The University of Pittsburgh today announced a collaboration with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health to help address the needs of the visually impaired through the expertise, facilities and research of the world-class School of Medicine’s Department of Ophthalmology. Under the agreement, Pitt and the FDA will work together for the next five years on scientific collaborations, educational initiatives and outreach activities designed to address the epidemic of vision loss. As the world’s population continues to grow and age, the number of individuals with visual impairments is expected to triple by the year 2050. “It’s

A belief held by Dr. José-Alain Sahel, University of Pittsburgh Department of Ophthalmology Chairman, is that, to best help a patient as a whole being, and not just consider the condition which limits their sight, we need to radically reconceptualize the way we deliver care. How We Reconceptualize Care It starts, we believe, by listening. According to Dr. Sahel, “we work hand in hand with an individual to understand what their life with vision loss is like; we formulate a multifaceted plan to turn their struggles into opportunities. Our experience with this model tells us that we need experts from

Living up to their motto of “travel light and save sight,” Dr. Evan Waxman, along with ophthalmology residents and medical school students, take their “mobile eye clinic” to underserved communities around Pittsburgh three times a month. Vision loss is debilitating condition that affects millions of people around the world. Exasperating this problem is the fact that in many communities, vision care often takes a backseat to other necessities and responsibilities. While many eye diseases cannot be cured, in some patients, vision loss can be saved if the condition is diagnosed and treated early enough. Fortunately, physicians, residents, and students from