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The Association for Ocular Pharmacology and Therapeutics (AOPT) is an organization that welcomes members from disciplines related to ocular pharmacology and its therapeutic applications. The mission of AOPT is the sustenance of a scientific network aiming the dissemination of knowledge in the field of ocular disease, pharmacology and therapeutics.
AOPT was begun informally in the 1970s by Dr. George Chiou [1] [2] as special sessions at the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology [3] conferences. It grew to an official separate Symposium of Ocular Pharmacology meeting of academicians, clinicians, and pharmaceutical industry at Novi, Michigan in August 1993. [4] The participants voted to charter the organization and this was accomplished the next year with the first AOPT meeting held in New Orleans, Louisiana in January 1995. The founding board comprised Drs. George Chiou (president), David Lee (vice-president), Hitoshi Shichi (treasurer), and Herbert Kaufman (trustee). During the early FASEB years, Chiou also established the Journal of Ocular Pharmacology, now the Journal of Ocular Pharmacology & Therapeutics. The history of AOPT is closely related to the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO). [5]
The mission of AOPT is to help researchers and eye-care professionals in their efforts toward the understanding and the treatment of eye diseases. AOPT scientific dissemination involves preclinical and clinical pharmacologists and researchers. Scientific dissemination is promoted through biennial meetings [6] and the peer-reviewed journal: Journal of Ocular Pharmacology and Therapeutics (JOPT).
JOPT is the official journal of AOPT. It is a multidisciplinary journal that covers the latest findings related to pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of pharmaceuticals used in the treatment of ocular disorders. [7] The journal is published 10 times per year. This journal is peer reviewed with on line access prior to journal publication and it is available in 170 countries (http://home.libertpub.com). The journal also publishes Special Issues. The next one is "Next Generation Tissue Engineering: Inspired Models for Ophthalmic Drug Discovery". (Ashwath Jayagopal and Héloïse Ragelle guest editors. The current editor-in-chief of JOPT is W. Daniel Stamer, PhD.(Duke University, Durham, NC http://medschoolduke.edu/about-us/our-faculty/w-daniel-stamer ) On line ISSN 1557-7732 with an impact factor of 1.782. Affiliated with AOPT and ISOPT Clinical ( International Symposium on Ocular Pharmacology & Therapeutics Clinical) (http://isopclinical.com)
AOPT has a diverse leadership and membership which include principal investigators, scientists, medical professionals, technicians, and students with an interest in ocular pharmacology and therapeutics. The directive committee and members come from academic institutions and private companies worldwide.
Members of AOPT and societies in the field of eye research, gather every year at the annual ARVO meeting, in which the latest findings in vision and ophthalmology research are disseminated. Societies in the field of eye research span from preclinical to clinical and a few of these societies are hereby listed:
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science (IOVS) is an online journal published by the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO).
The Illinois Eye & Ear Infirmary (IEEI) is a center of ophthalmology and otolaryngology research and clinical practice.
Fight for Sight is a nonprofit organization in the United States which funds medical research in vision and ophthalmology. It was formed in 1946 as the National Council to Combat Blindness (NCCB), the first non-profit organization in the United States to fund vision research; 2011 marked its 65th anniversary.
Dr. George Spaeth is an American ophthalmologist specializing in glaucoma at Wills Eye Institute. Spaeth is also affiliated with Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Graduate Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Chestnut Hill Hospital, Bryn Mawr Hospital, and Miner's Memorial Hospital.
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Julia A. Haller is an American ophthalmologist who is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University. She also holds the William Tasman, M.D. Endowed Chair at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia, where she is Ophthalmologist-in-Chief.
Reza Dana is the Claes H. Dohlman Professor of Ophthalmology, senior scientist and W. Clement Stone Clinical Research Scholar at Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School, and director of the Harvard-Vision Clinical Scientist Development Program.
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John E. Dowling is an American neuroscientist and Gordon and Llura Gund Research Professor of Neurosciences at Harvard University. He is best known for his seminal work in vision science, having elucidated the biochemistry of rhodopsin and development of the vertebrate retina, as well as diseases that affect vision such as vitamin A deficiency and retinitis pigmentosa. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1972, the National Academy of Sciences in 1976, and the American Philosophical Society in 1992.
Virender Singh Sangwan is an Indian ophthalmologist and the Dr. Paul Dubord Chair professor and director of the L. V. Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad. Known for his research on limbal stem cells, Sangwan is the founder secretary and an adviser of the Uveitis Society of India. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards for his contributions to Medical Sciences in 2006.
