The Strabismus Institute

The Strabismus Institute is national and international in scope. Affiliated regional centers will be supported by a technological infrastructure with a secure central databank, which will allow disseminated researchers and caregivers to evaluate tens of thousands of anonymous case studies and develop a coordinated "plan of action" for strabismus care.

Strabismus causes multiple associated life disabilities, and studies show the associated quality of life is significantly decreased for those individuals afflicted. The condition affects about 4 percent of the population, both children and adults. While incremental improvements in the care of strabismus over the past 50 years continues, significant gaps persist in understanding basic mechanisms of the disease, and  barriers to the access of expert care remains. The pace of innovation, indeed the accumulation of the evidence base for care practices, is and continues to be too slow. Available manpower is insufficient to meet the current medical needs of the population, particularly in adults. Hence, we are losing ground to the problem, meaning there is a substantial and growing backlog of inadequately treated disease and in increasing volume of new unmet needs for strabismus care. Too many questions remain unanswered; too few practitioners, with inadequate information and resources are out there. Consequently there is substantial variability in practice patterns, and outcome improvements are at risk. We can and must do better.

The Institute will focus on both clinical improvement and basic science research. Clinical improvements will be facilitated by the Parks Database, the preeminent source of information relating to eye disorders in children. This database, currently in the final stages of development, will be web-based and will support research related to strabismus. The strategies will be focused on translational research, thereby accelerating the transfer of improvements to the benefit of patients.

Education strategies will be focused on the needs and interests of patient care, and be transparently disseminated to practitioners and the public. The strategy will include rapid and continuous dissemination of innovation.

Our strategic goal is to cure strabismus in 25 years. This multidisciplinary program will use the tools of value-based medicine to keep score, and thereby elevate evidence-based strabismus care to a new level. Success will be defined by fulfilling the strategic goal, based on patient-centered outcome measures. Thereafter, the intellectual property and infrastructure will be transferred to the beneficiaries for long-term sustainability.