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FALL 2008 SightThe Wilmer EyeLine Institute at Johns Hopkins We’re BeatGonna Trachoma Sheila West is on a mission and making significant research advances on the way. as see it contents INSIGHT 4 Because Mentors Matter Thanks to Stephen J. Ryan and other donors, the assistant chief of service has more time to teach. SPOTLIGHT The Shape of 6 Things to Come Wilmer’s new home for out- patient surgery and research promises to be an inspiring Dear Wilmer Family, destination. This year we are witnessing the tangible emergence of ON THE COVER our newest building. Built We’re Gonna Beat entirely with philanthropic 10 Trachoma dollars, this beautiful struc- Sheila West and colleagues ture, Wilmer’s fourth building, will set a new standard for vision have set their sights on eradi- research and ophthalmic surgery. We are counting down the days cating a neglected cause of to our move-in next summer. pain and blindness. Recently, the press has been full of articles on “sustainable philanthropy.” In traditional philanthropy, a donor supports a good cause, such as giving eyeglasses to the poor; once the funds are de- EYE TO EYE pleted, the program ends. In sustainable philanthropy, donations act A Donation Funds as seed funds, establishing a self-supporting enterprise that benefits 14 Time to Learn others long after the initial funds are used. The Aliki Perroti Scholarship Created with $3 million from grateful patients and foundations, unites two women with a pas- the Wilmer Eye Institute is a perfect example of sustainable philan- sion to change the status quo. thropy. Last year, we provided more than $2.7 million in uncompen- sated care — plus eye surgery for the poor, funded by an endowment. We now annually provide care to the Baltimore region’s indigent worth about what it cost to create the Institute! We can absorb this EYE TO EYE loss because of the payments we receive from insurers and patients Twice Blessed With who do pay for our care, and because our doctors are willing to ac- 16 His Family’s Name cept lower salaries than they typically would receive out in practice. The son of a Wilmer surgeon Yet demand outstrips supply, and providing eye care to the indigent becomes the first to hold a and working poor in our community represents a major challenge for professorship established to Wilmer. We are not alone. The U.S. Census Bureau reported that, in honor his father. 2007, 45.7 million Americans had no health insurance. We who work at Wilmer are pleased to be able to help as many people as we do. We know how gratifying it is to care for those whose ANNUAL REVIEW only way of repaying us is the joy they experience when they see. Visionaries 18 The FY08 donors, faculty My best wishes. and residents who continue to make Wilmer one of the Peter J. McDonnell, M.D. world’s preeminent eye insti- William Holland Wilmer Professor and Director tutions. 2 SightLine FALL 2008 insight contents Sowing the Seeds WILMER IN THE NEWS of Discovery In every one of the 19 years that U.S. News & World Report has been ranking the nation’s Director’s Discovery Fund best hospitals and specialty recipient Noriko Esumi care, the Wilmer Eye Insti- is taking aim at genetic tute has been in mechanisms that may the top tier of underlie retinal disease. ophthalmology programs. As the magazine’s editors said in their 2008 and other important genes in the RPE “America’s Best might contribute to age-related macu- Hospitals” edi- lar degeneration. tion, “any good On recommendation from hospital should Wilmer’s senior faculty, Director Peter be able to handle everyday McDonnell recently awarded Esumi procedures and conditions,” seed money from the Institute’s Direc- but the patient who’s the tor’s Discovery Fund. target of the rankings is the McDonnell says the fund provides one “who truly needs out- him with monies to use as “venture standing care.” capital,” investing in young professors’ And that, of course, has futures. been Wilmer’s mission from “With increased competition for day one. We’re as proud as s a pediatric oncologist in external funding, often people with we have ever been of our Japan, Noriko Esumi became brilliant ideas lack the resources to impressive showing in this Afrustrated treating children explore them,” McDonnell says. “Dr. survey year after year, and with leukemia and other cancers Esumi is a particularly brilliant, young of the outstanding faculty, because of the gap between physicians’ assistant professor. The implications nurses and staff who consis- understanding about basic biological of her research are enormous, with the tently put us there. mechanisms and what was happen- potential to dramatically change how ing in her patients’ bodies. Now, as a we think of some retinal diseases.” molecular biologist at Wilmer, she’s