on quantitative retinal imaging, he made it clear that his work in diagnostic imaging and software image analysis was based on and influenced by Jeff’s work. He spoke of Jeff as a pioneer who laid the foundation for the modern era of quantitative fundus imaging. It was so exciting to hear how Dr. Walsh has continued Jeff’s work using technology to objectively measure progression of eye diseases so as to help with better intervention and treatments. Dr. Walsh holds Jeff in such high esteem that he took it upon himself to create a Wikipedia page devoted to Jeff and we invite you to log on at
www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_W._Berger.
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2007: James T. Handa, M.D.
Dr. Handa is an Associate Professor at the Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins and Associate Chief of the Retina Division. His studies on age-related macular degeneration (AMD) shed light on a new culprit: Advanced Glycation End Products and he showed in mouse models and human tissues that these products represent a logical drug target for prevention of vision loss in AMD. As AMD was one of Jeff’s areas of expertise, it was exciting and fitting to hear about Dr. Handa’s research.
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2006: Joshua L. Dunaief, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Dunaief spoke about his research in Age-Related Macular Degeneration. It was a special honor to hear Dr. Dunaief speak as he had very similar academic interests to Jeff and also had a close personal relationship with Jeff. Dr. Dunaief has taken a particular interest in our Foundation and acts as our liaison with Scheie. His wife,
Rachel Bork Dunaief, who had known Jeff since 1
st has also taken an active role in volunteering her time and talent to the administration of our foundation.
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2005: Raymond S. Douglas M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Douglas is an Assistant Clinical Professor at the Jules Stein Eye Institute/UCLA. Dr. Douglas’ expertise is in Orbital and Ophthalmologic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. He was a resident under Jeff at Scheie and specifically commented on how Jeff greatly impacted his career. In his letter accepting the invitation to speak at Scheie, Dr. Douglas stated: “
Jeff was a role model not only as a translational researcher, but also as a devoted father and family man. As I progress farther in my career, I realize more and more what a special gift Jeff offered us all. He spent a great deal of time teaching me while I was a resident, but what I remember most were the occasions I would seek him out in his office and he would offer advice regarding life paths and becoming a clinician scientist. Jeff was a unique and gifted person in many ways. I knew Jeff well and giving the Jeffrey Berger Memorial lecture is a profound honor for me.”
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2004: Don Zack, M.D., Ph.D.
Like Jeff,
Dr. Zack completed ophthalmology residency training at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard University. In 1988, he moved to Johns Hopkins where he pursued specialty training in glaucoma. Dr. Zack was appointed Assistant Professor at Hopkins in 1991, Associate Professor in 1997, and Professor in 2001.
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2003: Russell Van Gelder, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Van Gelder, Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, delivered this inaugural Berger Lectureship was delivered on October 16, 2003. It was particularly appropriate for Dr. Van Gelder to be the inaugural Berger lecturer since he and Jeff not only were acquainted, but shared many interests in the visual system, the retina, and a commitment to medical student and resident education.
Each year the Foundation supports either one or two talented medical students to perform ophthalmologic research. The Jeffrey W. Berger Research Scholarship, renamed BAR-UP in 2021, is a prestigious award given to the most promising students. This award supports students so they can spend three months of vision research in a laboratory. In choosing the awardees, our panel also seeks students whom we believe have the potential to pursue careers as clinician/scientists: combining serious ophthalmologic research with clinical care, as this was Jeff’s ultimate career goal. We look for those who show that they are not only interested in serious research, but can be caring physicians, dedicated to working in an academic and clinical environment. We are extremely proud of all of our awardees and their accomplishments as they pursued careers in ophthalmology.
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2005 was the first that we presented the Scholarship award with the help of our donors. Below is a list of all our recipients.
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2023: David Camacho and Anny Zhong
David is a fourth-year medical student at University of Pennsylvania who already has strong basic science research skills in computational chemistry, molecular/cellular biology, protein biochemistry, genetics, gene therapy, stem cell biology, as they apply to the field of ophthalmology. With many different diseases causing blindness, new treatments are needed that actually protect the optic nerve, the connection between our eyes and brain. With our help, David’s research uses stem cells created from a person’s own blood to grow important cells at the back of the eye, retinal ganglion cells. These cells allow for the testing of a new gene therapy, SIRT1, that helps retinal ganglion cells combat the stress of disease and remain healthy. Testing of this gene therapy on human cells helps ensure the development of this new treatment for patients.
