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Proctor International Programs |
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The Francis I. Proctor Foundation was founded in 1947 for the specific aim of eradicating trachoma worldwide. Since that time, it has evolved into a major research and teaching unit at UCSF, with the Foundation’s goal remaining the prevention and treatment of blindness worldwide. The International Programs division at Proctor has taken over the original goal of the foundation and has focused on the prevention of blindness programs in Asia and Africa. Specifically, we have started several research projects in Nepal and Ethiopia studying ways to prevent and treat trachoma in the most cost effective manner possible. In our partnership with Johns Hopkins University and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine we are attempting, with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to develop cost effective methods for the elimination of trachoma world wide in the foreseeable future. Other partners in trachoma eradication include the WHO, The Carter Center, and Orbis International. Another focus of our research is the problem of corneal ulceration worldwide, but specifically in Southeast Asia. We have partnered with Aravind Eye Hospital, the largest Eye Hospital in the world, since 1991 in this effort. The International Programs division of the Proctor Foundation has been instrumental in developing microbiology labs in Southeast Asia which have provided support for several important research projects on the treatment of bacterial and fungal keratitis. Two major studies in that area, supported by NIH grants, are now in progress. A third major area of research, in partnership with the UCSF School of Dentistry, is the International Sjögren’s Syndrome Registry. Sjögren’s syndrome, an autoimmune disease primarily causing dry eyes and a dry mouth, occurs mainly in women and is of unknown etiology. The purpose of the registry is to create an International diagnostic criteria for the syndrome and to collect epidemiologic data and biologic samples from patients so that basic research can be done by diverse international groups to determine the cause of this syndrome. Sjögren’s clinics have been set up in collaboration with Proctor International programs in Beijing, China; Kanazawa, Japan; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Copenhagen, Denmark; London, England; and Madurai, India (in progress). The lead center is at UCSF.
International Programs in the NewsAntibiotic targeting of children in northern Ethiopia to improve trachoma control Eliminating Blindness Due to Trachoma: Is It Possible? Saving the World in Ethiopia: One Child at a Time Study Finds Follow-up Treatments Needed for Blinding Disease New Model Shows how to Eradicate World’s Leading Infectious Cause of Blindness |
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