Hans Grossniklaus, director of the L.F. Montgomery Eye Pathology
Laboratory at the Emory Eye Center (EEC), has received a University
Teaching Fund (UTF) grant for his Internet-Based Eye Pathology
teaching initiative, a combination of Internet-based learning and
hands-on experience by students via a rotation within the EEC pathology
laboratory.
Co-investigator of the grant and co-creator of the initiative is
Grossniklaus wife, Daurice, and the two presented preliminary
findings at the American Association of Ophthalmic Pathologists
in New Orleans in November.
The UTF grant will help teach eye pathology to Emory residents,
as well as residents in other ophthalmology programs that dont
have access to a local eye pathologist, Grossniklaus said. During
this inaugural year of the initiative, residents from the University
of Tennessee at Chattanooga and at the Medical College of Georgia
will benefit from Emorys grant.
The tutorial Hans and Daurice Grossniklaus have created will provide
a sequential, hierarchical scheme for developing a framework to
learn eye pathology, an integral part of medical student and resident
education. After developing the infrastructure this year, Hans Grossniklaus
will then be able to continue the program at nominal costs to future
participating programs. The model he develops will serve as a template
for other subspecialties within the Eye Center.
We are currently utilizing digital technology and molecular
biology and applying these technologies to pathology teaching and
basic science research, Grossniklaus said.
Since 1989, Grossniklaus has been director of the Eye Centers
pathology laboratory, which is a referral laboratory for the entire
Southeast. He and his staff evaluate all pathology cases submitted
to the Eye Center by ophthalmologists across the region, handling
more than 2,000 such cases each year.
Unfortunately, Grossniklaus said, eye pathology laboratories nationwide
are strugglingand even closingdue to the financial hardships
imposed by managed care. Currently there are approximately six full-time
ophthalmic pathology labs capable of collecting a significant number
of cases for teaching and research.
The field is at a crossroads, Grossniklaus said, and
this new initiative should help take eye pathology to a higher level.
Grossniklaus UTF grant runs from November 2001 through October
2002. He now has the distinction of concurrently holding three grants:
two National Institutes of Health grants (an RO1 award for basic
science research and a U10 award for clinical trials) and the UTF
award. Additionally, Grossniklaus is the director of the structural/biology
module of the departmental core grant.
We are extremely pleased that the University has recognized
Hans Grossniklaus stellar talents and his creative initiative
that will serve as the model for countless medical students and
practitioners, said Thomas Aaberg, director of the Eye Center
and chair of ophthalmology. This Internet-based tool will
take the eye pathology teaching program at Emory to the next level
of excellence.
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