Mass. Eye and Ear Ophthalmologists Receive Research to Prevent Blindness Awards

Boston, Mass. – Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB), the world’s leading voluntary organization supporting eye research, has awarded two researchers at Massachusetts Eye and Ear and Harvard Medical School’s Department of Ophthalmology with grants in support of their work. This year, Eric A. Pierce, MD, PhD, Director of Ocular Genomics Institute at Mass. Eye and Ear and the William F. Chatlos Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School, has received the RPB Stein Innovation Award. Meredith S. Gregory-Ksander, PhD, Associate Scientist at Schepens Eye Research Institute of Mass. Eye and Ear and Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School, has been awarded the International Research Collaborators Award.

Eric A. Pierce, MD, PhD, Awarded RPB Stein Innovation Award

One of 29 researchers to receive the RPB Stein Innovation Award since its establishment in 2014, Dr. Pierce will be awarded up to $300,000 towards research to better understand the visual system and diseases that compromise its function. The award will be distributed over the course of three years. As a clinician-scientist, Dr. Pierce is focused on understanding the molecular basis of inherited retinal degenerations and related cilia disorders. Currently, he is working to develop gene therapy for retinal degeneration. His scientific efforts have helped lead to more effective ways to address inherited retinal diseases using genetic sequencing and gene therapy methods. In 2018, Dr. Pierce’s clinical research team was responsible for performing the first post-FDA approval gene therapy for patients with a form of inherited blindness.

“Dr. Pierce’s translational research in identifying  genes causing inherited retinal diseases and testing novel treatments has already advanced the field, and this award will help continue their efforts to reach their goal of providing better treatments for blinding retinal disorders,” said Joan W. Miller, MD, Chief of Ophthalmology at Mass. Eye and Ear and Massachusetts General Hospital, and the David Glendenning Cogan Professor and Chair of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School. 

Meredith Gregory-Ksander, PhD, Receives RPB International Research Collaborators Award

Dr. Meredith Gregory-Ksander will receive up to $75,000 to facilitate collaborative research with an international colleague, Victoria McGilligan, PhD, of Ulster University in Northern Ireland, as part of the RPB award. With the hope of expediting treatment development for blinding disorders, the award will allow collaborating researchers to spend time in each other’s labs where they gain new knowledge and skills. Dr. Gregory-Ksander’s current research laboratory focuses on the role of inflammation and age-related changes that relate to major eye diseases like glaucoma and the world’s leading cause of blindness, age-related macular degeneration. Her team’s work has found that in glaucoma with age, regulations on inflammation have been disrupted, and inflammation in the eye becomes destructive.

“Dr. Gregory-Ksander’s commitment to understanding the role of immune function in neurodegenerative disorders of the eye and her international collaborations will benefit greatly from this award,” said Dr. Miller.

About Research to Prevent Blindness

RPB is the world’s leading voluntary organization supporting eye research. Since it was founded in 1960, RPB has channeled hundreds of millions of dollars to medical institutions for research into the causes, treatment and prevention of blinding eye diseases. For more information on RPB, RPB-funded research, eye disorders and the RPB Grants Program, go to rpbusa.org.

About Massachusetts Eye and Ear

Massachusetts Eye and Ear, founded in 1824, is an international center for treatment and research and a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. Specializing in ophthalmology (eye care) and otolaryngology-head and neck surgery (ear, nose and throat care), Mass. Eye and Ear clinicians provide care ranging from the routine to the very complex. Also home to the world's largest community of hearing and vision researchers, Mass. Eye and Ear has pioneered new treatments for blindness, deafness and diseases of the head and neck. Our scientists are driven by a mission to discover the basic biology underlying these conditions and to develop new treatments and cures. For more information about life-changing care and research at Mass. Eye and Ear, please visit our blog, Focus, and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

About the Harvard Medical School Department of Ophthalmology

The Harvard Medical School Department of Ophthalmology is one of the leading and largest academic departments of ophthalmology in the nation. More than 400 full-time faculty and trainees work at eight Harvard Ophthalmology affiliate institutions, including Massachusetts Eye and Ear (home to Schepens Eye Research Institute), Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston Children’s Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Joslin Diabetes Center/Beetham Eye Institute, Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System, and Cambridge Health Alliance. Formally established in 1871, the department has been built upon a strong and rich foundation in medical education, research, and clinical care. Through the years, faculty and alumni have profoundly influenced ophthalmic science, medicine, and literature—helping to transform the field of ophthalmology from a branch of surgery into an independent medical specialty at the forefront of science.