Medical Student Research Fellowship for Summer 2009

Mentor: Dr. John G. McHenry
Dept: Ophthalmology
Room Number:
Mail Box: 957
Phone Number: 214-645-2062
Email: John.McHenry@UTSouthwestern.edu
Project title: Prevalence and Natural History of Optic Neuropathy in North Texas

Human subjects IRB approved project number: 112008-053

Project Type: Patient-based research

Brief Description of the Project: This study will be an extensive retrospective chart review of patients seen in the practice of Dr. McHenry with the diagnosis of optic neuropathy. A review of approximately 1000 charts will be conducted to indentify the natural history of disease with specific interest in response to specific therapeutic interventions.

1.) The medical student will be involved in reviewing the charts of the patients that will be included in the study. There are several select parameters that will be reviewed including visual acuity, visual field, medical or surgical intervention, and post operative exam if applicable.

2.) While there are a large number of patients involved in the study, the data parameters that will be collected are specific and do not require a large time commitment per patient.

3.) As discussed earlier, the parameters include visual acuity, visual field, medical or surgical intervention, and post operative/post medical treatment exam.

Completion of this study will reveal a great deal of information about optic neuropathies that is currently not documented in peer reviewed literature. Because of the volume of patients involved in this study, there is a strong likelihood that the information obtained will influence the treatment and work up of optic neuropathy significantly within the ophthalmology community. Additionally, the medical student will gain a great deal of research experience as well as potentially contributing ground breaking research to field of ophthalmology.

This is a unique opportunity for a medical student to play an integral role in publishing information that is extremely important and not well documented in current literature.