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Anny is a third-year medical student who will be doing basic science research exploring novel treatments for glaucoma by evaluating the mechanisms underlying glaucoma pathogenesis by comparing systemic and topical modalities. This project will apply topical, systemic and peripheral formulations of a GLP-1 agonist to specific mouse models to further delineate the central versus peripheral, anti-inflammatory versus incretin and neuroprotective effects of GLP-1 agonist treatment. By understanding these protective mechanisms, this project could potentially broaden the role of GLP-1 agonists, an already widely used therapy for diabetes and weight loss, as a novel therapy for primary prevention against permanent vision loss. Anny hopes to pursue a career in academic ophthalmology which will allow her to impact patient care both clinically and through research.
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2022: Yi Zhou and Jalin Jordan
Yi studied the Anatomy and Clinical Relevance of the Optic Disc Gray Crescent which is an area of slate gray tissue seen in some patients but not well understood as to what this tissue correlates to anatomically and what the clinical implications may be. Her project’s aim was to characterize the anatomy of the grey crescent and determine whether the presence of grey crescent is associated with greater discrepancy between cup-to-disc ratios as assessed by clinicians, reading center graders, and automated imaging analysis used for the diagnosis and staging of glaucoma.
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Jalin investigated the significance of visible pores in the optic disc in patients with African ancestry. Previous studies have shown that the presence of visible pores is associated with an increased prevalence of glaucoma. This project used data from the Primary Open-Angle African Ancestry Glaucoma Genetics (POAAGG) study by Dr. Joan O’Brien which consists of photos of eyes and sociodemographic information which were placed into this research database. This database was used to examine images of patient eyes, determine if there are three or more pores in an image, and whether pores were associated with glaucoma diagnosis and outcomes.
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2021: Michelle Guo and Kimberly Yu
Kimberly, a graduate of Harvard College and now a medical student at UPenn, studied dry eye disease with Professors Vatinee Bunya and Gui-Shuang Ying as part of the Dry Eye Assessment and Management (DREAM) study, a multicenter randomized clinical trial of 535 patients with moderate-to-severe dry eye that assessed the efficacy and safety of oral omega-3 to treat dry eye.
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Michelle, also a graduate of Harvard College and now a medical student at UPenn, studied the role of a subtype of immune cells, called macrophages, in glaucoma with Professor Qi Cui. It was her hope that this work may lead to a new class of oral drugs to treat glaucoma, called glucagon-like 1 receptor agonists, for patients with glaucoma.
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2020: Kim Firn
Kim did research in reconstructive eyelid surgery at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. We were not only extremely impressed with her accomplishments, but her interests and passion truly emulate Jeff’s. After the lecture, Kim told me, “
the more I learn about him, the more shared interests I discover. I would have been excited to have him as a mentor.” In a way, through this Foundation, Jeff continues to influence and mentor students.
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2019: Andrew M. Huang and Modupe Adetunji
Andrew had already been involved in ophthalmic research exploring structure and function of cone photoreceptors using adaptive optics technology. He would like to continue working with advanced medical imaging such as adaptive optics as well as pursuing other clinical research involving the retina and AMD.
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Modupe had also been involved in research projects including evaluating the effect of platelet-derived growth factor on retinal ganglion cell (RGC) survival in vitro and the neuroprotective effects of mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes in a rat optic nerve injury model. She aimed to pursue basic research using mouse models of chronic glaucoma to evaluate for RGC and optic nerve axon preservation following oral deferiprone treatment. Modupe studied the roles of neuroinflammation andiron toxicity in glaucoma. Her important work has earned her authorship on two papers. It was hoped that this work will eventually lead to a clinical trial.
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2018: Tom Liu, M.D. and Hannah Schultz
Both awardees are 21
st Century Scholars at PennMed.
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Tom had done research in rural China with the goal of increasing access to eye care. He had been working more recently at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) developing algorithms to determine which babies with Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) need treatment and intends to continue to conduct new clinical research related to ROP. With the help of our grant, Tom has conducted research on the association between hospital oxygen saturation targets and rates of severe retinopathy of prematurity, the results of which will be submitted for publication. He is excited to start his residency training in ophthalmology next year at Scheie and pursue a career in academic ophthalmology.
