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Career Development Award Career Development Award Celebrating 30 years of stimulating world-class research & creating the vision science leaders of tomorrow Research to Prevent Blindness Research to The Career Development Award Turns 30: Prevent Blindness Celebrating a Generation of Support JULES STEIN, MD RPB SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY PANEL for Early-Career Scientists (1896-1981) ROBIN ALI, PhD, FMEDSCI Founder University College London Institute of Ophthalmology DAVID F. WEEKS RPB Chairman Emeritus VADIM Y. ARSHAVSKY, PhD Duke University Medical Center In 1996, Tim Stout was the self-described OFFICERS “most junior faculty member” at Doheny PETER A. CAMPOCHIARO, MD DIANE S. SWIFT The Wilmer Eye Institute Eye Institute in Los Angeles. Energized to Chairman The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine set up his own lab and grow both his clinical BRIAN F. HOFLAND, PhD practice and research agenda, Stout, MD, PhD ANNE L. COLEMAN, MD, PhD President David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA now Director of the Cullen Eye Institute at DAVID H. BRENNER Baylor College of Medicine, was soon JONATHAN M. HOLMES, MD Vice President & Secretary Mayo Clinic confronted with the stark realities of time management and limited resources. While he JOHN TINKER RODERICK R. MCINNES, CM, MD, PhD, FRSC Treasurer had some startup funding from the Doheny Jewish General Hospital McGill University Eye Institute, Stout’s mentors urged him to 2 BOARD OF TRUSTEES seek additional funds to jump-start his research 1 DAVID H. BRENNER* J. ANTHONY MOVSHON, PhD efforts. “I was a faculty member for less than New York University ANTONIO M. GOTTO, MD a year when I first learned about and applied FAYE D. HUNTER CYNTHIA OWSLEY, PhD, MSPH for the Career Development Award,” Stout University of Alabama at Birmingham FREDERICK HUNTSBERRY recalled. His application was successful. “It DIANE S. SWIFT* JOHN S. PENN, PhD was nothing short of transformative—for an Vanderbilt University School of Medicine assistant professor in those days, that amount JOHN TINKER* of money was like hitting the jackpot,” he said. KATRINA VANDEN HEUVEL MAHNAZ SHAHIDI, PhD J. Timothy Stout, MD, PhD, of Baylor College of Medicine, Roski Eye Institute Over the next four years, Stout honed his received his RPB CDA in 1997 at the Keck School of WILLIAM J. VANDEN HEUVEL Keck School of Medicine, expertise identifying and developing viral Medicine of the University of Southern California. TOM WERTHEIMER University of Southern California vectors that would ultimately be used in gene KARYN L. WILLIAMS, PhD JANEY WIGGS, MD, PhD therapy techniques to treat proliferative ocular MICHAEL YAGEMANN Harvard Medical School disease as well as a host of other diseases. Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary breakthrough discoveries, chair many of the *Member of the Executive Committee Stout is one of 203 recipients of the Research to SCIENTIFIC ADVISOR TO THE top ophthalmology departments in the nation, Prevent Blindness (RPB) Career Development STAFF RPB BOARD AND SPECIAL CONSULTANT serve as editors of leading ophthalmology TO RPB STAFF Award (CDA), founded 30 years ago as one JO CASELLA research journals and lead some of the field’s of the few private sources of funding aimed Assistant to the Director SHELIA WEST, PhD premier research organizations. In the years of External Affairs specifically at early-career vision researchers. following their CDA grants, the group has SPECIAL CONSULTANTS TO RPB STAFF What began in 1989 as a $120,000, 4-year DIANA FRIEDMAN collectively obtained more than $1 billion in ROBERT EUGENE ANDERSON, MD, PhD grant has grown into a $300,000 award that, Director of External Affairs government and private research funding, an as Stout and other awardees describe, often JOHN E. DOWLING, PhD astounding return on a $40 million investment MARIACLAUDIA LORA serves as a critical “accelerant” for other Executive Assistant and from RPB. Deputy Grants Manager grant-seeking efforts. CDA grantees are a diverse group of clinicians, researchers and PATRICIA R. MORAN clinician-scientists, which encompasses every Grants Administrator Launched, But Not Yet Landed field of vision research, from age-related NATHALIE SHAPIR-ISHAY diseases of the eye to regenerative medicine, Newly launched from the world of medical Office Manager visual neuroscience, genetics and gene therapy, and research fellowships, early-career KATY TOOLIN infectious disease, ocular oncology and dozens researchers and physician scientists often Director of Finance of others. CDA awardees have gone on to make have no choice but to hit the ground running, of lack of time and lack of resources to focus Creating a Cycle of Excellence and start to build a niche of expertise.” Chiang, who received the Career Development The trailblazing clinicians and researchers Award in 2005 while at Columbia University, that comprise the community of CDA recalls the pressure of attempting to build a awardees are not only shaping their research clinical practice while pursuing research that