Approved by the board at its Feb. 15 meeting, the new department will work to build on the successes of the existing MSU Center for Clinical Neuroscience and Ophthalmology. It will give MSU the national visibility required to recruit and retain more world-class faculty. It also will create new residency opportunities for our students and will produce new clinics on campus that will benefit area patients. Our goal is to develop a true center of excellence for improving health care in mid-Michigan and beyond. Although combined departments of neurology and ophthalmology are not common, the disciplines are related, Kaufman said.
Neurology is the study of muscle, synapse, nerve, brain and spinal cord structure and function.
Ophthalmology is the branch of medicine concerned with the eye. Neuro-ophthalmology is the study of the eye s relationship with the brain. A unique aspect of the department is that researchers will use the eye as a simplified model of the brain to speed the evaluation of diseases such as multiple sclerosis and stroke, or the potential side effects of cancer therapies such as the drug Tamoxifen. Researchers in the new department are already investigating topics such as Alzheimer s disease, innervation of arteries and veins, degenerative and metabolic disorders of the brain and central nervous system, and substances that can provide neuro-protection to the brain. It s a department that will do research, do clinical service and outreach, and education.