Center for Corneal & External Eye Disease Research

Faculty

David A. Sullivan, Ph.D.   Director

Ilene K. Gipson, Ph.D.   Associate Director

Pablo Argüeso, Ph.D.

Reza Dana, M.D., M.P.H., M.Sc.

Michael Gilmore, Ph.D.

Meredith Gregory-Ksander, Ph.D.

Ula Jurkunas, M.D.

Bruce R. Ksander, Ph.D.

Sharmila Masli, Ph.D.

Clinical Relevance of Cornea Center Research

• Corneal and external diseases and injuries

  • Represent some of the most painful ocular disorders

  • Serve as the leading cause of visits to eye care practitioners in the USA

• Corneal infectious diseases

  • Compromise the vision of more than 250 million people worldwide

  • Blinded over 6 million individuals

• Dry eye syndrome

  • Afflict > 30 million people in the USA

  • Affect predominantly women

  • Have no cure

• Refractive errors

  • 60 percent of the USA population have refractive errors that need correction for sharper vision

• Ocular allergies

  • Impact > 20% of the USA population

• Fuchs Endothelial Dystrophy

  • Most common endogenous corneal endothelial degeneration

  • 3rd most frequent cause for corneal transplantation ( > 40,000 corneal trans-plants per year in USA)