Edwin Stone, MD, PhD, professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences at the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, and director of the Institute for Vision Research at the UI, has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine.

Election to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service. This year, NAM elected 90 national members and 10 international members, bringing NAM’s total membership to more than 2,500.

We are thrilled that Dr. Stone has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine. This honor reflects the caliber of his work, which has had a transformative impact on the treatment of blinding eye diseases like macular degeneration and glaucoma. - Denise Jamieson, MD, MPH

New members are elected by current members through a process that recognizes individuals who have made major contributions to the advancement of the medical sciences, health care, and public health.

“We are thrilled that Dr. Stone has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine,” says Denise Jamieson, MD, MPH, UI vice president for medical affairs and the Tyrone D. Artz Dean of the UI Carver College of Medicine. “This honor reflects the caliber of his work, which has had a transformative impact on the treatment of blinding eye diseases like macular degeneration and glaucoma. Ed is one of the world’s most exceptional scholars and leaders, and this recognition by his peers is well-deserved.”

Stone is recognized for his work that has transformed ophthalmic genetics with seminal discoveries, including the identification and mechanistic characterization of the first human glaucoma gene, genes involved in macular degeneration, and numerous retinopathy genes. He is currently leading the development of affordable and nonprofit genetic testing and therapy for degenerative retinal diseases.

“UI Health Care is regarded as pioneer in genetic ophthalmology, and this reputation was largely established by Ed,” says Keith Carter, MD, FACS, the chair and department executive officer of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at UI Health Care. “From the beginning, Ed had a strong interest in genetics, and he wanted everybody to have access to these advancements. He secured funding to develop the Carver Nonprofit Genetic Testing Laboratory in 2002, which provides low-cost genetic tests to patients in every state of the U.S. and more than 60 other countries.”

In addition to founding the Carver Nonprofit Genetic Testing Laboratory, Stone created an open-access web-based teaching tool with thousands of downloadable full-resolution images to help physicians around the world improve their ability to diagnose Mendelian retinal diseases. Stone’s current research interests include the development of affordable gene and stem cell-based treatments for all molecular forms of inherited retinal disease and the identification of new disease-causing and phenotype-modifying genetic variations.

Stone received his medical degree and doctoral degree with honors from the Baylor College of Medicine and his residency and fellowship training in ophthalmology and vitreoretinal surgery at the University of Iowa, where he joined the faculty in 1990. He holds the Seamans-Hauser Chair of Molecular Ophthalmology at the UI Carver College of Medicine.

Stone joins the following UI faculty and administrators who have been elected members of the NAM:

• Francois M. Abboud*
• Edwin G. Abel
• Nancy C. Andreasen*
• Joseph A. Buckwalter
• Kathleen C. Buckwalter*
• Kevin P. Campbell
• John W. Colloton*
• Susan J. Curry*
• Bruce J. Gantz
• Denise J. Jamieson
• James A. Merchant*
• Jeffrey C. Murray*
• Jennifer R. Niebyl*
• Corinne Peek-Asa*
• Deb Schwinn*
• Val C. Sheffield
• Richard J. Smith
• Robert B. Wallace*
• Ronald J. Weigel
• Michael J. Welsh

_{*emeritus/retired faculty}