Los Angeles, CA -?Growing up as a child of an Ophthalmologist, Dr. Nesburn always knew he, too, wanted to be a Doctor. So it was no surprise when the LA native graduated UCLA magna cum laude and earned a cum laude MD degree and ophthalmology training at Harvard Medical School. At UCLA and at Harvard, he pursued and excelled in research which has been a major focus of his career. Now, an internationally respected eye surgeon, educator, lecturer, and researcher, Dr. Nesburn has served as Medical Director of the Discovery Eye Foundation since it inception. “Dr. Tony,” as he is known, is beloved by his many thankful patients and highly respected by his medical peers as a Doctor’s Doctor. He is repeatedly included in Outstanding Medical Specialists in U.S., The Best Doctors in America and America?s Top Doctors.
While still a student at Harvard, Dr. Nesburn diagnosed the son of a friend, Morris Pynoos, with Keratoconus, a progressive eye disease in which the normally round cornea thins and begins to bulge into a cone-like shape. It was that relationship that helped set the path for Dr. Nesburn. When he returned to California, Rita and Morry Pynoos set up the Discovery Eye Foundation to educate people and fund research to cure debilitating eye diseases, and they selected Dr. Nesburn to serve as Medical Director, where he has remained until today.
Since the foundation?s inception, Dr. Nesburn has helped build Discovery Eye Foundation into a reputable, nationally recognized non-profit organization that funds cutting edge research and provides support, information, and education to patients. DEF is also the home of National Keratoconus Foundation and the Macular Degeneration Partnership, two amazing programs that help fight eye disease. NKCF promotes awareness of Keratoconus and develops education and outreach programs for patients and their families. MDP provides patients and their families with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) education and support through newsletters, their prize winning website http://www.amd.org/, support groups and education forums about this leading cause of severe vision loss in people over the age of 60. Both programs also actively support researchers in their work to find the causes and a cure for the conditions.
In 2002, after obtaining a grant to double the output of research for MDP and NKCF, Dr. Nesburn expanded the foundation and moved its local supported research team to state-of-the-art facilities at University of California, Irvine. At UC Irvine, he had also been given the role of Vice Chair for research in Ophthalmology and played a key role in expanding the outstanding research faculty and program in the Department of Ophthalmology and the Gavin Herbert Eye Institute. At the new facilities, the researchers supported by Discovery Eye Foundation are working on many cutting edge projects including regenerative medicine, stem cell research, genetics of eye disease, and therapies to prevent or treat retinal degenerations like AMD, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, corneal scarring and a vaccine for herpes.
“What sets DEF apart,” says Dr. Nesburn, “is its collaborative nature. Discovery Eye Foundation is able to support research in several different places. We support the ‘best of the best’ and have given grants to over 20 universities.” His goal is to provide a better way to get answers to sight robbing diseases and give research support where it is most needed.
With a look to the future, Dr. Nesburn hopes for the Discovery Eye Foundation are to increase patient outreach and increase medical research funding. With less government spending available for research, foundations like Discovery Eye Foundation are becoming vital in the battle against eye disease and disorders. Dr. Nesburn hopes to raise awareness and increase Discovery Eye Foundation?s fundraising so they can continue to provide the research and patient support they are known for, and cure every woman, man, and child with a crippling eye disease.
For more information on Discovery Eye Foundation, please contact:
Maya Benyehuda
maya@ballantinespr.com
Tel: 310 454 3080
Cell: 310 699 9431
Fax: 310-943-1978
Ballantines PR
http://www.ballantinespr.com/
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