|
| Alumni Affairs 2001 Recipient - Ivan Schwab, MD (Class of 1973)  Ivan Schwab is the first surgeon to cultivate, in vitro, moist human tissue from stem cells and successfully transplant this tissue to a human eye. This medical breakthrough brings hope to people with corneal scarring previously thought to be untreatable. It also opens the door for other investigators to develop certain moist tissues for transplantation to other organ systems. More than ten years ago, Dr. Schwab had the idea that human ocular tissue could be cultivated from healthy cells and transplanted to eyes blinded from certain disease processes or from scarring. Such blindness was previously considered untreatable. His transplantation technique brings hope to many people who have lost, or never had, their sight. In addition to research, Dr. Schwab is an accomplished teacher working with medical students, residents and fellows in Cornea and External Disease. He teaches the most popular and longest-running instructional course at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, teaching it for 15 consecutive years. He has also been guest or named lecturer at more than two dozen academic institutions. Dr. Schwab, currently professor of ophthalmology at the University of California-Davis Medical Center, holds two degrees from WVU. He graduated summa cum laude from undergraduate school in 1969 and received his MD in 1973. He completed his residency at Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco where he was Chief Resident in 1979-1980. Dr. Schwab was a faculty member at WVU before assuming his position at UC Davis. While at WVU he was Acting Chair of Ophthalmology for six months, Medical Director of the Medical Eye Bank of West Virginia, and Chief of Staff at Ruby Memorial Hospital. He has chaired numerous national professional working groups and professional committees of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. |
|||