Stanford (Calif.) Medicine used a $10 million gift to launch a medical center focusing on optic disc drusen, a poorly understood eye disease.
What you should know:
1. Optic disc drusen can lead to visual impairment and blindness. The disease creates tiny calcium phosphate deposits that fill the hole where the optic nerve connects the eyes to the brain.
2. Two percent of the population has the disease, which has no cure and is often progressive in nature.
3. Joyce Liao, MD, PhD, will lead the center. She said she and other researchers hope their work will make major advances in understanding the disease and treating the condition.