ILLINOIS COLLEGE OF OPTOMETRY OPTOMETRIST RECEIVES NEI CAREER DEVELOPMENT AWARD, NIH GRANT TOTALING OVER HALF A MILLION DOLLARS

SEPTEMBER 21, 2007, CHICAGO
Daniel Roberts, O.D., M.S., professor of optometry at the Illinois College of Optometry (ICO, www.ico.edu), has received a three-year Research Career Development Award grant of more than $630,000 from the National Eye Institute of  the National Institutes of Health.

“This grant award  will allow me to carry out full-time research for Ph.D. training in Public Health Sciences,” said Roberts. The grant supports his research project, “Family Study of CTRP5 Mutation, Long Zonules, Macular Degeneration and Glaucoma,” which aims to study patients and their family members who may have a genetic abnormality that could cause serious eye disease. 
   
During his research, Dr. Roberts will work with a mentoring team that includes specialists in epidemiology, ocular genetics and clinical and surgical glaucoma. The team will seek to understand the nature of a subtype of pigment dispersion syndrome, which is believed to be common in middle-aged and elderly people. The disease is also thought to be caused by an abnormal development inside the eye that is inherited among first degree family members. The project will be conducted within the patient care division of the Illinois Eye Institute – the clinical arm of ICO.   

“I hope this research will eventually lead to the identification of a gene or genes that could be responsible for glaucoma, macular degeneration, pigment dispersion syndrome and other damaging eye conditions,” said Roberts.

Dr. Roberts’ work has centered on clinical forms of glaucoma, including pigmentary glaucoma for which he has attempted to refine detection and diagnosis, as well as understand family patterns that could lead to variable expressions of the disease.

He earned his O.D. degree from the Indiana University School of Optometry and his master’s degree from the University of Michigan School of Public Health’s Department of Biostatistics.

About the Illinois College of Optometry

The Illinois College of Optometry (ICO) is the largest and oldest educational institution dedicated solely to the teaching of optometrists in the United States. Founded in 1872, ICO has established itself as one of the world’s leading urban optometric institutions and has been serving the Chicagoland community for over 135 years. For more information, log on to www.ico.edu.