A Champion Lost BY LAURA ERTEL
DUKE EYE CENTER AND THE GLOBAL OPHTHALMOLOGY COMMUNITY MOURN THE LOSS OF R. RAND ALLINGHAM, MD, GLAUCOMA EXPERT AND TIRELESS ANSWER-SEEKER
‘He cared deeply about the research’ Over his remarkable career, Allingham made pivotal contributions to glaucoma clinical care and to understanding the most basic causes of glaucoma. He helped develop new treatments and research paths and engineer new drug delivery methods to improve care for glaucoma patients at Duke and around the world. Allingham was determined to unravel the genetic basis for glaucoma, and he understood very early on the importance of Africa in this quest. In the mid-1990s, before others realized how critically important it was, he began spearheading collection of what would become the world’s largest and most powerful glaucoma dataset of individuals of African ancestry. He built partnerships with clinicians in Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, and the Gambia, and later with genetics researchers in Singapore. His efforts have led to the first identification of a glaucoma susceptibility gene in individuals of African ancestry, a seminal discovery that will be published soon and will hopefully be the first of many valuable findings.
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n August, the Duke Eye Center community lost a colleague, friend, mentor, and care provider, and the global community lost one of its greatest champions for improving the lives and health of people with glaucoma.
R. Rand Allingham, MD, Barkhouser Professor of Ophthalmology Emeritus and former chief of the Eye Center’s glaucoma division was an outstanding clinician-scientist. His passion for research, education, and patient care was clear to anyone he met. He touched many lives and made a tremendous impact on the field of glaucoma.
Allingham came to Duke Eye Center in 1993 as a star recruit, and quickly became an internationally recognized physician and researcher. Beloved by his colleagues, trainees, and patients, his gift for bringing out the best in others helped define his career and his legacy. DUKE EYE CENTER
2019
“Back when everyone thought it was impossible to get genetic samples from Africa because of the logistical difficulties of working on that continent, Rand didn’t just get on the phone, he got on the airplane! Rand cared deeply about the research. It wasn’t easy, but he spearheaded the collection of this extremely valuable dataset that led to this important discovery.” — Michael Hauser, PhD, Duke professor in medicine, associate research professor in molecular genetics and microbiology, and longtime co-investigator and friend TO SEE DR. ALLINGHAM AT HIS BEST, WATCH HIS 2017 LECTURE TO THE AMERICAN GLAUCOMA SOCIETY, “OUT OF AFRICA: HUMAN MIGRATION GLAUCOMA GENES AND SOME UNUSUAL PATHS TO A CURE.” https://anyscreeninc.com/catalog/media-by session.php/?sid=40474