fields and transforming patient care, they could form the basis of a coveted R01 grant are also influencing the next generation from the National Institutes of Health. “It’s of researchers. Recipients of the Career a very difficult time,” he said. “We all want Development Award are nominated by senior to make a difference in the field, but getting faculty members who mentor and supervise started in a department with all the other their progress over the course of the grant academic and service tasks makes it tough period. Over the course of 30 years, RPB to protect your time and get work done.” For has received many applications on which Chiang, the CDA provided vital resources to the mentors are CDA recipients themselves. begin a data and image collection process Fifty-three of these applications have been that would not only shape his career path successful in securing CDA funding. “It’s but would impact the lives of infants and the award that keeps on giving,” said RPB influence the entire field of ophthalmology. President Brian F. Hofland, PhD, noting that some awardees have subsequently nominated Thanks to RPB support, Chiang was able to and mentored as many as five CDA awardees enlist the help of a research coordinator who over the course of their careers. Michael F. Chiang, MD, of Oregon Health & Science University and OHSU Casey Eye Institute, received his RPB CDA in assisted in compiling a database of retinal 2005 at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons. images from infants affected by the most Mentorship is so essential in the early years 2 common cause of childhood blindness, of a clinical or research career that, as Hofland 3 explained, CDA applicants are evaluated both learning how to build a lab, care for patients today will reveal hundreds of results in dozens retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). At that time, on their own merit and potential as well as and apply for funding as they go along. They of scientific disciplines, ranging from prizes the popularity of telemedicine was on the the quality of the senior faculty that guide become caught in a catch-22: struggling to aimed at the best and brightest high school rise, and Chiang was interested in developing them. “We’re betting almost as much on the juggle the tasks of grant applications with science students to awards for researchers methods for using the technology to diagnose institution and on the mentors as we are on producing the kinds of research data that under age 40. While overall competition ROP—an already complex task that proved the researchers themselves,” he said. “We make those applications successful. The for funding is more intense today than it even more challenging due to a high degree make sure there are people on the faculty who consequences of failure are significant both was when RPB first introduced the Career of subjectivity in image interpretation. His have the expertise to help them get through individually and on a societal level: “If you Development Award, new faculty researchers timing was fortuitous, however, for those the difficult spots and grow intellectually, don’t get enough funds to get going, hire in prior decades had far fewer places to turn years were also marked by a surge of interest while at the same time encouraging them to people and then get more funds, great ideas for early-career support. and innovation in areas of artificial become independent,” he explained. “During will never make it to patients,” Stout said. intelligence that are particularly well-suited to According to Michael F. Chiang, MD, the medical image analysis. the four years, our awardees step out of the Present-day graduate students and Knowles Professor of Ophthalmology and shadow of their mentors and emerge as very postdoctoral researchers may be surprised to Medical Informatics and Clinical Epidemiology Chiang’s repository of images proved the distinguished researchers in their own right.” learn that the importance of supporting the at Oregon Health & Science University and perfect training ground for him, along with Terri Young, MD, MBA, the Peter A. Duehr work of early-career scientists was not always Associate Director of the OHSU Casey Eye collaborators, to develop some of the first Professor of Ophthalmology and Chair of the widely recognized. Even a cursory search for Institute, “One key reason that clinician deep learning algorithms for medical image Department of Ophthalmology and Visual funding opportunities for “young” scientists scientists don’t get off the ground is because analysis in ophthalmology. After more than a decade of evolution, the present-day iteration Sciences at the University of Wisconsin- of those algorithms can outperform Madison, says that success for early-career physicians in correctly identifying ROP, clinician-researchers often rides on a full making top-notch diagnostics available in spectrum of support department-wide. “It has areas where this level of expertise is not to be a wholehearted, full-force commitment In the years following their CDA grants, the group always available.
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