Corneal Nerves: Function in Health and Disease

Dr. Dartt received her AB degree from Barnard College in New York City and her PhD from the Depart. of Physiology at UPenn in Philadelphia. After postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and Tufts University School of Medicine, she joined the Schepens Eye Research Institute in 1985.

Her primary research interests are the signaling pathways used by nerves and growth factors in the lacrimal gland and conjunctival goblet cells to induce secretion and proliferation and how dysregulation of these pathways can lead to dry eye syndromes in mouse models and humans. Recently she has started a new area of research of the role of goblet cells in the innate immune system to protect the eye from inflammation and infection. She has been continuously funded by NIH since 1980 for this work.

Dr. Dartt directs the Institute’s Department of Defense Research Program and chaired five Military Vision Research Symposia. She served on and chaired the ARVO Cornea Program Planning Committee and served on the Members in Training Committee. She was Vice-President for North America for the International Society for Eye Research and a Councilor for the International Society for Contact Lens Wear. She is on the Editorial Board for Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Experimental Eye Research, and The Ocular Surface. She is now a permanent member of the NIH Study Section BPVS. She received the Lew R. Wasserman Merit Award by Research to Prevent Blindness and is a Gold Fellow of ARVO and has over 150 publications.