Emory Eye Center resident Dr. Mung Yan (“Amy”) Lin received a top honor for her research presentation, "Emergency Department Non-Mydriatic Fundus Photography Expedites Care for Patients Referred for Papilledema" at the North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society (NANOS) Annual Meeting, held March 2-7 in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Lin received the Best Abstract by a Resident award for her turn at the dais, where she described the process and results of an eight-month study conducted in concert with members of the Neuro-ophthalmology Section and the Emory University Hospital Emergency Department. Lin plans to pursue a neuro-ophthalmology fellowship at the Emory Eye Center after she graduates from the ophthalmology residency program this June.
“Research is a part of the residency program at the Emory Department of Ophthalmology, but not everyone excels the way Dr. Lin did,” said Nancy J. Newman, MD, who heads up the Neuro-Ophthalmology Section.
Altogether more than 70 Emory Eye Center faculty, fellows, residents and affiliates attended NANOS -- 20 of whom made presentations before the larger assembly. Former Emory Eye Center international neuro-ophthalmology fellow Benson Chen won the prestigious NANOS Young Investigator Award.
Lin was equally surprised and reassured by the award, which recognized the great impact of her presentation.
“Last June, we installed a hybrid ocular/OCT ocular fundus camera in our general Emory University Hospital Emergency Department (ED),” explained Lin.
“From there, our goal was to evaluate any patient presenting with acute vision complaints or headaches. For my prospective study, specifically, we looked at all patients presenting with papilledema-related concerns. At the end of eight months, we found our fundus camera reduced ED length of stay (median hours) by 50% for papilledema-related visits. It also decreased the burden of neuro-ophthalmology in-person consultations.”
Working with Lin to gather data for the study were faculty, fellows, and medical students from the Emory Neuro-Ophthalmology Section and the Emory Department of Emergency Medicine: Hetal J. Ray, MD, Andrew M. Pendley, MD, Avital Lily Okrent Smolar, MD, Mariana Rodrigues Duran, BA, Mariam Torres Soto, BA, Etienne Bernard-Seguin, MD, Gabriele Berman, MD, Beau B. Bruce, MD, PhD, David W. Wright, MD, Nancy J. Newman, MD, and Valerie Biousse, MD.
-Kathleen E. Moore