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comprehensive optometry

Three researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham are working to transform the treatment landscape for patients living with glaucoma.

As Published in Shelby Living Jun 29, 2023

Rob Tauscher, MDWith the summer season in full swing, making plans to protect your long-term vision is important. Dr. Robert Tauscher, a pediatric ophthalmologist at UAB’s Callahan Eye Clinic in Pelham, provides some safety tips for children’s eye health this summer.

Tyler Hall, MDBeginning July 2023, the UAB Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences will be adding a Cornea Fellowship to its educational programs. This is in addition to the glaucoma, low vision, retina, and neuro-ophthalmology fellowships already offered in the department.

The Alabama Institute for the Deaf & Blind, in partnership with the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services, hosted the 10th anniversary White Cane Day Alabama celebration over the weekend on October 15, 2022, at the Alys Stephens Center. White Cane Day is an observance that brings attention to the abilities and achievements of the blind and visually impaired community, using the white cane as a symbol of accessibility and independence.
Molly Cox-Whitney, MS, LPC, Director Laura Dreer, PhD, and Brooke Bailey with UAB Connections.
Jason Vice, OTR/L, SCLV, with the UAB Center for Low Vision Rehabilitation

The UAB Callahan Eye Hospital owes its beginning to a 5-year-old girl. The hospital, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in November, was the vision of ophthalmologist Alston Callahan, who established a clinical practice in Birmingham after World War II. In the early 1950s, Callahan treated young Barbara Ingalls’ crossed eyes with glasses and eye-strengthening exercises.

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The University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Callahan Eye Hospital and the Department of Ophthalmology have expanded their operating room capacity from nine to 16 operating rooms, making it one of the largest eye facilities in the United States.

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The University of Alabama at Birmingham Callahan Eye Hospital Clinic has opened two new satellite locations in the Greater Birmingham area, one at Medical West in Bessemer and the other on the Birmingham St. Vincent’s Hospital campus off the Red Mountain Expressway.

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UAB Callahan Eye Hospital has been recognized with the prestigious 2023 Alabama Performance Excellence Award by the ALPEx Program judges. This esteemed accolade celebrates our unwavering commitment to quality and performance excellence, positioning us among the top organizations in the state.

UAB Callahan Eye has been named the newest site for Spark Therapeutics’ Luxturna, the first FDA-approved gene therapy treatment for those diagnosed with Leber Congenital Amaurosis(LCA).

LCA is a retinal degenerative condition and a leading cause of genetic blindness in children.  Patients with LCA start to lose their vision in the first five years of life, and it gets progressively worse as they age. Most patients are considered legally blind due to the profound vision loss it causes.  One subtype is caused by an inherited mutation of both RPE65 genes. When patients have mutations in both of copies of their RPE65 gene, the normal visual cycle cannot take place, and retinal cells die over time.  Luxturna uses a non-disease causing virus to deliver a normal copy of the RPE65 gene to retinal cells enabling them to make proteins capable of improving and preserving visual function.  

Drs. Jason Crosson and Richard Feist Jr, of Retina Consultants of Alabama will treat patients with RPE65 LCA (also known as LCA 2) at UAB Callahan Eye. In a delicate surgical procedure that requires two surgeons, Drs. Crosson and Feist will inject Luxturna under the retina.  Over the next few weeks, patients begin to notice improvements in their vision, especially in dim lighting.  

“We are excited to offer patients with this debilitating condition the opportunity to see more clearly for the first time in their lives,” said Dawn DeCarlo, OD, PhD, director of the UAB Center for Low Vision Rehabilitation. “Patients in our area that were previously identified as good candidates for Luxturna have had to travel to other states to receive treatment. It is exciting that we will now not only be able to offer patients from Alabama treatment right here at UAB Callahan Eye, we will also be a destination treatment center for patients throughout the southeast.” 

UAB is now one of only 14 Luxturna treatment locations in the nation, and one of the few sites in the Southeast. “Our location, in Birmingham, is an asset because of our reputation as a top national eye center and the accessibility of our city for those living in the Southeast,” said Brian Samuels, MD, PhD, interim chair for the UAB Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences. “I am extremely proud of Drs. Paul Gamlin, Dawn DeCarlo, Jason Crosson, and Richard Feist Jr, who were instrumental in UAB becoming an approved treatment center.”  

“We have already been notified there are patients from Alabama and the Southeast who are interested in receiving treatment here,” said Crosson. “We look forward to meeting our new patients soon and scheduling them for treatment.”

Luxturna was developed by Spark Therapeutics. Patients interested in LUXTURNA™ should talk to their doctor to find out if this treatment is right for them or contact Spark Therapeutics at mysparkgeneration@sparktx.com or 1-833-SPARK-PS.

UAB Callahan Eye's newest clinic includes an optical shop.UAB Callahan Eye has expanded to Homewood with the addition of a new clinic located at One Independence Plaza, Suite 700. This new clinic, which opened in February, is the 19th location in Callahan’s growing portfolio of ophthalmic and optometric care.

UAB Callahan Eye has expanded to Tuscaloosa with the addition of a new clinic located at 1030 Fairfax Park. The 18th clinic location in Callahan’s growing portfolio of ophthalmic and optometric care opened Monday, August 29, 2022.

UAB Callahan Eye is excited to welcome Dr. Eric Sputh, MD, Dr. Michelle Langkawel, OD, Dr. Rob Tauscher, MD, Dr. Blythe Monheit, MD, and Dr. Danielle Isen, MD to its clinical faculty. 

A pediatric patient and Jason Vice, Ph.D. explore her new vision aid.On August 21, 2023, UAB's Center for Low Vision Rehabilitation, in collaboration with Sight Savers America, held an equipment dispensing clinic in its UAB Callahan Eye clinic space. The event aimed to provide high-tech visual aids to individuals with vision impairments, enhancing their daily lives and fostering independence.

UAB Connections strives to provide a combination of educational, social, and recreational activities for adults with various eye diseases (i.e., glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, total blindness).

The UAB Department of Ophthalmology hit a major milestone in 2017. According to annual figures available through Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research, the University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Ophthalmology is ranked 6^th in the country in the amount of funding it receives from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with over $7.9 million in NIH grant support during calendar year 2017.

Long recognized as a leader in groundbreaking research and innovative eye care, the UAB Department of Ophthalmology hit a major milestone in 2016, ranking in the top twenty of nationally ranked ophthalmology departments in the amount of funding it receives from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). With over $4.9 million in NIH annual funding for fiscal year 2016, the Department now ranks 17th, up from their 2013 ranking of 36th.

Christine A. Curcio, Ph.D., the White-McKee Endowed Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, and Cynthia Owsley, Ph.D., MSPH, the Nathan E. Miles Chair of Ophthalmology, participated in the Classification of Atrophy working group in Baden-Baden, Germany on September 19, 2019.

Adults whose eyes are slow to adjust to the dark have a greater risk of developing age-related macular degeneration, according to new findings from the University of Alabama at Birmingham published online in Ophthalmology.

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