ESFA GRANTS FY 2003-2004
PATIENT CARE:Indigent Care/Community Outreach
Sight Savers of Alabama—Children’s Eye Care Network—$70,000 (1 year):This grant supports continued expansion of vision screening follow-up activities, which include eye exams, glasses, etc. provided through the Sight Savers network of vision providers who donate their services. It also continues the placement of CCTVs and other low vision devices in the homes of visually impaired children in indigent/low-income families.
Cahaba Valley Health Care—$20,000 (1 year):This grant will help with salary support for the staff of Cahaba Valley Health Care and with their vision screening and referral activities for the underserved in Jefferson and Shelby Counties, primarily in the Hispanic community.
Covering Alabama Kids and Families—Vision Care Partnerships & Children’s Health Coverage—$10,000 (1 year):Covering Alabama Kids and Families plans to develop outreach program with community-based optometrists, ophthalmologists, Lions Clubs and vision care centers to ensure eligible, uninsured children are enrolled and retained in one of Alabama’s health care coverage programs: Medicaid, ALL Kids and the Caring Program for Children.*
Alabama Lions Sight Conservation Association—Glaucoma Medicine—$20,000(1 year):ALSCA provides medications prescribed to their indigent patients free of charge at a discounted cost to ALSCA. The largest portion of these costs (about 80%) is for glaucoma patients, and both the number and cost are increasing. This grant helps offset this burden so that patients can continue to receive their medications.
Bell Center for Early Intervention—Low Vision Program—$10,000: This grant provides funding for appropriate lighted switch-activated toys and computer software for children from birth to 3 who are at risk for developmental delay, thereby maximizing the limited vision they have.
Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind—Talladega Regional Center—$70,000(1 year):This grant will help support the salaries and fringe benefits for staff at the recently re-established AIDB Talladega Regional Center. Located in one of the highest concentrated areas of deaf and blind individuals in the state, this center will serve an estimated 2,000-3,000 people each year in Calhoun, Clay, Coosa, Etowah, Randolph, St. Clair and Talladega counties.
Callahan Eye Foundation Hospital Indigent Care Program—$480,000 (1 year):This grant supports the ongoing indigent and low income patient care provided by CEFH to qualified patients.
Preschool Peepers—UAB School of Optometry—$40,000 (1 year):This grant will support Preschool Peepers’ goal of reducing the prevalence of untreated eye and vision problems in preschool children living in the service area of CEFH. This program is based on a multi-level approach including vision screening, parent education about eye problems, treatment, and their importance, as well as technical assistance to pediatricians and other primary care providers.
LOW VISION
Low Vision Symposium—UAB Center for Low Vision Rehabilitation—$40,000 (1 year):This grant will establish an annual multi-disciplinary symposium to provide educational opportunities for professionals providing clinical services through low vision rehabilitation programs combining occupational therapy and ophthalmology and optometry to ensure continuing competency, thereby improving the quality of care to low vision patients.
UAB Center for Low Vision Rehabilitation—Continuing Support—$60,000 (1 year):The UAB CLVR has made significant progress toward being self-sufficient in its first year; however, much of the operating expenses were covered by grant support which has now been exhausted. This grant provides continued support in such areas as education and outreach. The center ultimately will be self-supporting by generating clinical revenues and indirect costs through research grants.
GENERAL SUPPORT
General Education and Research Funding—UAB Department of Ophthalmology—$800,000 (1 year):This grant will support the education and research activities of the Department of Ophthalmology.
Creating a Retina Service—UAB Department of Ophthalmology—$300,000 (3 years--$120,000, $100,000, $80,000):This grant supports the first step in the creation of a full-time clinical service staffed by academic physicians specializing in retinal disease in the Department of Ophthalmology. It will provide salary support to an outstanding retina physician with clinical and research skills to establish the service, helping provide 50% “protected time” to devote exclusively to research, joining the ongoing retinal bench research in the department with the treatment of actual patients.
Pediatric Clinical Research Renovation—UAB School of Optometry—$120,000 (2 years: $60,000, $60,000):Part of the school’s $5 million renovation of its 30,000 square foot teaching clinic is the research area within the pediatric research module. Several NEI funded pediatric clinical trials, as well as the national Amblyopia Treatment Studies take place within this space. This grant will provide adequate and updated facilities, including two full lanes, research and dispensing area, staff space, and a dedicated room for one of the NEI studies, for a total of 779 square feet.
EYE RESEARCH
The Impact of a Community-Based Eye Health Education Program for Older African Americans Living in Alabama—$50,000 (1 year):This planning grant will provide a year for the investigator to develop a sustainable eye health education program designed to overcome barriers that older African Americans face in getting eye care. Eye problems such as glaucoma, cataract, and diabetic retinopathy are more common in older adult African Americans. If routine comprehensive eye exams could become part of the lifestyle of these individuals, the impact on their lives and health of the public at large would be enormous. (Kay M. Scilley, PhD, UAB Ophthalmology)
Central Projections of Primate Photoreceptive Retinal Ganglion Cells—$141,920 (over 2 years):The study of circadian cycles has been at the center of much attention recently. The discovery of melanopsin containing photoreceptive cells that play a role in this cycle has been speculated. While first observed in rats, this investigator and colleagues believe they have identified similar cells in monkeys. The aim of this study is to develop a vector that would enable these cells to be observed using microscopic techniques. The results will be highly relevant to understanding control of circadian rhythms and eye movements in human patients. (Paul D. R. Gamlin, PhD, UAB Physiological Optics)
Development of the Mouse Retina—$150,000 (over 3 years):The investigator proposes a hypothesis that a disruption in circadian processes plays a role in cone death in retinitis pigmentosa. This project will likely provide new information on circadian rhythms in the rd mouse that may lead to better understanding of other retinal diseases caused by rod-specific mutations. (Stuart C. Mangel, PhD, UAB Neurobiology)
Development of a Transgenic Animal Model to Test a Pharmacologic Treatment for Retinitis Pigmentosa—$140,939 (over 3 years):Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and related hereditary retinal diseases result in night blindness and can ultimately lead to complete blindness. Currently there is no treatment for these disorders. This study aims to develop an animal model of RP to test a specific drug treatment that targets the actual molecular defect and corrects it to generate a normal protein product to restore vision. Results could provide the first oral drug treatment for a subset of RP disorders. (Steven J. Pittler, PhD, UAB Physiological Optics)
*This grant is pending due to anticipated cuts in state funding to the AllKids program.
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