Drs. Walker and Wing Receive Scientific Research Award

FORT MYERS, Fla. - Jan. 29, 2015 - PRLog -- Dr. Joseph P. Walker and Dr. Glenn L. Wing of Retina Consultants of Southwest Florida have been honored with the Scientific Achievement Award by the Lee County Medical Society.

The award was presented in recognition of their 30-plus years of medical research, bringing to Southwest Florida the latest eye treatments related to diseases of the retina and the vitreous.  The retina is the tissue lining the back of the eye that is responsible for vision.  The vitreous is the clear gel-like substance that fills the eyeball.

Dr. Walker and Dr. Wing are part of a team of retinal specialists at Retina Consultants of Southwest Florida that founded the National Ophthalmic Research Institute (NORI) in 2003.  NORI has since participated in dozens of clinical trials leading to sight-saving therapies approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and now used by retinal specialists throughout the world.

Two of the most severe retinal eye diseases that have benefitted from the work of Dr. Walker, Dr. Wing and NORI are Age-Related Macular Degeneration, which is the leading cause of blindness in the western world, and Diabetic Retinopathy, which results in vision loss from diabetes.

For example, Retina Consultants and NORI were among only two other test sites in Florida and 43 in the United States that tested the efficacy of the now well-regarded drug Avastin in treating Age-Related Macular Degeneration.

“Our mission is to provide patients access to ophthalmic drugs and devices in clinical development that may improve their vision and quality of life,” said Dr. Walker, who also founded Retina Consultants of Southwest Florida in 1980.

NORI works with drug and equipment manufacturers to test their discoveries and make new treatments available to patients before the FDA approves them for widespread use.   Patients that may be candidates for these research projects participate on a totally voluntary and confidential basis.

“NORI was a very logical extension of the research work we had been doing for years with Harvard Medical School’s Schepens Eye Research Institute and the National Eye Institute, among others,” Dr. Wing said.

Retina Consultants of Southwest Florida offers all of the FDA-approved therapies for retinal eye disease and is the most experienced team of retina specialists in Southwest Florida with combined experience of more than 125 years. Offices are conveniently located in Naples, Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Bonita Springs and Port Charlotte.