Advancing Eye Care and Research at UW Medicine’s new Retina Center
At the UW Medicine Eye Institute, our mission is three-fold: to provide the best possible care to our patients, to train the next generation of ophthalmology practitioners, and to use research to improve patient outcomes. Our most recent, exciting step towards achieving this mission is the creation of a new Retina Center, located at UW Medicine at South Lake Union.
The new Retina Center will occupy one floor of an eight-story clinical and research facility, slated to open in January 2019. It will be the first and only facility focused on clinical research for vision loss in the five-state region of Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho. With the opening of the Retina Center — complete with state-of-the-art equipment for testing and treating people with retinal disease — comes significant opportunities for our patients and our researchers.
At the Retina Center, patients with retinal degenerative diseases will have the opportunity to participate in clinical research during their visit, an opportunity they’re not likely to have at their regular ophthalmologist’s office. In this way, patients will be on the front line of available treatments and will have access to the latest clinical trials before they are approved for use by the general public.
Our patients will also be our partners in research, contributing to the science that will help other people with debilitating eye conditions. With information derived from advanced imaging and other tests, researchers at the UW Medicine Eye Institute will be able to make faster progress in advancing vision-saving research on several fronts, including stem cell therapy, gene therapy and chemical reanimation therapy, all of which may have the potential to slow or halt retinal degeneration — and even, perhaps, to restore vision.
To learn more about supporting the vision research and patient care conducted at the Retina Center and the UW Medicine Eye Institute, please contact Katie Bunten, director for philanthropy, at bunten@uw.edu.
Department of Ophthalmology Retina Center Video
Retina Center
NOW OPEN!
Mailing Address:
Karalis Johnson Retina Center
Box 358063
750 Republican St
Seattle, WA 98109
Phone: 206-520-8300
Fax: 206-520-8399