Esumi says since some of her Na- determined to flesh out the genetic un- tional Eye Institute funding has been derpinnings of macular degeneration. cut due to federal budget pressures, Her research focuses on regulation the gift is essential to growing her own of gene expression within the retinal research group by hiring technicians pigment epithelium (RPE), a layer to help conduct some of the labora- of cells that nourishes and supports tory experiments. light-sensing mechanisms within the “This will dramatically accelerate retina. Esumi already has defined the pace of discovery in my labora- some regulatory mechanisms of a gene tory,” Esumi says. “As a young faculty Meet the Wilmer called VMD2, which, when mutated, member at Wilmer, I am incredibly development team: causes a disorder called Best disease grateful to those donors who have Danielle Grepps , Kim that threatens central vision. She plans helped create the Director’s Discovery Morton, Suzy Williams to build on that by further exploring Fund, and to my senior faculty who and Elizabeth Bower. how abnormal regulation of VMD2 have confidence in my abilities.” ■ Not pictured is Liz Griffin. 3 insight Because Mentors Matter tephen J. Ryan credits his chief residency at Wilmer in 1969 as being the key and foundation to his successful career in ophthalmol- ogy. Now Ryan, president of the SDoheny Eye Institute in Los Angeles, is giving back through a named endowment fund to help support a new generation of chief residents, currently referred to as the assistant chiefs of service. “Dr. Ryan is one of Wilmer’s most famous alums,” says Wilmer Director Peter McDonnell. “He left Hopkins to become the first full-time chair of ophthalmology at the University of Southern California—as the only full-time faculty member—and built what was a low-profile department into one of the top programs in the country if not the world. Then he was prevailed upon to become dean of USC’s medical school. His whole career has been about medical educa- tion, mentoring, and inspiring others to rise to the next level.” The Wilmer assistant chief of service has long been a highly respected and demanding Stephen Ryan position. The ACS not only is a practicing always remembers clinician but also acts as an educator and role model 2003, he approached his his Wilmer roots. for medical students and residents. Historically, those former boss about head- who have held the position have become some of the ing a $1 million cam- nation’s leaders in the field. paign to create an endowment for the ACS. With Ryan wanted to ensure that the ACS could set Ryan’s personal and matched donations kick-starting aside time for mentoring the campaign, the goal was reached. the residents under his or Says Ryan, “Among the things that keep Wilmer her leadership. on top are its commitment to education and the About 10 years ago, strong support of the director. This endowment will Among the things Ryan approached former provide income to help the ACS carry out the mission Wilmer Director Morton of educating the great group of Wilmer residents.” that keep Wilmer Goldberg about helping A celebration and inaugural naming will occur on top are its support the position and May 1, 2009, with Ryan, a trustee of Johns Hopkins began making donations Medicine and member of the Johns Hopkins Society commitment to toward that end. Then, of Scholars, in attendance. when McDonnell (anoth- “We strive, year after year, to identify someone education and the er former assistant chief who, like Dr. Stephen Ryan, clearly embodies the strong support of of service and former qualities and skills that make for a strong leader USC faculty member) and an excellent clinician, teacher and role model,” the director. returned to Wilmer in McDonnell says. ■ 4 SightLine FALL 2008 Selfless Colleague hen Ruben “Over three Adler, an On May 16, David Paton, right, presented “The Virtue Wacknowl- decades, his wise of Eye-Magination: Creativity and the Medical Mind,” as edged world leader Wilmer’s second Susruta Lecture in History and Ethics in vision research, counsel was an of Ophthalmology. The Wilmer assistant chief of service learned that he might under Edward Maumenee, Paton is the founder of be terminally ill, one invaluable resource Project ORBIS, a nonprofit that provides ophthalmology of the first things he to three directors education and care in developing countries. It is the did was meet with generous support of V.K. Raju, left, and his wife, Rani, Wilmer Eye Insti- of the institute,” that has made the Susruta Lectureship a new tradition tute Director Peter at Wilmer. Raju is president of the Eye Foundation of McDonnell. Adler says McDonnell. America and a clinical professor of ophthalmology at wanted to make sure West Virginia University.

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