Fall/Winter 2006 - University of Rochester Medical Center
Fall/Winter 2006 - University of Rochester Medical Center
Fall/Winter 2006 - University of Rochester Medical Center
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B&L and <strong>University</strong> team<br />
Continued from page 32<br />
Department <strong>of</strong> Ophthalmology has shot up<br />
sevenfold since 2002, and the number <strong>of</strong><br />
scientists doing basic eye-related research<br />
has more than doubled.<br />
In one set <strong>of</strong> new projects to be funded<br />
by B&L, researchers at the <strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>Rochester</strong> Eye Institute will work toward a<br />
greater understanding <strong>of</strong> glaucoma, macular<br />
degeneration, and dry eye, and on testing<br />
new treatments for these conditions. The<br />
$6.3 million agreement will also help to fund<br />
a new faculty position, a technician, a resident<br />
position, and a support staff position.<br />
A second agreement will provide<br />
approximately $1 million a year to researchers<br />
at CVS and the Eye Institute who are working<br />
on a variety <strong>of</strong> projects related to eye health.<br />
Efforts include studying how glaucoma actually<br />
kills nerve cells and damages vision;<br />
looking at the earliest changes in patients<br />
with diabetic retinopathy; treating presbyopia,<br />
where the lens <strong>of</strong> the eye becomes less flexible<br />
with age, resulting in the need for<br />
reading glasses; and developing new tools<br />
to diagnose and monitor dry eye.<br />
New MS <strong>Center</strong><br />
Continued from page 33<br />
Segal is part <strong>of</strong> a team <strong>of</strong> physicians<br />
and nurses at the <strong>Medical</strong> <strong>Center</strong> who staff<br />
one <strong>of</strong> the world’s leading MS clinics. About<br />
2,500 MS patients from western New York<br />
and beyond receive their care at the <strong>Medical</strong><br />
<strong>Center</strong>. In addition, Segal is one <strong>of</strong> the nation’s<br />
leading researchers on the chain reaction <strong>of</strong><br />
biochemical steps that happen inside the body<br />
<strong>of</strong> a person who has MS. He has shed light on<br />
the role <strong>of</strong> proteins that stimulate and recruit<br />
destructive white blood cells to the central<br />
nervous system during MS. Currently, he is<br />
taking part in an international study testing an<br />
experimental drug that inhibits such proteins in<br />
an attempt to suppress the debilitating attacks<br />
that most patients with MS experience.<br />
Zlokovic honored<br />
Continued from page 36<br />
in mice, those animals were completely fine<br />
and did not develop an Alzheimer’s-like<br />
illness as did their RAGE-filled counterparts.<br />
Partly as a result <strong>of</strong> Zlokovic’s work, drugs<br />
that target RAGE are being tested in people<br />
in a completely new effort to prevent or slow<br />
the progression <strong>of</strong> Alzheimer’s. Such drugs<br />
would complement other current medications –<br />
all tested at the <strong>University</strong> – that doctors use<br />
to treat patients with the disease.<br />
This is the first year <strong>of</strong> the ISOA/Elan<br />
award program. ISOA is a biomedical venture<br />
philanthropy founded by the Estee Lauder<br />
family to accelerate the discovery and development<br />
<strong>of</strong> new drugs to prevent, treat and cure<br />
Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.<br />
Elan Pharmaceuticals, Inc., is a neurosciencebased<br />
biotechnology company. The award<br />
includes $130,000 toward Zlokovic’s research<br />
program.<br />
Scholarship Initiative<br />
Continued from page 43<br />
Kumasaka has three sons. He never took<br />
them to the hospital or urged them to become<br />
doctors, he said. But two not only chose to<br />
become doctors, they also graduated from<br />
<strong>Rochester</strong>’s School <strong>of</strong> Medicine.<br />
“It was out <strong>of</strong> the blue, but I was happy<br />
they chose <strong>Rochester</strong>,” he said.<br />
David Kumasaka, M.D. (M ’91), an anesthesiologist,<br />
lives in Flagstaff, Ariz. Peter Kumasaka,<br />
M.D. (M ’92), an emergency medicine physician,<br />
is in St. Paul, Minn. Glen Kumasaka’s oldest<br />
son, Thomas Kumasaka, now a financial<br />
administrator at Harvard, also has a <strong>University</strong><br />
connection; he graduated from the River<br />
Campus in 1984. Kumasaka hopes his sons<br />
eventually contribute to increase the impact<br />
<strong>of</strong> the scholarship.<br />
“The cost to medical students today is<br />
terrible. Money is so important,” he said.<br />
FALL / WINTER <strong>2006</strong> 69