NYAM Awards $50,000 Lewis Rudin Glaucoma Prize to Innovator in Optic Nerve Head Glaucoma Research

NEW YORK CITY- Dec. 18, The New York Academy of Medicine has awarded the 2008 Lewis Rudin Glaucoma Prize to Claude Burgoyne, MD, a glaucoma clinician and surgeon, and Van Buskirk Chair for Ophthalmic Research and Director of the Optic Nerve Head Research Laboratory at the Devers Eye Institute in Portland, Oregon, for his contributions to the ongoing effort by clinicians and biomedical engineers to build a clinical science capable of predicting how an individual human optic nerve head will respond to a given level of intraocular pressure.

For the past 10 years Dr Burgoyne’s laboratory has been NIH funded to study the effects of aging and glaucoma on the load-bearing connective tissues of the optic nerve head within 3D histormophometric reconstructions. In 2005 his laboratory won the 2004 AIGS (Association of International Glaucoma Societies) award for their article describing these techniques and their findings in early experimental glaucoma.

The $50,000 award from NYAM recognizes the most significant scholarly article on glaucoma published in a peer-reviewed journal in the prior calendar year. Recipients are nominated by their peers, and a winner is chosen by the NYAM’s Lewis Rudin Prize Selection Committee and approved by the NYAM Board of Trustees. David H. Abramson, MD, Chair of the Lewis Rudin Selection committee has emphasized that the Prize was established by Lewis and Jack Rudin, New York builders and philanthropists who recognized the importance of rewarding superior research in glaucoma. Since its inception the committee has recognized the outstanding contributions of physicians and scientists working on the challenges of glaucoma and become a highly respected and acknowledged award.

This year’s award winning article, "3D Histomorphometry of the Normal and Early Glaucomatous Monkey Optic Nerve Head: Prelaminar Neural Tissues and Cupping," appeared in the December 2007 issue of Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science. Dr. Burgoyne was the senior author of the study. Hongli Yang and Crawford Downs were principal authors and Anthony Bellezza and Hilary Thompson were co-authors. This was the third article in a series of papers utilizing the 3d reconstruction technique to which each co-author had made essential contributions.

The principle findings of this report suggest that the neural and connective tissues of the optic nerve head are swollen rather than thinned early in the optic neuropathy of experimental glaucoma. These findings may influence how the optic nerve head of patients with ocular hypertension and early glaucoma are clinically imaged.

Dr. Burgoyne is currently a co-investigator on NIH funded collaborations to expand this work to the young and old human eye and to implement IOP telemetry within the experimental glaucoma model. Building upon their 3D histomorphometric capabilities, his laboratory is now using Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography (SD OCT) of the deep tissues of the optic nerve head to visualize and quantify clinically-acquired 3D OCT optic nerve head reconstructions.

"This award honors the dedicated work of a collaborative group which includes Dr. Crawford Downs and the Ocular Biomechanics Laboratory, computer programmers, biostatisticians and clinician scientists. I am deeply grateful to all of them for their ongoing commitment to these studies and will use the 50,000 dollar prize money to advance all of our research endeavors," said Dr Burgoyne, upon hearing of the news of his recognition.

Dr Burgoyne is also a Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology within the Oregon Health and Sciences University. After an undergraduate Bachelor of Arts degree in Architecture and Medical School at the University of Minnesota, he pursued Ophthalmology residency training at the University of Pittsburgh and Glaucoma Fellowship training at the Wilmer Eye Institute at the Johns Hopkins Hospitals in Baltimore, MD. For twelve years he was Director of Glaucoma Services at the LSU Eye Center in New Orleans before moving to Devers Eye Institute in 2005.

The Lewis Rudin Glaucoma Prize of The New York Academy of Medicine was established in 1995 in honor of Lewis Rudin, the late New York City real estate developer and founder of the Association for a Better New York. The prize is funded by the May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, Inc., with additional support from Jack Rudin, Chairman of the Rudin Management Company. The Rudin Family has a long tradition of service and philanthropy in New York City.

Posted on December 18, 2008

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Andrew J. Martin
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