Daniel F. Martin, MD, Chairman of the Cole Eye Institute
Daniel F. Martin, MD, an established leader in the development of new therapies for retinal disease, has been appointed Chairman of the Cleveland Clinic Cole Eye Institute in December of 2008. He joins Cole Eye Institute from Emory University in Atlanta, where he served as the Thomas M. Aaberg Professor of Ophthalmology and Director of the Retina Service.
Dr. Martin completed medical school at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine followed by residency and chief residency in ophthalmology at Emory University School of Medicine. He completed a fellowship in Vitreoretinal Surgery and Diseases at Duke University Eye Center followed by a two-year fellowship in Uveitis and Ocular Immunology at the National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health.
Clinically, Dr. Martin’s specialty interests include both medical and surgical treatments of the retina. Dr Martin has extensive experience in the management of age related macular degeneration (AMD), diabetic retinopathy, macular pucker, macular hole, retinal detachment, and inflammatory and infectious diseases of the retina.
Dr. Martin’s has been involved in the design, development, and execution of many clinical trials having served as principal investigator for more than 25 studies including AREDS, SOCA, and numerous AMD and diabetes trials. In addition, he has served on numerous clinical trial committees including three Data and Safety Monitoring Boards and five Steering Committees. Finally, he has served as the study chairman for seven national randomized clinical trials. Dr Martin currently serves as the Study Chair for the Comparison of AMD Treatments Trials, an NIH sponsored study evaluating the comparative safety and efficacy of Lucentis and Avastin for the treatment of neovascular AMD. Dr Martin was extensively involved in the development of the ganciclovir implant and later valganciclovir for the treatment of CMV retinitis and led the clinical trials that resulted in FDA approval of both of these drugs. He has published more than 80 peer-reviewed articles and has delivered more than 170 invited lectures. Dr Martin has been the recipient of numerous awards including the 2004 Rosenthal Award conferred by the Macula Society for outstanding contributions to his field.
Joe G. Hollyfield, PhD, Director of Ophthalmic Research
Dr. Hollyfield has been Director of Ophthalmic Research at the Cole Eye Institute since 1996. The research staff he directs includes nearly 50 people whose primary focus is finding ways to prevent and treat retinal disease. The primary focus of his own research is on studying the organization of the interphotoreceptor matrix in which photoreceptor cells are imbedded. Novel molecules present in this matrix comprise excellent targets for involvement in degenerative retinal diseases, including age related macular degeneration. His work also involves the analysis of how proteins interact to form this matrix and the involvement of hyaluronan as the scaffold on which this matrix is organized.
A major new initiative in his laboratory is in the isolation and characterization of sub-types of drusen, the major risk factors for developing age-related macular degeneration.
Dr. Hollyfield is editor-in-chief of Experimental Eye Research and past president of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology and the International Society for Eye Research.
He received his doctorate in zoology from the University of Texas in 1966 and his masters in zoology from Louisiana State University in 1963. He received his bachelor's degree in biology from Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas, in 1960. Dr. Hollyfield completed special training at the Hubrecht Laboratory in Utrecht, The Netherlands. He was professor of ophthalmology and neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston before joining the Cole Eye Institute.
In addition to his work at the Cole Eye Institute, Dr. Hollyfield also serves as a visiting professor in the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Puerto Rico in San Juan and is a professor in the Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy at Ohio State University, Columbus.
He is on the scientific advisory board of several research foundations including The Foundation Fighting Blindness, Owens Mill, Maryland; Research to Prevent Blindness, New York, New York; The Helen Keller Eye Research Foundation, Birmingham, Alabama; Retina International, Zurich, Switzerland; and Retina Preservation Foundation, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Elias I. Traboulsi, MD, Director of the Residency Program
Dr. Elias I. Traboulsi directs the Residency Program at the Cole Eye Institute. He is also director of the Department of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Adult Strabismus. He joined the Cleveland Clinic in 1997 after being associate professor of ophthalmology and pediatrics at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore. He also is director of the Center for Genetic Eye Diseases and a professor of ophthalmology at Ohio State University.
He received his medical degree from the American University of Beirut Medical Center in Lebanon and completed his first residency training there. He later completed a second residency, including one year as chief resident, at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, D.C. He served a fellowship in ophthalmic genetics with Irene H. Maumenee, MD, at Johns Hopkins and another in pediatric ophthalmology and strabismus with Marshall M. Parks, MD, at the Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. He then spent a year as a clinical assistant professor of ophthalmology at Georgetown University Medical Center, after which Dr. Traboulsi returned to the Johns Hopkins Center for Hereditary Eye Diseases of the Wilmer Institute as assistant professor of ophthalmology. He also served a chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore from 1990 to 1997.
He is board-certified in ophthalmology and medical genetics. He is president of The International Society for Genetic Eye Disease and is a frequent guest speaker at national and international meetings. He has authored more than 130 scientific articles and 40 book chapters and edited the eye disease sections of the Birth Defects. He is the author and editor of "Genetic Diseases of the Eye," a textbook published in 1998. His clinical and research interests include the genetics of strabismus, the classification and management of ophthalmic and general medical genetic disorders, ocular developmental biology and ocular malformations, cancer of the eye, retinal dystrophies, childhood cataracts and glaucoma, and other pediatric eye disorders.
Dr. Traboulsi is editor-in-chief of Ophthalmic Genetics and serves on the editorial board of The American Journal of Ophthalmology.