Storm Eye Institute Names 3 Endowed Chairs

From left, M. Edward Wilson, M.D. (Director of Storm Eye Institute); Karl E Novak, Esq. (Chairman, Storm Eye Institute Board of Directors); Craig E Cross, Ph.D. (Vice Chair for Research, Storm Eye Institute and recipient of Pawek-Vallotton Endowed Chair of Ophthalmology); Kerry D Solomon, M.D. (Director of Magill Vision Center and recipient of Arturo and Holly Melosi Endowed Chair of Ophthalmology); Gene R Howard, M.D. (recipient of Stanley H and Theordora L Feldberg Chair of Ophthalmology); Raymond S Greenberg, M.D., Ph.D. (MUSC President); James B Edwards, D.M.D. (MUSC President Emeritus)

CHARLESTON -- The Storm Eye Institute at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) has appointed Craig E. Crosson, Ph. D., Gene R. Howard, M.D., M.P.H., and Kerry D. Solomon, M.D., to endowed chairs in ophthalmology.

Solomon, a professor of ophthalmology and member of the MUSC faculty since 1993, has been appointed to the Arturo and Holly Melosi chair in Ophthalmology. He serves as medical director of the Magill Vision Center, director of the Magill Research Center and director of the Cornea Service at the Storm Eye Institute. He received his medical degree from the University of Vermont School of Medicine, completed his medical internship at Yale University and a fellowship at Johns Hopkins for specialty training in advanced surgical techniques for cataract and refractive surgery and corneal transplantation. An internationally recognized leader in the areas of cataract and refractive surgery and intraocular lens implantation, Solomon routinely speaks at both national and international meetings and hospitals, and has presented more than 500 lectures and live surgical demonstrations worldwide. He has written more than 170 publications and has been featured in television specials including PBS's "Cataract Surgery" as part of the "Healthy Body, Healthy Mind" series which is currently airing across the United States and in over 140 countries worldwide.

A recognized leader in glaucoma research, Crosson serves as the vice-chairman for research at Storm Eye Institute and has been appointed to the Pawek-Vallotton chair in Ophthalmology. Under his leadership, Storm Eye Institute was able to reach top ten status nationally as a research institution based on National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding. Crosson received his Ph.D. from Colorado State University and completed his postdoctoral work at the Louisiana State University eye center in New Orleans. Crosson holds five patents and has had research continuously funded by the NIH for 15 years. He is an internationally recognized glaucoma researcher. A permanent member of the NIH Anterior Eye Disease Study Section, Crosson is currently the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Ocular Pharmacology and Therapeutics.

Appointed to the Stanley H. and Theodora L. Feldberg chair in Ophthalmology, Howard is a professor of ophthalmology and attending physician at MUSC, and additionally serves as consulting staff to the MUSC Hollings Cancer Center. He completed a Masters in Public Health, his M.D., internship in internal medicine and research fellowship at Johns Hopkins University. After completing a residency in ophthalmology at the University of Illinois in Chicago, Howard completed a fellowship in ophthalmic plastic and reconstructive surgery and orbital oncology at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. Howard is internationally recognized for reconstructive surgery in the USA and for innovation in the treatment of blinding diseases, such as trachoma, in the developing world. Locally, Howard serves as a delegate to the South Carolina Medical Association and is a past-president of the Charleston Ophthalmological Society. He is a member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, International Society of Dacryology and Dry Eye, South Carolina Ophthalmological Society, and Charleston County Medical Society.

M. Edward Wilson, M.D., Chair of the department of ophthalmology and director of the Storm Eye Institute at MUSC stated: "Holding an endowed chair is a high honor reserved for those few professors of research or innovative clinical care who have distinguished themselves nationally and show great promise for important discoveries in the future. Drs. Solomon, Crosson, and Howard have contributed greatly to Storm Eye institute, MUSC, and the many patients we serve from all over South Carolina and beyond. The future eye health of our community will be better because of their combined talents and innovations."

About MUSC

Founded in 1824 in Charleston, The Medical University of South Carolina is the oldest medical school in the South. Today, MUSC continues the tradition of excellence in education, research, and patient care. MUSC educates and trains more than 3,000 students and residents, and has nearly 10,000 employees, including 1,300 faculty members. As the largest non-federal employer in Charleston, the university and its affiliates have collective annual budgets in excess of $1.3 billion. MUSC operates a 600-bed medical center, which includes a nationally recognized Children's Hospital and a leading Institute of Psychiatry. For more information on academic information or clinical services, visit www.musc.edu or www.muschealth.com.

About Storm Eye Institute

The Albert Florens Storm Eye Institute has been South Carolina?s center for the management of complex and serious eye diseases for more than thirty years. As a research institute, Storm Eye enjoys notoriety throughout the world for innovation and discovery in many fields including intraocular lenses for adults and children, retinal function and the study of retinal diseases, and glaucoma neuro-protection. For more information on academic information or clinical services, visit www.musc.edu or www.muschealth.com/eyes.

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