A world-renowned expert in age-related macular degeneration (AMD) with the John A. Moran Eye Center’s Sharon Eccles Steele Center for Translational Medicine (SCTM) will hold a prestigious Jon M. Huntsman Presidential Chair at the University of Utah.
U President Ruth V. Watkins selected , an adjunct professor who will be joining Moran as a full-time faculty member in 2020, for the chair. The chair is and named after the late business executive and philanthropist Jon M. Huntsman.
Schmitz-Valckenberg co-founded and directs the and serves as assistant medical director of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Bonn, Germany. Widely considered the authoritative expert in high-resolution retinal and autofluorescence imaging, he has been at the forefront of using a variety of imaging techniques to map the stages of decline in AMD.
Key Role in AMD Treatment Clinical Trial
At Moran in his full-time position, Schmitz-Valckenberg will launch a reading center that will play a key role in the SCTM’s drive to take a new therapy for a prevalent form of AMD into human clinical trials. His accomplishments include contributing to over 165 publications and 99 peer-reviewed articles. Honors include being named by The Ophthalmologist to its .
"We are deeply grateful to the Huntsman Foundation and the University for supporting our mission to bring hope, understanding, and treatment to people with blinding conditions, eye Сòòò½APPs, and visual impairments," said Randall J Olson, MD, Moran CEO and professor and chair of the University of Utah Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences. "Dr. Schmitz-Valckenberg is an integral part of our effort to take a new treatment for AMD into clinical trials, and we believe his groundbreaking work in imaging and our new reading center will be a beacon of hope for patients all over the world as we continue to develop new treatments."