07:00

Welcome Breakfast and Registration

08:00

Welcome

08:05

Opening Address

Andrew D. Dick , MBBS, BSc
Professor of Ophthalmology, University of Bristol, UK 

MICROBIOME

Moderator:
Michael S. Gilmore, PhD, Sir William Osler  Professor of Ophthalmology, Mass. Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School

08:30

Use of gnotobiotic animal models in AMD

Dimitra Skondra, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, University of Chicago Medicine

08:55

Allen Taylor, PhD

Professor of Nutrition, Development, Molecular and Chemical Biology, and Ophthalmology, USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Tufts University School of Medicine

09:20

Hera Vlamikas, MD
Senior Group Leader - Microbiome, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT

09:45

Panel Discussion

10:25

Break

MICROGLIA

Moderator:
Demetrios G. Vavvas, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, Mass. Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School

Microglia - Gatekeepers into the neuroretina

Kip M. Connor, PhD
Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, Mass. Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School

Beth Stevens, PhD 
Research Associate in Neurology, Associate Professor of Neurology, Boston Children's Hospital

Wei T. Wong, PhD
Investigator: Neuron-Glia Interactions in Retinal Disease, National Eye Institute-National Institutes of Health 

Panel Discussion

Lunch

OXIDATIVE STRESS

Moderator:
Silvia C. Finnemann, PhD, Professor, Bepler Chair in Biology, Fordham University  

The role of reactive oxygen species in physiology and pathology

Andrey Y. Abramov, PhD
Professor, University College, London

John D. Ash, PhD
Francis M. Bullard Eminent Scholar Chair in Ophthalmic Sciences
Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, University of Florida College of Medicine

Oxidative Stress: What role does it play and when is it involved in AMD?

James T. Handa, MD
Professor of Ophthalmology, John Hopkins Medicine

Panel Discussion

Break

16:00

Introduction to Friedman Lecture

Evangelos S. Gragoudas, MD
Charles Edward Whitten Professor of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School, Mass. Eye and Ear

16:10

Intrdocuction to Speaker

Joan W. Miller, MD
Chair, Harvard Ophthalmology
Chief, Mass. Eye and Ear, Mass General Hospital, and Brigham and Women's Hospital 

16:15

Friedman Lecture: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a disease of accumulated debris. Is it time to Spring clean?

Robyn H. Guymer, PhD
Deputy Director, Deputy Head Ophthalmology, Department of Surgery, Centre for Eye Research Australia, University of Melbourne

18:00

Gala Dinner

The Liberty Hotel (registration required)

07:30

Welcome  Breakfast

08:30

Welcome Back

Ivana K. Kim, MD
Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, HMS, Mass. Eye and Ear

AGING OF THE RPE/CHOROID

Moderator: tba

P. Michael Iuvone, PhD
Sylvia Montag Ferst and Frank W. Ferst Endowed Research Chair, Emory Eye Center

Toren Finkel, MD, PhD
Director; Professor of Medicine, G. Nicholas Beckwith III and Dorothy B. Beckwith Chair in Translational Medicine, Aging Institute of UPMC Senior Services and the University of Pittsburgh; University of Pittsburgh, Division of Cardiology

Heping Xu, MD, PhD
Professor of Ocular Immunology, The Wellcome-Wolfson Institute for Experimental Medicine, Queen's University Belfast

Panel Discussion

Break

CELLULAR MECHANISMS OF DISEASE PROGRESSION

Moderator: tba

Julie Goodwin, MD
Associate Professor of Pediatrics (Nephrology), Yale School of Medicine

Yin Shan Eric Ng, PhD
Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School, Mass. Eye and Ear

Douglas Vollrath, MD, PhD
Associate Professor, Stanford University School of Medicine 

Panel Discussion

Lunch

TISSUE CULTURE MODELS

Moderator:
Magali Saint Geniez, PhD, Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology, Mass. Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School

Rosario Fernandez-Godino, PhD, MSc
Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School

Deborah Ferrington, PhD
Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Minnesota

Engineering strategies for building biomimetic neurovascular tissue models

Ethan S. Lippman, PhD
Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt School of Engineering

Panel Discussion

Closing Remarks