Kellogg International Initiatives

Kellogg ophthalmology resident Olivia Killeen, M.D., at National Taiwan University with NTU faculty member.

In 2020, The Kellogg Eye Center Jacobson International Ophthalmology Program—newly named by a generous gift from the Jacobson Foundation (see page 27)—engaged with partners in Ethiopia, India, Ghana, and Taiwan. The strength of the program’s existing relationships and use of virtual education and virtual health enabled Kellogg to adapt and to overcome many COVID-19-related limitations.

2020 Global Activities Include:

• Kellogg launched a global ophthalmology fellowship with Dr. Timothy Soeken. After completing his ophthalmology residency in the United States Air Force, Dr. Soeken is spending his first year as a fellow in corneal and external ocular diseases at Kellogg. He will transition into a one-year global fellowship designed to enhance his ability to help lead international ophthalmic and health activities, with travel planned to India and Ethiopia for additional training. Upon completion of his fellowships with Kellogg, Dr. Soeken will return to the US military to lead its humanitarian medical missions across the globe.

• As part of a funded research project, U-M medical students Alex Bernard, Sahal Saleh and Tochukwu Ndukwe and Kellogg ophthalmology resident Jara Crear, M.D., traveled to Ethiopia in early 2020. There they screened children and adults for ocular abnormalities using a cell phone application developed jointly by Kellogg faculty member Hakan Demirci, M.D., and the School of Engineering. The results of this project will aid in the development of coordinated care for retinoblastoma patients, and will unite ophthalmic providers throughout Ethiopia in the care of this blinding and potentially life-threatening disease of young children (see page 30).

• Kellogg ophthalmology resident Annie Wu, M.D., traveled to Aravind Eye Hospital in India in January 2020 to study whether technicians providing preoperative eyedrops from multiuse containers was safe. In the U.S., once a bottle of drops is opened for use, it is discarded, resulting in substantial financial and environmental waste. Dr. Wu and colleagues videotaped and analyzed over 1,800 occurrences of preoperative eyedrop administration at Aravind and found no recorded instances of contamination, as well as no positive bacterial cultures from used bottle tips, demonstrating that multidose preoperative drops can be a safe and cost-effective alternative to single-use drops. The findings are published in Ophthalmology.

• Kellogg ophthalmology resident Olivia Killeen spent four weeks at National Taiwan University (NTU) in Taipei, Taiwan, where she assessed the safety of donor corneal tissue from patients with hepatitis as a means of expanding the supply (see page 20).

• David Musch, Ph.D., M.P.H., and Dr. Joshua Ehrlich are working to create a remote education and mentorship program in clinical research methodology for early-career faculty at Aravind Eye Care System in India. Kellogg hopes to offer expanded programs based on this model in the future.

• Our pediatric ophthalmology faculty, led by Drs. Monte Del Monte and Grace Wang, worked with partners in Ghana to successfully launch a pediatric ophthalmology fellowship.

• Dr. Ehrlich serves on the Lancet Global Health Commission on Global Eye Health, which is charting a course forward for the global eye health community at the completion of the WHO-led Vision 2020 initiative to eliminate avoidable blindness. The Commission’s report is forthcoming in the journal Lancet Global Health in 2021.

Building for the Future:

COVID-19 pandemic underscores the importance of global relationships. Lessons learned from colleagues around the world enabled us to adapt more quickly and to share best practices. Our University of Michigan partners at Beijing University shared the expertise of their physicians and nurses who worked in Wuhan at the height of the initial outbreak. Colleagues in Singapore and across Asia provided insights into safety protocols for eye and health care that enabled us to proactively increase safety in our clinics and facilities for patients and our health care teams alike (see page 18).

When the World Ophthalmology Congress in South Africa converted from a live to a virtual meeting, it was possible for many more eye professionals to participate and take advantage of the education offered, according to Donna Donato, the Jacobson Program director. Moving meetings and conferences to a virtual setting will continue in the future, says Christine Nelson, M.D., chief of oculoplastic surgery, a Board Director of the World Association of Eye Hospitals (WAEH), and a co-director of the Kellogg International Ophthalmology program, along with Joshua Ehrlich, M.D., M.P.H., Jonathan Trobe, M.D., and H. Kaz Soong, M.D. Since the onset of COVID-19, WAEH has held regular webinars, organized and attended by participants across the globe. Kellogg faculty and staff led and organized a WAEH webinar on clinical operations and safety during COVID-19.

Kellogg oculoplastic fellow Dane Slentz, M.D., working with residents at St. Paul's in February 2020.

Kellogg Ophthalmology resident Annie Wu, M.D. (right) works on a new drop protocol with surgeons at the Aravind Eye Hospital.