Biography

Douglas R. Anderson, MD
Professor of Ophthalmology
Douglas R. Anderson Chair in Ophthalmology
Glaucoma Research

View published articles in the National Library of Medicine.

Research Summary

In 2007, Douglas R. Anderson, M.D., was presented with the University of Miami Faculty Senate's Distinguished Faculty Scholar Award. The following biography was printed in the brochure distributed at the award ceremony.

Douglas R. Anderson is the son of MD graduates of the University of Toronto and their first of four children. During World War II, his father was at St. Louis University and his mother participated in the emerging work of Red Cross blood banking. After a short time in Milwaukee, the family moved to Miami where his father became the founding chairman of the pathology department of a new medical school at the University of Miami and chief of pathology at Jackson Memorial Hospital.

Douglas graduated from Coral Gables Senior High and earned a BA magna cum laude from the University of Miami. He began laboratory research in medical school at Washington University in St. Louis. After a rotating internship in Cleveland he continued research at the National Cancer Institute, where he fell in love with Wirtley and married her in 1964. They now have three children and four grandchildren.
 
He continued laboratory research during his ophthalmology residency at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center and a glaucoma research fellowship at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. In 1969, he became the sixth clinician of the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute.  His main laboratory interest was to understand the mechanisms of glaucomatous damage to the optic nerve.  Early work showed the blockage of rapid axonal transport by elevated intraocular pressure while subsequent work was aimed at understanding the control of blood flow in capillaries by pericytes.  He also studied the regulation of optic nerve blood flow non-invasively in human subjects, bringing laboratory insights to the realm of human physiology and disease.

In collaboration with Dr. Ralph Kirsch he characterized the clinical appearance of glaucomatous cupping, work that was recognized with a Gold Medal by the American Academy of Ophthalmology in 1972. Expert in evaluating optic discs, he later became associate director for the Optic Disc Reading Center of the multi-center collaborative Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study. He is on the executive/steering committee of this randomized clinical trial now in its 13th year. Dr. Anderson continues to refine an understanding of the anatomic variations of optic nerve anatomy as revealed by optical coherence tomography and the anatomic changes of the optic disc in glaucoma.

In 1988, he and Dr. Stephen Drance initiated a 23-center 15-year collaborative randomized clinical trial on normal-tension glaucoma, mainly to show the pathophysiologic importance of pressure in glaucomatous nerve damage and visual loss. For this work they received an International Glaucoma Review Special Recognition Award in 2002.

Dr. Anderson’s keen observations have also contributed to the art and science of visual field testing in the clinical management of glaucoma.  He has written numerous research papers and several editions of a textbook on this subject.  Through his work on the optic disc and visual fields, he has recognized the difficulties in quantifying progression of glaucomatous damage, both in clinical studies and in patient care.  This forms the basis of his current work on identifying and validating progression in glaucoma by anatomic, physiologic and psychophysical measurements.

Dr. Anderson's keen observations have also contributed to the art and science of visual field testing in the clinical management of glaucoma. He has written numerous research papers and several editions of a textbook on this subject. Through his work on the optic disc and visual fields, he has recognized the difficulties in quantifying progression of glaucomatous damage, both in clinical studies and in patient care. This forms the basis of his current work on identifying and validating progression in glaucoma by anatomic, physiologic and psychophysical measurements. Dr. Anderson's awards and honors are numerous. He is the former president of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology and the recipient of their Mildred Weisenfeld Award for outstanding ophthalmic research. He is a founding member and past president of the American Glaucoma Society. Dr. Anderson has been honored by presenting lectures at the International Perimetric Society, the Optometric Glaucoma Society and the American Glaucoma Society. Prestigious awards include the UM Career Achievement Award, the Georg von Bartisch Medal from Dresden University for his lifelong contributions in glaucoma research, and the International Glaucoma Research Society's Goldmann medal. Additionally, he has delivered named lectures including those established to honor glaucoma luminaries such as Becker, Grant, Shaffer, Worthen, Goldmann, Forbes, and Sugar.

In 1975, he was the first recipient of the Professor of the Year award by a graduating class of ophthalmology residents and in 2001 he received the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute Alumni Association Award. In 1995, the Douglas R. Anderson Chair in Ophthalmology was established and named in honor of Bascom Palmer's premier glaucoma authority. Respected and admired by his colleagues, patients and friends, Dr. Anderson presently occupies this eponymous chair.