Dr. David K. Wallace Newest Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee

David K. Wallace, MD, MPH, Chair, Department of Ophthalmology, Marilyn K. Glick Professor of Ophthalmology, Indiana University School of Medicine. Doctor Wallace is also a Member of The Knights Templar Eye Foundation Scientific Advisory Committee, and was awarded the Knights Templar Eye Foundation 1997 Career Starter grant.

It’s been a pleasure for me to join the Knights Templar Scientific Advisory Board in 2021. When asked to serve in this role, I accepted without hesitation, because I recall fondly how the Knights Templar Eye Foundation helped launch my clinical research career back in 1997. At that time, I was an Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology and Pediatrics at the University of North Carolina (UNC). We had a small group of investigators interested in studying retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), but we did not have any funding to support this work. Retinopathy of prematurity is one of the most common causes of blindness in children worldwide. With the funds from the Knights Templar Eye Foundation, we were able to collect video images of the retina of infants with ROP. We completed studies that helped us understand important risk factors for severe ROP, such as poor rate of weight gain early in life, early blood vessel changes (“pre-plus disease”), and small tufts of tissue above the retina (“popcorn”).

In 2004, I had the opportunity to be a member of the committee that revised the International Classification of ROP, and to learn from some of the “giants” in our field. A few years later, I participated as an investigator, and then as an Executive Committee member, in the Early Treatment for ROP randomized trial. These experiences piqued my interest in contributing to the development of better treatments for ROP. Later I received an NIH K23 Career Development Award in Patient-Oriented Research, and I obtained a Master’s in Public Health in Epidemiology, which provided a deeper understanding of research design and statistics. In 2014, I assumed the role of network chair for the Pediatric Eye Disease Investigator Group (PEDIG), an NIH-funded national clinical trials network.

ROP care has rapidly evolved. Until 5-10 years ago, most infants with severe ROP were treated using laser. Now many infants are treated with injections of drugs that reverse the sight-threatening effects of severe ROP. However, much remains unknown about which drugs are best and what dose we should use. Our PEDIG group recently completed a multi-center study that helped to establish that a much lower dose can be used, which is potentially safer for infants and better for their developing vision. Our research group is now planning 2 simultaneous multi-center randomized clinical trials to help determine the best care for premature infants with severe ROP; one will compare laser to a low-dose injection, and the other will compare 2 different doses of injections.

When I reflect back on my early career, it could have gone in any of several different directions – private practice, industry, or academic medicine with a focus on education, administration, or research. The grant I received from the Knights Templar Eye Foundation in 1997 gave our group the support we needed to study ROP, and it allowed me to begin to develop skills as a clinical researcher. Subsequently, I chose to devote a large part of my career to helping find better treatments for ROP and other pediatric eye diseases.

David K. Wallace, MD, MPH