A vision for the future

For the second year in a row, a retreat was held to highlight work done by researchers from Oakland University and Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine — with an eye on the future.

The OUWB Eye Research Center (ERC) in partnership with the OU Eye Research Institute (ERI) hosted the event on Sept. 21, 2024.

It featured presentations from several OU and OUWB officials as well as a keynote from Akrit Sodhi, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor, Ophthalmology, Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University.

Mohamed Al-Shabrawey, M.D., founding director, ERC, said about 60 people attended and that he had several goals for the event.  

“I wanted to showcase our accomplishments, talk about where we want to be, address some of our challenges, and send a message that we are open to collaboration,” he said.

OU’s ERI was founded in 1968 by V. Everett Kinsey, M.D., and Venkat N. Reddy, M.D. It began as a 10,000-square-foot facility funded by a National Institutes of Health Construction Grant.

The ERI has had many successes since including being recognized as a center of excellence in vision research in 1984 with receipt of a Core Vision grant from the National Eye Institute.

The ERC was founded in 2021 to further support the mission of the ERI and provide additional resources to promote translational research and expand vision research at Oakland University. It’s also when Al-Shabrawey was named founding director.

“The goal of the new ERC and ERI is to conduct state-of-the-art research in vision sciences and ophthalmology to enhance the understanding of fundamental process in ocular tissue that lead to eye diseases,” according to a director’s message from Al-Shabrawey on the ERC website.

A retreat provides for better understanding of the work being done and/or planned to support that mission.

Oakland University President Ora Hirsch Pescovitz, M.D., talks with Mohamed Al-Shabrawey, M.D, founding director, ERC, and Akrit Sodhi, M.D., Ph.D., of Johns Hopkins University.

Attendees were welcomed by Al-Shabrawey and Amany Tawfik, M.D, chair of the retreat committee. Highlights from the year included the hiring of Michael Risner, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Foundational Medical Studies; there are now six active eye research labs; being awarded six grants worth a total of $3.5 million; and students and faculty attended and presented at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) conference.

He also provided a road map to achieve and implement the ERC and ERI’s research and academic mission.

Several OU officials followed: Kevin Corcoran, Ph.D., executive vice president, Academic Affairs; David Stone, Ph.D., vice president, Research; and Richard Kennedy, Ph.D., professor and associate dean, Research, OUWB.

“Retreats make it possible for faculty members and trainees to highlight and share information, as well as receive constructive input from colleagues and other stakeholders, about ongoing and future projects,” said Kennedy after the event.  

“In many cases, individuals who attend the retreats are geographically separated; however, even those investigators who are in close proximity often do not know details regarding the work that is going on next door,” he added. “This sharing of information often results in collaborations and partnerships that increase the breadth and depth of ongoing and future research.”

Sodhi presented “Transient Hypoglycemia Promotes Breakdown of the Inner Blood-Retinal Barrier and Vascular Leakage in the Diabetic Retina.”

Oral presentations then came from Andrew Goldberg, Ph.D., professor, Biomedical Sciences, OU; Sonali Sharma, a Ph.D. student in Al-Shabrawey’s lab; Hossameldin Abouhish, M.D., Ph.D., a postdoc from Tawfik’s lab; Risner; Vincent Le, M4; and Heather Durfee, a Ph.D. student from the lab of Dao-Qu Zhang, Ph.D., associate professor, Biomedical Sciences. Attendees also had the opportunity to view poster presentations during breaks and lunch.  

Al-Shabrawey said that he’s proud of all the work that was featured, especially the research done by students.

“I always tell my students and trainees that there are two people I want to see do better than me, my own kids and my students,” he said. “Our duty as academicians is not for us to succeed, but to pass the knowledge to the next generation and make sure they do better than us.”

“I’m so proud of them,” he added.

As for the next version of the retreat, Al-Shabrawey said he’s already thinking about it.

“We received great feedback and are ready to improve more and more,” he said.