Dr. Eric Pierce
Eric Pierce, MD PhD received the Proctor Medal at the 2023 ARVO meeting in New Orleans. Established in 1949 as a memorial to Dr. Francis I. Proctor, an ophthalmologist who conducted extensive research on the etiology and treatment of trachoma, this award honors outstanding research in the basic or clinical sciences as applied to ophthalmology. This was the first ophthalmology-related award to honor non-clinicians in the field.His lecture highlighted many of the potentially life changing projects underway in the Ocular Genomics Insitute.
eric_pierce@meei.harvard.edu
Program Manager
Carol Weigel DiFranco, graduated from Regis College with a BA in Psychology and Tufts University with a MA in Child Study/Developmental Psychology with an emphasis on research, has worked with clinicians and researchers diagnosing and studying patients with Inherited Retinal Disorders since 1986. She served as the data manager of the Berman Gund , where she participated with Dr. Eliot Berson and colleagues in the design and execution of 3 clinical trials of nutritional supplements for patients with Retinitis Pigmentosa and several natural history studies for patients with Retinitis Pigmentosa and allied diseases. She also worked with patients and staff as the Manager of the Inherited Retinal Disorders Service . Currently she works with researchers in the Pierce Lab, OGI and Berman Gund Lab doing data management and facilitating the conduct of several clinical trials .She also provides administrative support to researchers in these labs.
Contact Information:
Carol_Weigel@meei.harvard.edu
Researcher
Dr. Rossin is a vitreoretinal surgeon and scientist in Mass Eye and Ear’s Retina Service. She is an Alumni of Harvard Medical School, where she also did her residency and fellowship. In addition to treating medical and surgical patients, she has received the K12 Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Program Award from the National Institutes of Health. Lizzy’s research focuses on disease genetics and methods to interpret the functional impact of mutations. She is currently working on a number of projects including:
– Application of network theory to analysis of protein structure in viral proteins to design mutation-resistant vaccines
– Network analysis of proteins linked to inherited retinal diseases to understand and discover causal variants
– RNA sequencing of patient-derived inflammatory retinal membranes that lead to retinal detachment (collaborator)
