The Berrie Family Diabetic Retinopathy Program

Fighting Loss of Vision in Diabetes Patients

The Russell Berrie Foundation launched the Berrie Family Diabetic Retinopathy Program at Columbia University in 2000 to create a comprehensive approach to solving a common and devastating complication of diabetes—loss of vision. The Foundation’s $7.5 million gift was used to expand patient eye care programs at the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center at Columbia, recruit top-notch research scientist Dr. Larry Shapiro, and construct a laboratory for research and clinical trials-- all with the goal of developing improved interventions to slow diabetic retinopathy’s progression. The program also includes outreach efforts to diabetes patients and public health clinics.

Many patients with diabetes face threats to their sight due to the restricted blood flow to the retina, or retinopathy. Because there are often no symptoms until significant visual loss has occurred and because the benefits of tight blood sugar control have only recently been proved, diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness in adults ages 20 to 74.

"Until 10 years ago, physicians did not have the tools to treat and prevent the visual loss that so often occurs in patients with diabetes," says Dr. Robin Goland, Co-Director of the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center at Columbia University. "Although it is well known that visual loss often results from diabetes, it is not widely recognized that early detection and new treatments can halt or delay its development and progression."

The eye institute has attracted other major donors such as the Starr Foundation and the Gerstner Foundation. A portion of the Berrie Foundation’s gift also went toward the Louis V. Gerstner Jr. Clinical Research Center in the Department of Ophthalmology, a center dedicated to translating biomedical discoveries into successful treatments for vision disorders.

http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/news/reporter/pdfs/current/Reporter4-01.pdf