Chair's Message
July 2024
Dear Friends and Colleagues:
It is a pleasure to provide this update on the department’s recent accomplishments and future directions.
Our focus remains on collaboration and mentorship in the core missions of academic health care: patient care, education, research, and service. The department’s solid reputation continues to grow through our relationships with alumni, clinical colleagues, and research partners at other institutions in Chicago, across the country and across the world.
We have expanded patient care services in scope and depth at Loyola Medicine and Hines VA (HVA) have expanded in scope and depth. We have 55 full- and part-time clinical and research faculty. Three were recognized again in the Chicago Magazine Top Doctors 2024 (Charles Bouchard, Felipe de Alba and James McDonnell). As part of our 2024 Annual Report celebrating 10 years of patient care, education, research, and global service at Loyola and HVA, we cared for 430,000 patients over this 10-year period.
Our Educational Programs remain strong, with a sustained focus on our three target audiences: medical students (UME), residents (GME) and practicing ophthalmologists and optometrists (CME). We continue to offer one of the best resident training programs in Chicago and the Midwest and our department continues to lead the way in educational technology. We sponsor an annual citywide surgical wet lab as a service to the 66 residents from the six Chicago area training programs as part of our Cataract Glaucoma Symposium as a “Surgical Summit.” Our educational and research programs have been supported over the years by generous annual gifts from the Perritt Charitable Foundation.
Additional CME programs offer outstanding content for local, regional and national attendees. These include our Faculty-Alumni Day, Chicago Subspecialty Guest Lecture Series, World Mission Symposium, DEI Speaker Series, and our annual Richard A. Perritt Vision Research Symposium.
The department’s growing and innovative research programs are reflected in the publications and presentations faculty have produced over the last 10 years. Evan Stubbs, Jr., PhD, continues to serve as the director of Research with eight additional full-time research faculty: Simon Kaja, PhD, Bruce Gaynes, OD, Pharm D, Ping Bu, MD, Omer Iqbal, MD, Michael Zilliox, PhD, Abby Kroken, PhD, Vidhya Rao, PhD, Lee Troughton, PhD; Joo Hong is our research administrator. Every year, the department submits and receives important research grant support from the Illinois Society for the Prevention of Blindness (ISPB). We are proud of Maha Khokhar (Stritch Class of 2027) who received the Donna Dreiske Award for best medical student research grant
Faculty continue to receive major funding from the Richard A. Perritt Charitable Foundation. In addition to ISPB, funding from the Department of Veterans Affairs and from the National Institutes of Health support our research activities. Each resident is assigned a faculty mentor for research, with the goal of each resident submitting an ARVO presentation and manuscript. Faculty also attend and present at ARVO annually, as well as at other, nationally recognized conferences; faculty promote our research programs through collegial networking.
Another testament to faculty mentorship: Loyola residents have received at least one of the three Beem Fisher Awards in nine of the last 14 years with Loyola residents receiving first place awards for seven years. The Chicago Ophthalmological Society (COS) presents these awards, which recognize outstanding research by Chicago area residents.
The department’s commitment to international service has grown; we sponsor one to two trips annually, supported in part by the Stamm Foreign Mission endowment. Our April 2024 trip to Nasir Hospital was the first in our Chica-GO (Global Ophthalmology) initiative to provide global eye health training as well as an international experience for Chicago area residents. In 2024, we hosted a resident Umangi Patel, MD and faculty from Cook County (Shweta Choudhry, MD) who is also part time faculty at Hines VA.
Our excellent professional and administrative staff complete our team and support the department’s efforts to maintain its role as an academic and educational leader in the Midwest. In our academic offices, clinics, operating rooms, and research labs, our staff helps manage patient care, educational events, research programs, and more. I appreciate the contributions and dedication of the staff.
Thank you for your interest in the department. I welcome your feedback and appreciate your continued support.
