Contact: Maureen Remmel, 262-354-4905, 414-955-4744, mremmel@mcw.edu
Milwaukee, Wis., – Joseph C. Besharse, PhD, FARVO, Marvin Wagner Professor and Chair of Cell Biology, Neurobiology & Anatomy, Marjorie and Joseph Heil Professor of Ophthalmology, and director of research at the Eye Institute, received the Proctor Medal from the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) during its annual meeting that ran from May 1-5 in Seattle.
Established in 1949, the Proctor Medal, named after Francis I. Proctor, MD, an ophthalmologist who conducted extensive research on the cause and treatment of a bacterial infection that affects the eyes, is one of ARVO’s most prestigious honors and recognizes excellence in the basic or clinical sciences as applied to ophthalmology. For Dr. Besharse, it acknowledges his lifetime of research studying the fundamental organization and assembly of the photoreceptor as well as the molecular mechanisms that underlie neurodegenerative diseases of the retina, including age-related macular degeneration.
Today, researchers know that circadian clocks, which drive the rhythms of physical, mental and behavioral changes our bodies go through in a day-night cycle, are actually dispersed throughout the body and exist in every organ. But previously, the central theory of the biological clock was that all the rhythms of the body were driven from a place inside the brain. Dr. Besharse’s discovery of the circadian clock in the retina that could run itself and adjust to the outside world independent of the brain challenged that theory and revolutionized the field as other clocks were subsequently discovered. While the implications were wide reaching, in vision alone Dr. Besharse and colleagues have since found that clock disruptions in the eye impact its sensitivity to the development of retina disorders as well as glaucoma.
“To get this kind of award from ARVO for my work is kind of amazing because it could go to so many people,” says Dr. Besharse. “It’s the biggest honor of my career.”
Dr. Besharse was recruited to MCW in 1997 as chair of the Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy. In 2015, he was named the director of research at the Eye Institute in the Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, where he will continue to provide his leadership as he steps down from his role as department chair this summer. Prior to coming to MCW, Dr. Besharse spent 12 years as a faculty member at the Emory University School of Medicine before taking over as chair of the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at the University of Kansas School of Medicine, where he served in that capacity for eight years.
About the Medical College of Wisconsin
The Medical College of Wisconsin is the state’s only private medical school and health sciences graduate school. Founded in 1893, it is dedicated to leadership and excellence in education, patient care, research and community engagement. More than 1,200 students are enrolled in MCW’s medical school and graduate school programs in Milwaukee, and 26 medical students are enrolled at MCW-Green Bay. A regional medical education campus is scheduled to open in Central Wisconsin in 2016. MCW’s School of Pharmacy will open in 2017 or 2018 with an initial class size of 60 students. A major national research center, MCW is the largest research institution in the Milwaukee metro area and second largest in Wisconsin. In FY 2014-15, faculty received approximately $158 million in external support for research, teaching, training and related purposes, of which approximately $139 million is for research. This total includes highly competitive research and training awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Annually, MCW faculty direct or collaborate on more than 3,200 research studies, including clinical trials. Additionally, more than 1,500 physicians provide care in virtually every specialty of medicine for more than 525,000 patients annually.
