I wish to welcome you to the website of the Department of Ophthalmology of Case Western Reserve University and its primary affiliate, University Hospitals of Cleveland.  This website represents a summary of our three-part mission of excellence in patient care, teaching and research.

Patient Care

The Department, in collaboration with community ophthalmologists and optometrists, provides comprehensive eye care services at convenient sites throughout Northern Ohio from vision exams, contact lenses, and refractive surgery to specialized medical and surgical services in cornea/external diseases, glaucoma, low vision, neuro-ophthalmology, ocular oncology, ophthalmic pathology, ophthalmic plastics and reconstructive surgery, pediatric ophthalmology and adult strabismus, and retina-vitreous disorders. These services are provided by twenty-two full-time clinical faculty, including: 1) University Ophthalmologists, Inc., the practice arm of University Hospitals of Cleveland, the primary affiliate hospital of Case Western Reserve University, and 2) full-time faculty at other CASE affiliated medical centers, MetroHealth Medical Center and the Cleveland Louis Stokes Veterans Administration Medical Center. Services are also provided by over 60 clinical faculty in the area. Finally, University Hospitals Health System has partnered with Union Eye Care to provide cost effective optical, contact lens and optometric services at six locations throughout Northeast Ohio.

Resident Teaching

The Department's ophthalmology residency program is one of the largest in the country with six positions per year with rotations at four CASE affiliated hospitals, University Hospitals of Cleveland, the primary affiliate of CASE and home institution of the residency program, the Cleveland Louis Stokes Veterans Administration Medical Center, MetroHealth Medical Center, the Cuyahoga County-supported medical center and St. Vincent's Charity Hospital, a large community hospital in downtown Cleveland with satellite facilities throughout Cuyahoga county and its eye clinic affiliated with the Ohio Lions. Clinical training reflects a progressive increase in medical and surgical ophthalmic knowledge and skills over three years. The residents have the opportunity to directly participate in the management of a diverse and comprehensive subspecialty faculty practice while experiencing significant independent experience and general and specialty clinics at the four affiliated hospitals. Surgical experience is extensive in all areas including small incision cataract surgery, strabismus surgery, glaucoma and retina-vitreous, and ophthalmic plastics. There is also significant exposure to all types of refractive surgery, including LASIK. The faculty conducts its own year long didactic lecture series; in addition all residents attend the Wills Review Course and Academy. The program director for the residency training program is Jonathan H. Lass, M.D.

Medical Student Teaching

The Department's medical student teaching is organized around a series of required and elective offerings throughout the four year's of training. Requirements include the ocular examination in the second year physical diagnosis course and a three hour clinical ophthalmology lecture series offered three times a year to the second year students. Two elective lecture series on the biochemistry of vision and ocular disease are conducted for first and/or second year students and there are ample research electives available with faculty in the CASE/UHC Visual Sciences Research Center. One month clinical electives are available for third or fourth year students both at University Hospitals of Cleveland and MetroHealth Medical Center with exposure to all subspecialty areas of ophthalmology, ocular surgery, and participation in all didactic programs.  A one or two week elective is also available on the General Surgery rotation at University Hospitals.  The director of medical student education is Anna Singh, M.D.

Research

The major strengths of the basic science effort of investigators within the Department are in the areas of biochemistry, bioinformatics, cell biology, immunology, and molecular biology. These investigators currently receive support from the National Eye Institute (NEI) in the areas of: 1) the biochemical basis for cataract development and diabetic retinopathy; 2) immune defense mechanisms of the eye surface; 3) the immune mechanisms for onchocercal keratitis, a leading cause of blindness in the Third World, and 4)  extraocular muscle biology studies. Active clinical trials supported by NIH include the ACCORD study, Collaborative Longitudinal Evaluation of Keratoconus (CLEK) Trial,  the Corneal Donor Study (CDS), and numerous corporate clinical trials. The Department maintains two reading centers active in both corporate and NEI-funded trials: the Specular Microscopy Reading Center and the Retinal Diseases Image Reading Center (REDIARC). The excellence of research programs of the Department was recognized in 1997 by Research to Prevent Blindness, Inc. (RPB), the largest private foundation supporting eye research, by its designation for the first time as an RPB-supported department, providing an annual unrestricted award to the Department and Chairman.

Our investigators within the Department of Ophthalmology also are active within the CASE/University Hospitals of Cleveland Visual Sciences Research Center, established in 1996 and in part supported by a core grant from the National Eye Institute since 1997. This Center provides an interdisciplinary approach to vision research encompassing the departments of ophthalmology, anatomy, biomedical engineering, genetics, medicine, molecular biology, neurology, neuroscience, pathology, physiology and over 30 investigators on campus devoted to vision research. It supports six core facilities for these investigators and other interested investigators on campus including bioinformatics, cell analysis (histology, flow cytometry, and confocal microscopy), digital imaging, molecular biology, specialized animal resources and tissue culture. One of only 39 centers in the country, the CASE/UHC Center is the only such center in Ohio.  

On behalf of the CASE and University Hospitals of Cleveland Department of Ophthalmology, we welcome you to our website and look forward to hearing from you regarding all the activities of our Department.

Jonathan H. Lass, M.D.
Charles I Thomas Professor and Chairman
CASE Department of Ophthalmology
Director of Ophthalmology
University Hospitals of Cleveland
tel # 216-844-8590
fax # 216-983-0544
e-mail: jonathan.lass@case.edu