Boston (July 20, 2012) — The Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and Harvard Medical school has been granted a $250,000 Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB) Career Development Award to support the work of Mass. Eye and Ear ophthalmologist Dr. Joseph Ciolino.
Dr. Ciolino obtained his medical degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine, and completed an Internal Medicine internship at Brown University and his ophthalmology residency at Albany Medical College, where he served as Chief Resident in his final year. He completed a fellowship in the Cornea, Refractive Surgery and External Disease Service at Mass. Eye and Ear, where he received the nationally recognized Claes Dohlman Fellowship Award. Following his fellowship, Dr. Ciolino joined Harvard Medical School's full time faculty at Mass. Eye and Ear. His clinical focus is in corneal transplants, keratoprosthesis and diseases of the anterior segment of the eye.
Dr. Ciolino's research interests include translational projects such as keratoprosthesis and ocular drug delivery. He has been working with collaborators at Children's Hospital Boston and MIT on developing a drug-eluting contact lens which has been covered by international news services including CNN, Reuters News Service, and Scientific American.
The RPB Career Development Award Fund was established in 1990 to attract young physicians and basic scientists to eye research. To date, the program has recruited 164 vision scientists to research positions in departments of ophthalmology at universities across the country.
About Mass. Eye and Ear
Mass. Eye and Ear clinicians and scientists are driven by a mission to find cures for blindness, deafness and diseases of the head and neck. After uniting with Schepens Eye Research Institute in 2011, Mass. Eye and Ear in Boston became the world's largest vision and hearing research center, offering hope and healing to patients everywhere through discovery and innovation. Mass. Eye and Ear is a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital and trains future medical leaders in ophthalmology and otolaryngology, through residency as well as clinical and research fellowships. Internationally acclaimed since its founding in 1824, Mass. Eye and Ear employs full-time, board-certified physicians who offer high-quality and affordable specialty care that ranges from the routine to the very complex. U.S. News & World Report's "Best Hospitals Survey" has consistently ranked the Mass. Eye and Ear Departments of Otolaryngology and Ophthalmology as top five in the nation. For more information about life-changing care and research, or to learn how you can help, please visit MassEyeAndEar.org.
RPB is the world's leading voluntary organization supporting eye research. Since it was founded in 1960, RPB has channeled hundreds of millions of dollars to medical institutions for research into the causes, treatment and prevention of blinding diseases. For more information about RPB, RPB-funded eye research, eye disorders and the RPB grants program, visit www.rpbusa.org.