Comparative Performance of Humphrey Kinetic, Static, and Hybrid Visual Fields in Simulated and Real Ocular Pathology
Faculty Information
Name:
Dr. Alvaro Mejia-Vergara
Email
yzhou1996@ufl.edu
Phone
(305) 342-9166
Faculty Department/Division
Neurology
This project is primarily:
Clinical
Research Project Description:
Visual fields can be assessed in several ways, including automated testing using machines that either blink (static) or move targets (kinetic) to assess a patient’s visual field. The traditional Goldmann Visual Field is the gold standard and uses a human operator to move and blink targets but is no longer manufactured. The Octopus line of machines now supersedes them. The Humphrey Visual Field is the most widely used and researched method but is rarely used for its kinetic field function and only described once in literature. In this study, we will compare kinetic, static, and Goldmann Visual Fields on model patients wearing blurring glasses, then on real patients who require visual field testing. This study expects to statistically compare the performance of the Humphrey Kinetic Visual Field in relation to the other visual field methods and to develop a custom visual field on the Humphrey machine with greater performance. Visual fields will be performed in the UF Oaks Eye Clinic. A participating medical student will be expected to read The Field Analyzer Primer: Excellent Perimetry, fifth edition on the University of Iowa website, learn the basics of visual field science, and learn how to perform each of these visual fields in clinic. The student will be expected to enroll participants and perform study-related-only visual fields (clinical fields will be performed by clinic staff). They may choose to learn basic statistics and statistical packages if desired, but this is not necessary. The faculty, residents, and MSRP students will then convene and analyze the data using SITA statpaks and write a manuscript for publication in an ICJME PubMed-indexed journal such as JNO, AAO, AJO, IOVS, or Clinical Ophthalmology. MSRP students may choose to build their own hypotheses, present posters, and collect additional data or write additional manuscripts as they are able. External funding is not necessary. Most study events will take place at the Oaks Eye Center. IRB and protocol will be completed prior to April 2025. Study is expected to start May-June 2025. Results should be ready by end of August 2025. Publication timeline to be determined but flexible per student.
Does this project have an international component or travel?
No
If your project has an international component please give details (where, when, data collection involved, etc.):
No international component. Also, Yujia Zhou, PGY-2 is coordinating the study, so his email and number is listed above. My email is amejiavergara@ufl.edu if you need to contact me.
Improving speed, accuracy, and quality of acute stroke care
Name:
Dr. Christina Wilson
Email
christina.wilson@neurology.ufl.edu
Phone
(352) 273-5550
Faculty Department/Division
Neurology
This project is primarily:
Clinical
Research Project Description:
“Time is brain” is an important mantra in the treatment of acute ischemic stroke, as each second of an untreated stroke can result in permanent damage to over 32,000neurons. Comprehensive stroke centers continuously strive to improve their accuracy of stroke identification and shorten treatment times in order to improve outcomes forpatients. The UF Stroke Team has multiple ongoing projects to identify and address barriers to stroke care within specific patient populations. For example, one project is tounderstand factors that contribute to administration of thrombolytics later than desired (ie, greater than 30 minutes after arrival to the hospital), so that interventions can bedesigned to target these specific patient populations for faster treatment. Other ongoing studies are to understand predictive factors underlying inaccurately-called stroke alertsin the inpatient setting and emergency department, which will then lead to the creation of targeted educational material for assessment in follow-up studies. Medical studentswill assist with data collection via retrospective chart review, data analysis, and/or creation of stroke education material for healthcare team members and patients. Theseprojects will likely lead to one or more presentations and publications, and best of all – your work will lead to improvements in the quality of stroke patient care!
Example publication: J Neurosci Nurs 2023;55(6):194-198.
Does this project have an international component or travel? No
Understanding Parkinson’s disease through artificial intelligence
Name:
Dr. Joshua Wong
Email
joshua.wong@neurology.ufl.edu
Phone
(352) 294-5400
Faculty Department/Division
Neurology
This project is primarily:
Clinical
Research Project Description:
Parkinson’s disease is a heterogenous disorder with a wide spectrum of clinical phenomenology. We are learning that there are some treatment approaches that are specific to
certain clusters of clinical characteristics, however this concept remains incompletely understood and unexplored. Thus there is an urgent need for AI-guided patient-specific
algorithms that can be individually tailored to each person’s unique disease phenotype.
We will analyze longitudinal data collected from the PPMI database and apply cutting edge machine learning techniques to identify predictive qualities of clinical outcome
metrics such as motor symptoms, non-motor symptoms, need for interventional therapy, neuromodulation/DBS, hospitalizations, care-giver burden etc. The analysis will include
tabular data along with neuroimaging and electrophysiology data all included in the open-access PPMI database
Students will participate in background literature review, data collection, data analysis and manuscript writing. We also encourage students to learn from our lab about the
integration of AI in medicine.
Does this project have an international component or travel?
No