National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Awards Research Grant to Dr. Wang

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has awarded JIANHUA (JAY) WANG, M.D., PH.D., M.S., professor of ophthalmology, a 5-year $1,477,881 research grant. Teamed with John Detre, M.D., at the University of Pennsylvania, the project will investigate how blood supply in the brain relates to the blood supply in the retina in humans. The project will evaluate novel noninvasive methods for imaging the small vessel structure and function in both the brain and eye to refine image markers of small vessel disease in the brain. Neuro-ophthalmologist, HONG JIANG, M.D., PH.D., associate professor of clinical ophthalmology and neurology, and Pradip Pattany, Ph.D., (UM radiology), are co-investigators. Jiang recently received a $250,000 grant from the Florida Department of Health Ed and Ethel Moore Alzheimer’s Disease Research Program. She is exploring retinal biomarkers for use in monitoring vascular contributions to Alzheimer’s disease. She and Wang will be using optical coherence tomography angiography to study the role that retinal microvascular and microstructural changes relate to MRI brain and cognitive function.