Mass. Eye and Ear Researcher receives RPB Award

The Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and Harvard Medical school has been granted a $250,000 Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB) Career Development Award to support the work of Mass. Eye and Ear ophthalmologist Dr. Joseph Ciolino.

Dr. Ciolino obtained his medical degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine, and completed an Internal Medicine internship at Brown University and his ophthalmology residency at Albany Medical College, where he served as Chief Resident in his final year. He completed a fellowship in the Cornea, Refractive Surgery and External Disease Service at Mass. Eye and Ear, where he received the nationally recognized Claes Dohlman Fellowship Award. Following his fellowship, Dr. Ciolino joined Harvard Medical School's full time faculty at Mass. Eye and Ear. His clinical focus is in corneal transplants, keratoprosthesis and diseases of the anterior segment of the eye.

Dr. Ciolino's research interests include translational projects such as keratoprosthesis and ocular drug delivery. He has been working with collaborators at Children's Hospital Boston and MIT on developing a drug-eluting contact lens which has been covered by international news services including CNN, Reuters News Service, and Scientific American.

The RPB Career Development Award Fund was established in 1990 to attract young physicians and basic scientists to eye research. To date, the program has recruited 164 vision scientists to research positions in departments of ophthalmology at universities across the country.

Provided by Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary