Louis B. Cantor, M.D. has been named chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology, Indiana University School of Medicine, effective Thursday, January 15, 2009. Dr. Cantor, the Jay C. and Lucile L. Kahn Professor of Glaucoma Research and Education and director of the Glaucoma Service, succeeds Robert D. Yee, M.D., chairman since 1987.
Dr. Cantor, a nationally- and internationally-known clinician and researcher in the area of glaucoma therapeutics, first joined the IU Department of Ophthalmology faculty in 1985. He received his M.D. from the Indiana University School of Medicine in 1980; did his internship at St. Vincent Health Care Center (1980-81) and his residency at the IU Department of Ophthalmology (1981-84); and completed a fellowship in glaucoma at the Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1984-85).
As chair, Dr. Cantor will oversee the development of construction of the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Eye Institute. Eugene and Marilyn Glick, Indiana business and community leaders and philanthropists, donated $30 million to the IU School of Medicine in April 2007 for the purpose of building and endowing an eye institute. A ceremonial ground-breaking was held in October 2008 for this new home of the Department of Ophthalmology on the IU Medical Center campus.
The following is an excerpt from a recent interview with Dr. Cantor.
"The enduring strength of the Department is its clinical programs, specifically the breadth and depth of the faculty for providing care for patients and educational experiences for residents. Indeed, the clinical opportunities for residents are rather unique. The IU Medical Center provides a university-based children's hospital (Riley) and teaching hospital (IU Hospital & Outpatient Center), a county-type hospital (Wishard), veterans hospital (Roudebush), and a clinic setting (IU Eye at Carmel).
"Most residency programs provide access to some, but not all these practice models, and not usually in such close physical proximity to one another. In addition, the residents have the opportunity to work with several outstanding volunteer community ophthalmologists. This allows them to see the practice of medicine from different viewpoints.
"Research in the department has waxed and waned over time. The future promise of the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Eye Institute offers opportunities not only to enhance clinical and educational programs but to have the necessary research facilities and space to take academic pursuits to a level that we have never been able to attain until now.
"We have many challenges unique to academic medicine. For example, a major challenge is the aging population with its increased demand for services. Technology allows us to do more for patients than at any time in history. As a department, we have been given unique opportunities by Eugene and Marilyn Glick to have the resources to change lives, specifically those of patients, trainees, and medical students, and to participate in the broader role of advancing science as it relates to ophthalmology.
"When we began to plan the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Eye Institute, we believed that function should drive form. We knew that patient care, education of the next generation of physicians, and innovative research would take place there. We asked ourselves what it would take to create an outstanding eye institute. Our goal was to be in the top 10 of U.S. eye institutes, and we looked at what separated the top eye institutes from the rest.
"While everyone is expected to provide excellent patient care and education, research productivity stood out as the key to being a top eye institute. Noting that top institutes spend $10 million a year on research and knowing the average NIH grant amount is $350,000, we arrived at a goal of securing 18-20 M.D./Ph.D.s or Ph.D.s and their support teams. This simple calculus drove the research plan. We also factored in core research facilities, like molecular biology and genetics, available elsewhere at the IU Medical Center as well as clinical research resources in our own department. The next phase was the design phase followed by the construction document phase, which will be completed this spring. Once the construction bid package has been awarded, we plan to break ground in the first half of 2009.
"With respect to the research plan and an endowment, the other part of the calculus is that research doesn't pay for itself. Research dollars (e.g. grants, awards) pay for about 80% of the research costs but there is a 20% gap. We need to account for this gap; eye institutes that are successful are able to eliminate that gap through private philanthropy and other resources. To generate $2 million per year our endowment need to be $40 million. While the Glicks dedicated $10 million towards this endowment, our challenge is to partner with those who see value in what we do and attain a fully-funded endowment that will ensure continuing research in perpetuity. Our grateful patients, alumni, faculty, staff, industry partners, and other friends are key to our success.
"The $30 million extraordinary gift from the Glicks, which includes the beginnings of a research endowment to support these efforts, is huge. However, Gene and Marilyn have never intended to be the sole supporters of the Eye Institute and its promise for the future. Their generosity provides the rest of us with a unique opportunity to excel, and challenges us to take advantage of that opportunity."
Dr. Cantor has been director of the Glaucoma Service since joining the department. The Glaucoma Service now includes colleagues Yara P. Catoira-Boyle, M.D.; Darrell WuDunn, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Glaucoma Molecular Biology Laboratory and director of the department's residency program; and Alon Harris, Ph.D., director of the Glaucoma Research and Diagnostic Center, the most complete laboratory in the world for studying blood flow in the eye. From 1986 to 1989, Dr. Cantor was also chief of ophthalmology at Wishard Memorial Hospital in Indianapolis. From 1996 to 2006, he was director of the ophthalmology residency program for the department.
Dr. Cantor has developed and maintained an extensive clinical research program within the department and has received over 40 grants and fellowships totaling in excess of $3.3 million to fund his research. He has written nearly 100 scientific articles and given over 350 lectures and presentations around the world on the diagnostic, medical, and surgical aspects of glaucoma.
Dr. Cantor is an active member of numerous local, regional, and national ophthalmology-related organizations. Within Indiana, he has served as president of the Indiana Academy of Ophthalmology and the Indianapolis Ophthalmological Society. He is chairman of the Medical Advisory Board for Prevent Blindness Indiana (PBI); a long-time member of PBI; and a Life Member of its auxiliary, People of Vision.
Nationally, Dr. Cantor is chairman of the Ophthalmology Residency Review Committee and chairman of the Council of Residency Review Committee Chairs for the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME); and Secretary of Education for the American Academy of Ophthalmology. He is a past senior associate examiner of the American Board of Ophthalmology.
His honors and awards include Professor of the Year, IU Department of Ophthalmology; Ophthalmologist of the Year, Indiana Academy of Ophthalmology; and Otis R. Bowen, M.D. Distinguished Leadership Award, IU School of Medicine.
For nearly twenty-five years, Dr. Cantor has been associated with Goldman Union Camp Institute (Indianapolis, Indiana), spending a week every summer as the resident medical director for the children at the camp, and serving as chairman of the Joint Camp Authority which administers the camp.
Dr. Cantor plans on bringing his long history with Indiana University and his extensive contacts within the ophthalmology community to bear on his new role as chairman of the department. He hopes to form partnerships, collaborations, and teams within the university and broader community, expressing that, "nobody can do this alone."
Dr. Cantor has three children of college age including a son now at the IU School of Medicine. His wife, Linda Cantor, J.D., is director of development for the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Eye Institute.