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Hannah had been conducting research in both clinical and laboratory studies to examine the connection between iron overload and Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) using retinal imaging. She will be performing benchwork to explore the effects of different forms of oral and IV iron on the mouse retina. She will also be using a big data approach to retrospectively clarify the association of iron supplementation with AMD, exploiting a database containing records of 60 million patients. We are excited to support their important and innovative research.
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With the help of our Foundation, Hannah focused her research on age-related macular degeneration (AMD). She discovered that harmful blood proteins leak into the retina, even in “dry” AMD, an important finding that sheds light on the causes and potential treatments for the disease. She presented this research at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology annual meeting and has submitted a manuscript showing that eating a vegetable-rich diet decreases blood levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of systemic inflammation associated with AMD. She is currently applying for ophthalmology residencies and planning a career in academic ophthalmology.
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2017: Rupak K. Bhuyan and Lucie Y. Guo
Rupak performed basic research using mouse models to study iron accumulation and complement dysfunction in an effort to develop preventative treatment strategies for age-related macular degeneration. Rupak studied mice with mutations in the gene complement factor H, an important regulator of the immune system that has been implicated in AMD. These mice develop features of AMD, and will now be used to test potential new anti-complement drugs.
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Both Drs. Guo and Bhuyan earned authorship on papers describing their works that were published in major scientific journals.
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2016: Elaine Zhou
Our award provided
Elaine with the opportunity to contribute to cutting-edge research in gene therapy for Neovascular Age-related Macular Degeneration (“Wet-AMD”). AMD is one of the leading causes of blindness in the United States and the research she participated in aims to one day use gene therapy to induce the retina’s own cells to produce proteins like VEGF-inhibitors that combat this disease. She used advanced optical imaging and novel image processing tools to analyze the retina and measure the safety of this gene delivery system. There is no question that this is a continuation of the work Jeff pioneered and he would be thrilled to know how instrumental her work has been in moving this treatment forward to a multi-institutional clinical trial for patients with neovascular AMD. Dr. Zhou told us that she was truly inspired by her research, patients and mentors and will now be pursuing a career in Retina as her subspecialty. She is a wonderful example of the impact our foundation can have on the future of ophthalmologic research.
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2015: Yafeng Li
Yafeng’s goal was “
to bridge the gap in understanding and collaboration between physicians taking care of patients and the scientists who seek to better understand the patients’ disease,” and after meeting him, I have no doubt that he will be successful.
Yafeng established a link between two factors thought to contribute to age-related macular degeneration (AMD): iron overload and complement. Retinas from patients with AMD accumulate both iron and complement proteins. Complement is a component of the immune system that can harm retinal cells in a type of “autoimmune” reaction. Yafeng has shown that retinal cells accumulating iron produce more complement. In a series of elegant experiments published in the prestigious Journal of Biological Chemistry, he determined the mechanism by which iron increases complement levels. These experiments identified several potential therapeutic targets for AMD, in addition to iron and complement. Yafeng is now applying for an ophthalmology residency position and plans to pursue a career in academic ophthalmology.
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At our annual lecture on October 15, 2020, the lecture was preceded by a retina case report by Yafeng who was finally finishing his residency at Scheie and applying for a fellowship in vitreoretinal surgery. Yafeng’s presentation was well received and we were thrilled to hear from a former awardee as he continues to grow into an exceptional physician/scientist.
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2014: K. Matthew McKay and Tapan P. Patel
We were struck by
Matthew’s background in engineering and interests in the study of light and retinal imaging which were so similar to Jeff’s interests. Matthew used a new imaging system called an adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope (AOSLO) to image and obtain live video of the retinas of several patients. Utilizing a computer program he helped develop to analyze these videos, he was able to measure in real time the intrinsic signals that occur in the retina when it is stimulated by light. He explained,
“[o]ur hope is that ultimately these intrinsic signals and the software we developed to analyze them will be used to determine the overall health and functionality of patients’ retinas. This would be very useful to determine whether new treatments are working in clinical trials.”
