For several years Dr. Klintworth has been conducting research in collaboration with investigators in Iceland on macular corneal dystrophy, which is the commonest indication for a corneal graft in Iceland. In March of this year, R. Rand Allingham, MD , traveled to Africa to establish a Duke University Eye Center research outpost. While there he met with health officials from the International Luke Society and the Ministry of Health to establish a research and teaching role at the Emmanuel Eye Clinic in Accra, the capital of Ghana. Like many African countries, Ghana has an extremely high prevalence of glaucoma which is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. In addition to teaching Ghanaian ophthalmologists glaucoma diagnosis and management, Dr. Allingham initiated a collaboration with health officials to enroll patients and their families into the Duke University Genetic Linkage Project.
Genetic influences play a major role in the development of glaucoma.
African Americans have a four to six fold higher prevalence of glaucoma than Caucasians. For this reason, Dr. Allingham feels that studying African families with glaucoma will help solve this genetic puzzle. Funding for the Duke University Glaucoma Genetic Linkage Project is provided by the federal government and private philanthropy. Identifying the genetic cause of glaucoma will lead to entirely new directions in research and ultimately into novel forms of treatment. Duke Eye Center Clinical Study Coordinator, Bob Broomer, accompanied Dr. Allingham to Ghana to assist in establishment of the research outpost.