New committee formed to focus on retina

Fairfax, VA-The American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) has formed a Retina Clinical Committee to provide members with a resource on the latest advances in retinal treatment.

Lee M. Jampol, MD, professor and chairman, Northwest University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, and chief of ophthalmology, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago, will chair the committee.

Members include Neil M. Bressler, MD, the James P. Gills Professor of Ophthalmology, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Julia A. Haller, MD, Katharine Graham Professor of Ophthalmology, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and director of Wilmer's Vitreoretinal Surgical Fellowship Training Program; Harry W. Flynn Jr., MD, professor, the J. Donald M. Gass Distinguished Chair of Ophthalmology, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine; and H. Richard McDonald, MD, associate clinical professor of ophthalmology, University of California, San Francisco.

In other news, the ASCRS Foundation Research Grant Program is seeking grant proposals through Jan. 31. The grant program, which began last year, awards 10 $5,000 grants to promote research in all areas of eye disease and treatment. Awards will be made in March at the ASCRS annual symposium in San Francisco. The findings of research funded with a grant must be presented via a paper or poster at the 2007 symposium.

For applications or more information, visit http://www.ascrs.org/Foundation/Foundation-Research.cfm or contact Don Bell at 703/591-2220.

The organization also announced that Gary W. Small, MD, director of the Center on Aging at the University of California, Los Angeles, will deliver the Manus C. Kraff Lecture on Science and Medicine at its 2006 symposium in March. His talk, titled "Maximizing Memory and Brain Fitness," will describe the newest research on the link between food, medicines, exercise, alcohol, stress, and lifestyle choices and the aging of our brains. He will offer advice on how we can make informed decisions to prevent memory loss and maintain brain health, and teach memory techniques for names, faces, and other memory challenges.