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Similar to Jeff,
Tapan had a background in biochemistry and mathematics coupled with a Ph.D. in bioengineering and sought to integrate medical science and engineering to create devices which could potentially restore vision. Tapan’s research led to the development of FluoroSNNAP – Fluorescence Single Neuron and Network Analysis Package, an open-source software for the automated analysis of fluorescence microscopy data of neural networks.
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Both Tapan and Matthew had very productive lab experiences with the support of the Berger Award and these are precisely the type of projects which are an outgrowth of Jeff’s original work in applying computer methods to ophthalmic diagnostic imaging.
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2013: Emily S. Charlson
Emily, M.D., Ph.D. had already begun research on mitochondrial DNA and been involved in a large scale glaucoma study on African Americans. With this award, she investigated the role of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) polymorphisms in the development of Primary Open Angle Glaucoma (POAG) across four different race/ethnicities. Several observations had implicated mitochondrial genetics and dysfunction in glaucoma pathogenesis, but the importance and extent of mitochondrial variation to POAG development remained unknown. As part of the Primary Open Angle African-American Glaucoma Genetics Study (POAAGG), more than 80,000 POAG patients and controls of African, East Asian, European, and Latino ancestry were identified from individuals enrolled in the Kaiser Permanente Genetic Epidemiology Research on adult health and Aging (GERA) study of Northern California.
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Funded by our award, Emily traveled to San Francisco to conduct a mitochondrial wide association study between single mitochondrial SNPs (mtSNPs) and POAG in the GERA cohort in collaboration with Kaiser Division of Research and UCSF researchers. There Emily and her team identified four mtDNA loci that increased the risk of POAG in European populations and also found the Native American haplogroup B2 conferred strong genetic susceptibility to disease in Europeans, and to a lesser extent in Latinos.
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2012: Nicole M. Fuerst and Natalie Wolkow
Nicole was working on a clinical case study assessing tear osmolarity and dry eye symptoms. Natalie is an M.D., Ph.D. student who is interested in studying the pathogenesis of AMD and ocular melanogenesis. With our help, Nicole completed a study analyzing dry eye symptoms in diabetic patients. She was the first author on a manuscript which was just accepted to the journal, Clinical Ophthalmology. In her study, she found that subjects with higher tear osmolarity and those with a longer duration of diabetes reported fewer dry eye symptoms. Therefore, patients with long-standing diabetes might not experience symptoms and they must be checked regularly to be evaluated for asymptomatic dry eye disease, which could be affecting their vision. In addition to this study, she completed a clinical case-control study, which assessed both the reproducibility of tear osmolarity over time for patients with dry eye syndrome and the clinical utility of the TearLab device for measuring tear osmolarity. Nicole is currently at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and will return to Philadelphia next year for her ophthalmology residency at the Scheie Eye Institute.
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Natalie completed her M.D./Ph.D. program. Her Ph.D. research focused on the role of iron-induced free radical damage in age-related macular degeneration (AMD). She found that an enzyme called hephaestin plays an important role in regulating retinal iron, and may play a role in the iron accumulation that occurs in AMD. She also found that iron accumulates in the retinas of patients with the rare hereditary disease aceruloplasminemia, and this causes an early-onset AMD-like disease that includes loss of melanin in the retina.
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2011: Anne K. Jensen and Neil H. Farbman
Anne was very interested in pediatric ophthalmology and went on to study retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). Anne was accepted into Scheie’s ophthalmology residency program. With our support, she was able to continue a prospective study of the association between insulin-like growth factor and retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), a project that involved weekly blood sample data collection for approximately 105 patients. ROP is a potentially blinding disease and Anne’s efforts to improve early diagnosis could lead to more effective treatment. In addition, the award made possible her attendance at the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s annual meeting where she was invited to give a platform presentation in the prestigious “Best of Posterior Segment Symposium” for a retrospective case-control study assessing the relationship between low levels of platelets and severe ROP.
