Friday, October 3, 1 – 2:30 p.m., Eastsound Fire Station
— from Ed Wilson, Orcas Medical Foundation —
On Friday, October 3 at the Eastsound Fire Hall, from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m., join Dr. Russell Van Gelder, MD, PhD, as he talks about the most common causes of vision loss in the USA – cataracts, macular degeneration, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy. Learn about the latest treatments and the groundbreaking research taking place at the UW Medicine Eye Institute during this free presentation, “The Promise of Vision.”
Orcas Medical Foundation, the local non-profit organization which is presenting this event, invites attendees to bring questions for the Q&A.
Dr. Van Gelder is Director of both the UW Medicine Eye Institute and the Vision Science Center and holds the Boyd K. Bucey Memorial Endowed Chair in Ophthalmology. He is a clinician-scientist whose primary interest is in ocular inflammatory diseases (uveitis and related conditions). He also cares for patients with medical retinal diseases.
Dr. Van Gelder will be president of the American Academy of Ophthalmology next year. The Van Gelder lab is investigating the therapeutic potential of synthetic small molecule photo switches for restoring light sensitivity to degenerated retinas.
Having earned his MD and a PhD in Neurosciences at Stanford University, Dr. Van Gelder completed his residency in ophthalmology at Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University in St. Louis and served there on the faculty for ten years before moving to the University of Washington in 2008. Dr. Van Gelder has published more than 150 papers and book chapters and has won numerous research awards from the Research to Prevent Blindness, the Burroughs-Wellcome Foundation, and the Alcon Research Institute, among others.
