Breakthrough Eye Cancer Research
Dr. Vasiliki Poulaki, MD, PhD, Vitreoretinal Specialist
Uveal melanoma is the most common eye cancer in adults. The current standard treatment is radiation to the eye, which unfortunately damages not only the cancer but the adjacent healthy eye tissue as well. The extent of this damage depends on the dose of radiation used. Therefore, there is a need to explore ways to reduce this dose. Furthermore, for many patients, the tumor can metastasize, despite aggressive and early treatment. Thus, in addition to exploring ways of lowering the radiation dose delivered to the eye, there is an unmet need for novel treatments that can more effectively prevent development of metastasis.
Dr. Vasiliki Poulaki, MD, PhD, full-time Vitreoretinal Specialist at VA Boston Healthcare System, is making breakthrough discoveries in the fight against eye cancer. She and her team have identified drugs that kill exclusively the melanoma cancer cells. They have tested them in an experimental setting and now their goal is to test these medications in a clinical setting alone or in combination with radiation treatment, to prevent metastasis and reduce the amount of radiation delivered. They anticipate that our custom-tailored therapy will help save more eyes and lives.
Dr. Poulaki is part of a renowned team of experts including: Dr. Bert O’Malley, Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Baylor College of Medicine (Houston, TX); Dr. Nicholas Mitsiades, a rising cancer researcher, recently named the third Caroline Wiess Law Scholar at Baylor College of Medicine; Dr. David H. Abramson, Chief of the Ophthalmic Oncology Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (New York, NY); and Dr. Martine Jager, head of the Laboratory of Ophthalmology at the Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands.
Their work has been presented at major national and international meetings including the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology in Florida, the International Society of Ocular Oncology in Greece, the International Society of Ocular Oncology Biennial Meeting in Argentina, and the XXVIIIth meeting of the Club Jules Gonin in Iceland.
Dr. Poulaki recently received the ARVO/Alcon Early Career Clinician-Scientist Research Award (2012) for this work.
