YOGYAKARTA-Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Gadjah Mada, dr. Aditya Tri Hernowo, Ph.D., was awarded Tsutsui-Fujino Prize 2012 in Kyoto, Japan (17/11). Aditya achieved the award for his scientific work in the field of neuro-ophthalmology (medical branch of eye nervous system), mainly on the finding regarding brain damage in glaucoma (an eye disease that causes a progressive decline in vision that led to blindness).
Hernowo was nominated by Dr. Masaki Yoshida, MD, a neuro-opthalmologist and leading researcher at the French Institute of Ophthalmology and Jikei University, Tokyo. The award is given directly in The 50th Annual Japan Neuro-ophthalmological Society (Janos) Meeting the general assembly by Prof. Akio Tabuchi, M.D. as chairman of Tsutsui-Fujino Foundation, and Prof. Masato Wakakura, M.D., as chairman of JANOS.
Prof. Masato Wakakura on the occasion said that in Japan there is decline in the number of ophthalmologists with expertise in neuro-ophthalmology, the remaining experts are mostly elderly, the rest retired. The situation is also common in Indonesia due to the low number of neuro-ophthalmology expert.
"Seeing this negative trend, JANOS considers the need to identify as well as develop candidates of neuro-ophthalmology experts in Asia," Masato said.
Achieving the award, dr. Hernowo briefly gave a scientific presentation about brain damage in the degeneration of the retina (macula) and a ceremonial lecture about brain damage in glaucoma. He hoped that the award and the meeting with the leaders of neuro-ophthalmology and neuroscience can accelerate collaboration between the Section of Ophthalmology Faculty of Medicine UGM and eye research centers in Japan.
"Hopefully, it would more strengthen the collaboration of Faculty of Medicine UGM with Japanese research centers. Moreover, we are scheduling to meet world-renowned leaders in the field of regeneration and corneal transplant, Dr. Kazuo Tsubota," Aditya said.
Some prominent figures of neuro-ophthalmology attended on the occasion, namely Prof. Ishikawa (the founder of Japanese Neuro-ophthalmology Society), Prof. Hashimoto (magnetic resonance spectroscopy researcher in neuro-ophthalmology), Prof. Shikishima and Prof. Wakakura who are neuro-ophthalmology collaborators from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).
Tsutsui-Fujino Prize was awarded to young researchers in the field of neuro-ophthalmology in Asia. The award is motivated by the trend arising in the eye medical science today, especially the field of neuro-ophthalmology which is considered a tormentor and a subspecialty that is difficult to understand and put into practice. This is partly because patients with optic nerve disorders are generally difficult to diagnose and difficult to recover.