         
|
|
|
|
1st appeared 30 August 1999 Proctor Foundation Dedicates Lab to Longtime Supporters The Francis I. Proctor Foundation last Tuesday celebrated the dedication and opening of the Pearl and Samuel J. Kimura Ocular Immunology Laboratory, the first lab at UCSF that focuses entirely on ocular immunology.
Cunningham’s current laboratory investigations use both in vivo and in vitro techniques with the ultimate goal of developing safer and more effective therapies for patients suffering from inflammatory disorders of the eye. "This lab will bring to bear the most modern molecular techniques to address important causes of blindness in patients with uveitis," said Cunningham, director of the Uveitis Service. Uveitis affects about one in 10,000 people and is the third leading cause of blindness in the developed world. The lab is named to honor Pearl and the late Samuel J. Kimura, a pioneer of the ophthalmology department who helped establish UCSF as a premier center for the treatment and study of ocular inflammatory and infectious diseases. He worked at UCSF and the Proctor Foundation for some 25 years, teaching and publishing more than 70 peer-reviewed articles in ocular immunology and uveitis, including important work on herpetic eye disease and various forms of endogenous uveitis. When longtime Proctor ophthalmologist John Whitcher was a resident at UCSF in 1969, Kimura was one of two full-time faculty, and served as vice chair of the fledgling department. "Dr. Kimura was an excellent observer," he recalls. "He was a clinician’s clinician, one of those people whose wealth of experience enabled him to make a diagnosis for thousands and thousands of patients. He taught me to pay attention to details, not to take anything at face value, to dig a little deeper and to ask the unusual questions." Kimura was also a real humanitarian, concerned about the welfare of the world -- for social, political and medical reasons, said Whitcher, former director of the Proctor Foundation. Pearl Kimura, who attended Tuesday’s dedication ceremony, is honored for her longtime support of eye-related research at UCSF. She has been directly involved in fundraising for UCSF, the ophthalmology department and the Proctor Foundation, contributing both time and money. She also established a chair in her husband’s name. The lab, located at ground level of the Proctor Foundation headquarters at Fifth and Kirkham Streets, was entirely renovated by Blake Drucker Architects to house state-of-the-art facilities for histology, molecular biology, microsurgery, tissue culture, microscopy and image analysis, and a study room for students and post-doctoral fellows. The renovation represents the first complete overhaul at the Proctor Foundation since it was founded 51 years ago. Cunningham earned his BA in human biology, MD in medicine, and MPH in epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. He earned his PhD in neurosciences at UC San Diego. The Proctor Foundation, the largest center in North America dedicated solely to the treatment of ocular infections and inflammatory diseases, has active research programs in cataract, herpetic and chlamydial infections of the eye, the causes and treatment of AIDS-related eye disease, and the treatment and natural history of uveitis. The Foundation has trained more than 200 fellows worldwide. Todd Margolis, professor of ophthalmology, was appointed director of the Proctor Foundation in February. Links: UCSF department of ophthalmology Related Daybreak stories: Math Model Shows How to Eradicate Infection That Causes Blindness |
||
|
DAYBREAK | ARCHIVES | CALENDAR
| CAMPUS NOTES Copyright ©1999 Regents
of the University of California. All rights reserved. |
||
The
lab will become the research hub for ophthalmologist Emmett Cunningham,
an assistant professor in the UCSF School of Medicine’s department of
ophthalmology, and a team of postdocs and research associates yet to
be recruited.