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Neil has been involved in epidemiological studies relating to patients with glaucoma. Both Anne and Neil have promising careers to pursue in ophthalmologic research. Neil completed two research projects last year with our foundation’s support. He was the primary author of a comprehensive literature review addressing risk factors for primary open-angle glaucoma as they relate to race. The results could be a step toward assisting ophthalmologists in determining who to screen, how to screen, and how often to screen for primary open-angle glaucoma. Moreover, identification of clinical associations with primary open-angle glaucoma may correlate with genetic findings as new research into the genetics of glaucoma among individuals of African descent progresses. He also performed a quantitative analysis of imaging data of optic nerves taken from healthy African Americans and healthy Caucasians. The goal of this project was to determine whether newly available imaging technology could detect previously undetected differences in optic nerve structure between different races.
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2010: Uma Sachdeva and Scott Walter
Uma was an M.D., Ph.D. student who has a background in cancer biology and genetics. She wanted to study the mechanisms by which the highly specialized cells of the eye dysfunction to cause ocular disease with a focus on metabolic diseases and cancers. With our help, Uma was able to study advances in high-throughput gene sequencing for patients and families with heritable retinoblastoma. Retinoblastoma is the most common intra-ocular malignancy of childhood, and it can take a devastating course if left untreated, with systemic dissemination of tumor cells, ultimately leading to blindness and death. Advances in high-throughput mutation analysis and mutation sequencing have allowed the rapid identification of mutations in the retinoblastoma 1 (Rb1) gene. These mutations can be correlated with clinical disease severity, informing treatment decisions and genetic counseling for patients and their families. With the support of our Foundation, Uma presented this work at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology meeting in May 2011. Uma has told us that she is extremely grateful to the Foundation for supporting her research in ocular oncology and her goal of becoming a clinician-scientist in Ophthalmology.
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Scott was a medical student with a Masters in Anthropological Sciences, who was interested in studying the structural biomarkers of vision loss in Multiple Sclerosis patients. Working in the laboratory of Laura J. Balcer, M.D., he investigated the impact of multiple sclerosis (MS) on the ganglion cell layer of the retina. Their study enrolled over 150 subjects including patients with MS and disease-free controls. The team collected high resolution images of the retina using a technology called optical coherence tomography (OCT) which allows ophthalmologists to measure the thicknesses of different retinal cell layers, including the ganglion cell layer. The study demonstrated that the loss of ganglion cells in the macula was tightly correlated with visual acuity loss and decreases in vision-specific quality of life in patients with MS. This study establishes ganglion cell thickness, which is easily measured using OCT, as an important biomarker for clinically significant vision loss in MS. Scott was the first author of a manuscript submitted to the journal Ophthalmology detailing the results of this investigation.
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2009: Mira Sachdeva and Stephanie Kusko
Mira evaluated a potential new therapy to prevent permanent damage to the optic nerve following an acute traumatic injury. While Mira’s studies showed drug therapy to have a limited ability to prevent traumatic optic nerve damage, she also characterized the timing of vision loss and reduction of pupillary light responses, a measure of optic nerve function, following acute injury. These findings significantly advanced our understanding of this type of optic nerve injury, and provided critical parameters that could be used for evaluation of new treatments in the future. She presented her findings at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology in Ft. Lauderdale, FL in May, 2010.
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Stephanie developed a technique to isolate a single cell type from the mouse retina. This allowed her to discover that a retina-protective protein is made by this cell type. Ongoing studies are assessing whether gene therapy based on this result can protect against retinal degeneration. In addition, she tested the efficacy of iron chelation for retina protection. Iron builds up in the retina with age and in age-related macular degeneration and can cause oxidative damage. Results indicate that iron chelation can provide retinal protection in mice.
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2008: Yewlin Chee and Deepika Nemani
Deepika returned to Scheie as a resident in ophthalmology the following year. She worked with a pediatric population to examine novel digital screening methods for identifying infants at risk of developing retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). She was fortunate to publish the results of her work in peer reviewed journals as a first author and was able to travel to several meetings to present the results of this research.
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Yewlin took the opportunity to study Usher syndrome which is the leading cause of combined deaf-blindness in the world. The focus of her research project was to develop a method of gene therapy that targeted the /USH1C/gene in mouse models of the disease to help provide groundwork for human clinical trials using gene therapy to treat congenital hearing loss and blindness. Both Deepika and Yewlin expressed gratitude to our foundation for the support that they received that helped facilitate this research.
