Encyclopedia of the Eye

Senior Scientist, The Harold F. Johnson Research Scholar, and Senior Scientist, Schepens Eye Research Institute; Associate Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. At the Schepens Eye Research Institute Dr. Dartt served as the Acting Director of Research and the Director of Scientific Affairs for ten years. She received her AB degree from Barnard College (Columbia University) in New York City and her PhD from the Department of Physiology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. After post-doctoral fellowships at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, Dr. Dartt joined the Schepens Eye Research Institute in 1985. Her primary research interest is the neural regulation of tear production. Her research focuses on the signaling pathways used by nerves and growth factors in the lacrimal gland and conjunctival goblet cells to induce secretion and proliferation and how dysregulation of these pathways can lead to dry eye syndromes in mouse models and humans, particularly after refractive surgery. She has been continuously funded by NIH since 1980 for this work. Dr. Dartt directs the Institute's Department of Defense Research Program and chaired four Military Vision Research Symposia. She served on and chaired the ARVO Cornea Program Planning Committee and served on the Members in Training Committee. She was a founding member, a member of the organizing committee, and more recently Treasurer for the Tear Film and Ocular Surface Society. She has been on the organizing committee for the three Biennial Cornea Conferences in Boston, MA. She served as Vice-President for North America for the International Society for Eye Research and a Councilor for the International Society for Contact Lens Wear. She is on the Editorial Board for Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Experimental Eye Research, and The Ocular Surface. She served on the Review Panel for Fight For Sight and has been an Ad Hoc member of numerous NEI and NIAMS study sections. She received the Lew R. Wasserman Merit Award by Research to Prevent Blindness and is a Gold Fellow of ARVO. Dr. Besharse is currently The Marvin Wagner Professor and Chair of the Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He received his BA degree from Hendrix College (Conway, Arkansas) and MA and PhD degrees from Southern Illinois University. After a brief period on the faculty at Old Dominion University in Virginia, he moved to Columbia University as a post-doctoral fellow in retinal research. He was appointed to the faculty of Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy at Emory University School of Medicine in 1977, becoming full professor in 1984. He assumed the position of Professor and Chair of Anatomy and Cell Biology at the University Kansas School of Medicine (Kansas City) in 1989 and moved on to his present position at Medical College of Wisconsin in 1997. Dr. Besharse's research has focused on membrane turnover, circadian clocks, and microtubule-based transport in photoreceptors with special attention to fundamental pathways that are disrupted in photoreceptor degenerative diseases. His research has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1978. In addition to his roles as Department Chair and a principal investigator, he directs an NIH funded training program in Vision Science. Dr. Besharse is a past member of the editorial boards of Investigative Ophthalmology and Vision Science and Vision Neuroscience and served as the Retina Section Editor of Experimental Eye Research. He has served as a Trustee of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, and has served two full terms as a member of two different NIH study sections. Among his awards are the Alcon Research Award for outstanding research in Vision Science (1993), the Alumni Achievement Award from Southern Illinois University (1998) and the Distinguished Service Award from the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (2005). He is a Gold Fellow of ARVO. In addition to his role as Senior Scientist and Co-Director at the Schepens Eye Research Institute, Dr. Reza Dana holds the Claes H. Dohlman Chair in Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School. He is Director of the Cornea & Refractive Surgery Service at the Massachusetts Eye & Ear, and serves as the Vice Chairman of the Harvard Department of Ophthalmology and Associate Chief of Ophthalmology for Academic Programs at Massachusetts Eye and Ear. After graduating Summa Cum Laude from St. Paul's School in New Hampshire, he completed his bachelor's (Phi Beta Kappa), graduate, and medical education at Johns Hopkins University. He performed his residency in Ophthalmology at the Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary in Chicago, followed by a clinical fellowship in Cornea and External Diseases at the Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia. Reza then completed additional fellowship training in Immunology and Uveitis at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, and in Ocular and Transplantation Immunology at the Schepens Eye Research Institute. Dr. Dana also holds a Master of Science degree in Management from Harvard University. Reza has been a member of the full-time Harvard faculty since 1995. As a clinician-scientist, he has a particular interest in the molecular and cellular mechanisms of inflammation as they pertain to the ocular surface and anterior segment pathologies, including dry eye, allergy, wound healing responses, and transplant rejection. Dr. Reh is Professor of Biological Structure and Director of the Neurobiology and Behavior Program at the University of Washington. He is currently a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Foundation Fighting Blindness, and of a start-up biotechnology company, Acucela. He has received several awards for his work, including the AHFMR and Sloan Scholar awards and has published over 100 journal articles, reviews and books. Funded by numerous N.I.H. and private foundation grants, his lab is focused on the development and repair of the retina, with an overall goal of understanding the cellular and molecular biology of regeneration in the eye. Dr. D'Amore earned her PhD in Biology from Boston University, was a postdoctoral fellow in Biological Chemistry and Ophthalmology at Johns Hopkins Medical School, then moved to Boston Children's Hospital as Assistant Professor where she remains Research Associate in Surgery. In 1998, she became Charles L. Schepens Professor of Ophthalmology and Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School and a Senior Scientist at Mass. Eye and Ear. She is the Associate Chief of Basic and Translational Research for Ophthalmology at Mass. Eye and Ear and the Vice Chair of Basic and Translational Research for the Department of Ophthalmology.
Dr. D'Amore is an international expert in vascular growth and development and has been at the forefront of angiogenesis research for over three decades. She has published more than 170 peer-reviewed papers, 75 reviews, and edited or co-edited two books.