Daniel M. Albert is an American ophthalmologist, ocular cancer researcher, medical historian, and collector of rare books and ocular equipment. As of 2018, he is Professor of Ophthalmology at the Casey Eye Institute, Oregon Health & Science University.
Michael S. Gilmore is an American, focusing in infectious diseases and ocular genomics, currently the Sir William Osler Professor of Ophthalmology (Microbiology), Harvard Medical School, Mike serves as Director of the Infectious Disease Institute, and Co-Director of the Microbial Sciences Initiative of Harvard University. Additionally, he is a Senior Associate Member of the Broad Institute. As Principal Investigator of the Harvard-wide Program on Antibiotic Resistance, his research focuses on the evolution and development of multidrug resistant strains of enterococci, staphylococci, and streptococci, and the development of new therapeutics. He was named by Eric Lander in “The Heroes of CRISPR”3 as inspiring Broad Institute interest in developing CRISPR as a tool for therapeutic gene editing. Mike has trained over 35 graduate students and postdocs, and is currently course coordinator and principle lecturer in the Harvard University course OEB290/MICRO210 Microbiology: Chemistry, ecology and evolution. Outside of Harvard, he serves as chair of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) blue ribbon panel for the Antimicrobial Resistance Diagnostic Challenge. He is past chair of the NIH Bacterial Pathogenesis Study Section, the Gordon Conference on Microbial Adhesion and Signal Transduction, American Society for Microbiology (ASM) Division D, and the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) IM Section. Mike is founder of the International Conference on Enterococci (ICE) series, and the Boston Area Antibiotic Resistance Network (BAARN). He started his academic career in 1984 at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, where he rose through the ranks to Vice President for Research. He also held the MG McCool professorship and was awarded the George Lynn Cross research chair. In 2004 he moved to Harvard Medical School as President and CEO of the Schepens Eye Research Institute, Marie and DeWalt Ankeny Director of Research and CL Schepens Professor of Ophthalmology. In 2010, he moved his laboratories to the Massachusetts General Hospital campus, in the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. He has published over 200 peer reviewed manuscripts in Cell, Nature, Science, PNAS and other leading journals. He continues to serve on numerous advisory boards and committees for public and private organizations, focused on drug discovery, antibiotic resistance, and bacterial pathogenesis.
Atul Kumar is an Indian ophthalmologist who is currently the Chief & Professor of Ophthalmology at Dr. Rajendra Prasad Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences (RPC-AIIMS), the national apex ophthalmic centre at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi. He was awarded the Padma Shri award in January 2007 for his services to the medical field. He specializes in vitreoretinal surgery and also heads the Vitreo-Retinal, Uvea and ROP services at RPC-AIIMS.
The European Association for Vision and Eye Research is a multidisciplinary scientific society that aims to encourage research and the dissemination of knowledge concerning the eye and vision by means of meetings, publications and exchange of information. It is an international non-profit association formed in agreement with the Belgian Law. EVER is the largest European research association that covers all areas of ophthalmology and the vision science. The association currently has members from over 48 countries within Europe and abroad, and is organized in 11 scientific sections.
Dimitri Azar M.D. is an American ophthalmologist, professor, and businessman who leads Twenty Twenty Therapeutics, a joint venture established by Santen and Verily. Dr. Azar has held roles at Novartis and Verily, Alphabet's Life sciences research organization. He served as dean of the College of Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) from 2011 to 2018.
Steven J. Fliesler is an American biochemist and cell biologist, whose research has focused on how lipid metabolism supports the normal structure and function of the vertebrate retina. He currently is the Meyer H. Riwchun Endowed Chair Professor of Ophthalmology and Vice-Chair/Director of Research in the Department of Ophthalmology, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, at the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York. In 2014, he became a UB Distinguished Professor, and in 2018 was promoted to the rank of SUNY Distinguished Professor. He is the author or coauthor of more than 150 publications, including peer-reviewed scientific/biomedical journal articles, books and book chapters.
Sundaram Natarajan is an Indian ophthalmologist. In 2002, he started a free clinic in Dharavi, a slum in Mumbai, and treated more than 8,000 people. He has also held free camps in various other suburbs of Mumbai such as Mankhurd and Govandi to treat the economically poor. In 2016, he also held a camp in Kashmir to operate and cure the victims of pellet gun firings.
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