Lecturer: Keith H. Baratz, MD
Keith Baratz, MD, is a Professor of Ophthalmology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, where he has served on the staff for 25 years. His clinical practice has focused on the medical and surgical treatment of corneal and external eye diseases, corneal transplantation, and cataract surgery. Over the course of his career, his research interests have included basic science and clinical studies on the outcomes of corneal transplantation, epidemiology, and the molecular biology of the common corneal disease, Fuchs dystrophy. As the director of the Mayo Clinic Hereditary Eye Disease Study, he has supported his own research and that of his colleagues through the recruitment of patients to prospective studies on the genetic basis of inherited eye conditions.
Dr. Baratz grew up near Philadelphia and was educated at Brown University and Duke University School of Medicine. After an ophthalmology residency at Mayo Clinic and a cornea/external disease fellowship at Duke, he joined the ophthalmology staff at Mayo Clinic in 1992. In addition to his clinical and research activities, he is completing an 8-year term on the board of directors of the American Board of Ophthalmology. As chair of the Board’s Maintenance of Certification Committee, he has led efforts to restructure and execute the Board’s recertification programs.
During this lecture, Dr. Baratz will review his team’s research on Fuchs corneal dystrophy, which is the most common indication for corneal transplantation. In conjunction with his team , Drs. Michael P. Fautsch and Eric D. Wieben, he has developed a collaborative research program that has progressed from the investigation of familial trends of the disease through specific causative mutations, mechanisms of disease, and the identification of therapeutic targets. Dr. Baratz will use his personal experiences to reflect on the critical roles of team-based science, constructive collaboration, persistence, and serendipity in the success of a research program.
Mayo Clinic, Gonda Bldg, Subway Level, Geffen Auditorium (Enter Gonda using east doors street level)
200 1st Street SW
Rochester, MN 55902