Research team wins top award at national eye surgeon meeting

A team featuring a School of Medicine professor, resident surgeon and medical student won the top award during the May 2019 American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeon’s annual meeting in San Diego.

John Jarstad, MD, associate professor of clinical ophthalmology, along with resident eye surgeon Van Nguyen, MD, and graduating medical student Carli Wittgrove won “Best Paper of Session” and earned the “Best of The Best” research award for their research paper. The paper looked at the necessity of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drops to prevent cystic macular edema, and beat out more than 900 other entries.

“Our research helped to provide an answer to solving the No. 1 complication after routine cataract surgery which is high pressure afterwards,” Jarstad said. “We were surprised that our research at MU Health Care’s Mason Eye Institute and the Missouri Center for Outpatient Surgery was chosen for this prestigious award, given the number of outstanding papers from all over the world.”