Elizabeth Rossin – 2024 Glaser Award recipient
The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) Foundation congratulates Elizabeth Rossin, MD, PhD — 2024 recipient of the Bert M. Glaser, MD Award for Innovative Research in Retina. The award recognizes an early-career investigator who has discovered a novel drug, technique, or the understanding of a mechanism of disease that impacts the understanding and/or treatment of a retinal disease or condition.
A vitreoretinal surgeon and assistant professor at Massachusetts Eye and Ear (Boston, Mass.), and a member of the Wiggs lab of the Ocular Genomics Insititue,Rossin and her lab conduct genome-wide studies to understand genetic variation that contributes to central serous chorioretinopathy (CSR), a disease of the choroid that effects roughly one in 1,000 people. “Central serous chorioretinopathy is a poorly understood disease that onsets at age 40 and causes life-long loss of vision,” explains Rossin. “Treatment options are limited, in part because we do not understand the disease.”
Recipients of the Bert M. Glaser, MD Award must demonstrate their work has led to a development that will revolutionize retina care. “We are collecting thousands of patients with CSR and looking at their genetics to understand underlying pathways that contribute to this disease,” says Rossin. “In doing so, we may be able to design new therapeutics.” Rossin’s lab is working also on algorithms to understand the effect of coding variation on protein structure, particularly in the context of inherited retinal disease.