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2007: Fiorella Saponara and Peter Veldman
Fiorella worked in the lab of Jean Bennett, M.D., Ph.D. on development of gene augmentation therapy for specific forms of retinal degeneration. Simultaneous with her bench work, she was involved in a ground breaking clinical trial in the lab using retinal gene therapy to restore vision in patients with a blinding inherited retinal degeneration. This is the first time gene therapy has been successfully used to improve sight.
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Peter worked in the lab of Joshua Dunaief, M.D., Ph.D. on the role of iron overload in age-related macular degeneration (AMD). This is a novel line of work on AMD that has led to therapeutic success with iron chelators in a mouse model of AMD, providing a basis for future clinical trials.
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2006: Vivian Lee and Anthony Daniels
Anthony’s research involved the use of optical coherence tomography (OCT), has shown that decreases in the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness correlates strongly with decreases in vision and that it is the single best predictor of overall health related quality of life.
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Vivian’s work using retinal gene therapy in mice to partially rescue retinal degeneration, showed great promise for future clinical trials of gene therapy for retinal disease. Lee wrote “
the Jeffrey Berger Medical Student Research Award has further cultivated my passion and interest in basic science research in ophthalmology. I have enjoyed beyond measure the conversations, thought processes, stimulating brainstorming, and cooperative efforts that I had the privilege to participate in. This award has truly contributed to my continuing desire to pursue basic science research in my career in ophthalmology.”
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2005: Alison Skalet and Jennifer Fisher
Alison was involved in an extraordinary project which was funded in part through the Jeffrey W. Berger Student Scholarship Award. In collaboration with an international group of experts, Alison conducted a pilot study in Lima, Peru to investigate whether a novel telemedicine approach may be able to improve screening programs for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in developing countries. While in Peru, she trained a team of neonatal nurses in retinal photography, assisted in developing an online database for remote reading of the retinal images, and traveled with a nurse and collaborating pediatric ophthalmologist to teach physicians in other areas of the country about ROP. Incredibly, while doing site visits at two outside hospitals, they identified and treated two babies who otherwise would have gone blind from ROP. Alison found this to be an incredibly moving experience and she intends to spend an additional year assisting in developing programs in Ecuador and Venezuela as well as returning to Peru.
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Jennifer was able to co-author an article on developing an objective method of evaluating the surgical skills of ophthalmology residents in a microsurgery laboratory environment that could become a part of the ophthalmic surgical curriculum and competency determination, and to evaluate the face and content validity of this assessment by surveying experts in the field.
2024: Khaled Safadi, M.D.
Dr. Khaled Safadi, our first SHINE recipient, has been an outstanding ophthalmology resident at Hadassah Hospital and his goal is to eventually become a glaucoma clinician-scientist at Hadassah.
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Dr. Safadi has completed his board exams with distinction and recently received the “outstanding resident of the year” award from the Israeli Ophthalmology Society (i.e., #1 in the country in 2022) and is now the Chief Resident in the ophthalmology department at Hadassah. Those who work with him at Hadassah have confirmed that “he is truly exceptional, both with regard to his clinical skills as well as his personality”. He is very active in clinical research and already has several publications but would like to get involved in basic research. It was the consensus of those at Hadassah that the SHINE program could be the perfect way to introduce him to “hands on” work in the lab after which he can bring his new skills back to Hadassah.
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Dr. Safadi will join Dr. Qi Cui’s lab for a glaucoma research fellowship. The lab seeks to elucidate pathogenic mechanisms contributing to glaucoma and identify innovative therapies for glaucoma. The lab is actively evaluating GLP-1 receptor agonists, a class of diabetic and weight loss medication, as a neuroprotective agent in glaucoma. In addition, in collaboration with the lab of Prof. Joshua Dunaief, they showed that iron chelation is effective for rescuing retinal ganglion cells and promoting optic nerve axon survival in an animal model of glaucoma.
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Dr. Safadi’s wife, Suaad Abd Elhadi, will also join a postdoctoral program at Penn and her project will focus on the development of innovative treatments for diseases affecting the neural cells of the visual system by exploring the potential of mitochondrial transplantation in retinal ganglion cells. They will be joined by their 3-year-old daughter, Mila Safadi, and they are very excited to experience life in the United States.
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