About Us » FFB Funded Researchers
Eliot L. Berson, M.D.
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Eliot L. Berson, M.D. is the William F. Chatlos Professor of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School, and Director of Harvard’s Berman-Gund Laboratory for the Study of Retinal Degenerations at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. He is also Director of the Electroretinography (ERG) Service at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. A graduate of Phillips Andover, Yale, and Harvard Medical School, he is the author of over 200 papers on hereditary retinal degenerations with a particular emphasis on retinitis pigmentosa and allied night-blinding disorders. His research has been recognized by several awards including the Franceschetti Award of the International Society for Genetic Eye Diseases, the Friedenwald Award of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, the MERIT Award of the National Eye Institute, the Pisart Vision Award of the New York Lighthouse International, two Alcon Research Institute awards, the Llura Liggett Gund Award of the Foundation Fighting Blindness, and the von Sallmann Prize of the International Society of Eye Research. He and his colleagues are responsible for developing the first treatment regimen for adults with typical retinitis pigmentosa -- namely, vitamin A palmitate, DHA supplementation by capsules for 2 years for those starting vitamin A for the first time, and an omega-3 rich fish diet of which DHA is a major constituent for those already on vitamin A. They have also been responsible for the initial discovery of several gene mutations responsible for retinitis pigmentosa and for development and treatment of laboratory models of this condition. He evaluates patients in consultation in the Electroretinography (ERG) Service attached to the Berman-Gund Laboratory at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary where patients come for diagnosis, prognosis, and initiation of vitamin A therapy where appropriate. |