Warmly,
Charles S. Bouchard, MD, MA
John P. Mulcahy Professor and Chair (He/his), Department of Ophthalmology
July 2024
Dear Friends and Colleagues:
It is a pleasure to provide this update on the department’s recent accomplishments and future directions.
Our focus remains on collaboration and mentorship in the core missions of academic health care: patient care, education, research, and service. The department’s solid reputation continues to grow through our relationships with alumni, clinical colleagues, and research partners at other institutions in Chicago, across the country and across the world.
We have expanded patient care services in scope and depth at Loyola Medicine and Hines VA (HVA) have expanded in scope and depth. We have 55 full- and part-time clinical and research faculty. Three were recognized again in the Chicago Magazine Top Doctors 2024 (Charles Bouchard, Felipe de Alba and James McDonnell). As part of our 2024 Annual Report celebrating 10 years of patient care, education, research, and global service at Loyola and HVA, we cared for 430,000 patients over this 10-year period.
Our Educational Programs remain strong, with a sustained focus on our three target audiences: medical students (UME), residents (GME) and practicing ophthalmologists and optometrists (CME). We continue to offer one of the best resident training programs in Chicago and the Midwest and our department continues to lead the way in educational technology. We sponsor an annual citywide surgical wet lab as a service to the 66 residents from the six Chicago area training programs as part of our Cataract Glaucoma Symposium as a “Surgical Summit.” Our educational and research programs have been supported over the years by generous annual gifts from the Perritt Charitable Foundation.
Additional CME programs offer outstanding content for local, regional and national attendees. These include our Faculty-Alumni Day, Chicago Subspecialty Guest Lecture Series, World Mission Symposium, DEI Speaker Series, and our annual Richard A. Perritt Vision Research Symposium.
The department’s growing and innovative research programs are reflected in the publications and presentations faculty have produced over the last 10 years. Evan Stubbs, Jr., PhD, continues to serve as the director of Research with eight additional full-time research faculty: Simon Kaja, PhD, Bruce Gaynes, OD, Pharm D, Ping Bu, MD, Omer Iqbal, MD, Michael Zilliox, PhD, Abby Kroken, PhD, Vidhya Rao, PhD, Lee Troughton, PhD; Joo Hong is our research administrator. Every year, the department submits and receives important research grant support from the Illinois Society for the Prevention of Blindness (ISPB). We are proud of Maha Khokhar (Stritch Class of 2027) who received the Donna Dreiske Award for best medical student research grant
Faculty continue to receive major funding from the Richard A. Perritt Charitable Foundation. In addition to ISPB, funding from the Department of Veterans Affairs and from the National Institutes of Health support our research activities. Each resident is assigned a faculty mentor for research, with the goal of each resident submitting an ARVO presentation and manuscript. Faculty also attend and present at ARVO annually, as well as at other, nationally recognized conferences; faculty promote our research programs through collegial networking.
Another testament to faculty mentorship: Loyola residents have received at least one of the three Beem Fisher Awards in nine of the last 14 years with Loyola residents receiving first place awards for seven years. The Chicago Ophthalmological Society (COS) presents these awards, which recognize outstanding research by Chicago area residents.
The department’s commitment to international service has grown; we sponsor one to two trips annually, supported in part by the Stamm Foreign Mission endowment. Our April 2024 trip to Nasir Hospital was the first in our Chica-GO (Global Ophthalmology) initiative to provide global eye health training as well as an international experience for Chicago area residents. In 2024, we hosted a resident Umangi Patel, MD and faculty from Cook County (Shweta Choudhry, MD) who is also part time faculty at Hines VA.
Our excellent professional and administrative staff complete our team and support the department’s efforts to maintain its role as an academic and educational leader in the Midwest. In our academic offices, clinics, operating rooms, and research labs, our staff helps manage patient care, educational events, research programs, and more. I appreciate the contributions and dedication of the staff.
Thank you for your interest in the department. I welcome your feedback and appreciate your continued support.
Warmly,
Charles S. Bouchard, MD, MA
John P. Mulcahy Professor and Chair (He/his), Department of Ophthalmology