WILLS EYE GLAUCOMA LEADER RECEIVES $6.2 MILLION NIH AWARD FOR VISION RESEARCH

PHILADELPHIA, October 31, 2024 – Wills Eye Hospital has received a 5-year National Institutes of Health (NIH) award of $6,236,024 million to support the study of novel glaucoma diagnostics for structure and function. The study has been ongoing since 2000 and captured more than 4,000 participants. This research will be led by Joel S. Schuman, MD, Vice Chair for Research Innovation and Co-Director of the Glaucoma Service at the non-profit specialty hospital. Glaucoma is the leading cause of blindness worldwide and Wills Eye has one of the largest and foremost programs dedicated to combatting the disease in the United States.

“Dr. Schuman has made a wonderful addition to our research team and supports furthering our mission to leverage clinical and technological advances to drive breakthroughs in eye care,” said Dr. Julia A. Haller, Ophthalmologist-in-Chief, Wills Eye Hospital. “He has a long, respected history of impact in this space, and we look forward to seeing the positive changes our industry can expect as he continues this work. Thank you to the NIH for recognizing his team’s exceptional promise and granting this award.”

Schuman’s research seeks to address substantial challenges of existing ocular imaging technology including measurement variability, image quality, level of measurable tissue, and difficulties interchanging patient scan data. Resulting success would significantly improve initial detection of glaucoma as well as the identification of its progress and any prediction of future progression of the disease.

To achieve this, Schuman and his team will employ advanced signal and image processes and analysis techniques, state-of-the-art machine learning methods, recently developed analytical tools like multidimensional information compression analysis (MICA) and enhanced machine and deep learning models. Using structural, functional, and other clinical information, this research looks to propose novel and sensitive means to detect glaucoma while identifying and predicting disease progression that are optimized to the various stages of disease severity.

“This support from the NIH will allow us to build on our long-standing contribution to ocular imaging and continue to blaze a trail that improves technology and outcomes,” said Schuman. “There will be a direct benefit to patients as this work can have a major impact on the clinical management of individuals with glaucoma.”

Dr. Schuman is a pioneer in the field of ophthalmology, lauded for his research, discoveries, inventions, and compassionate patient care over the course of his more than 30-year career. In 2001, he and his colleagues were the first to identify a molecular marker for human glaucoma. In 1991 he was a member of the team that invented optical coherence tomography (OCT) technology, which provides quick, non-invasive, high resolution 3D mapping of the eye and has become an essential tool for the detection and treatment of diseases including glaucoma, macular degeneration, and diabetic retinopathy.  Today more than 80,000 of these machines in use across the globe.

For more information on the Wills Eye Hospital Glaucoma Service, please visit https://www.willseye.org/medical-services/subspecialty-services/glaucoma/.

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