Veterinary ophthalmology can foster insights and progress in glaucoma care

At the Glaucoma 360 meeting in San Francisco, California, Sarah M. Thomasy, DVM, PhD, DACVO, spoke to Ophthalmology Times about her research. Dr Thomasy is a veterinary ophthalmologist at UC Davis. She addressed the ways that glaucoma affects dogs, cats, horses and non-human primates, and why collaboration between veterinary and physician ophthalmologists is key to proogress.

Editor's note: The below transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Sarah M. Thomasy, DVM, PhD, DACVO: Hi, I'm Dr Sarah Thomasy. I'm a veterinary ophthalmologist at UC Davis, and I have dual appointments in the School of Veterinary Medicine, the School of Medicine in the department of ophthalmology and vision science, as well as the California National Primate Research Center, where I'm a core scientist.

I think what I really wanted the audience to take away is that people aren't the only species that get glaucoma. That glaucoma affects our companion animals on a daily basis. Dogs, cats, horses, pretty much any species you can think of can suffer from glaucoma. I also want people to realise that dogs are excellent models of angle closure glaucoma, and that there are new non-human primate models of glaucoma, such as the steroid-induced ocular hypertension model that I mentioned, as well as optic nerve degeneration. We have a very exciting autosomal dominant optic atrophy model that we think can help speed development of neuroprotective therapies.

The future of glaucoma is so incredibly bright. This meeting has absolutely inspired me. I have so many takeaways from this meeting. For example, we were sort of mystified by a problem in horses, a response to therapy that we couldn't understand. And today, because of a wonderful presentation about suprachoroidal delivery and the effects on non-conventional outflow, I think I understand why horses are having this response to this particular drug in in the suprachoroidal space. I think that there is so much opportunity for veterinary and physician ophthalmologists to collaborate. Indeed, our residents present at every grand rounds that our medical school has. I think that UC Davis really is the poster child for collaborations between veterinary and physician ophthalmologists. Our residents do microsurgical training together. I collaborate with numerous physician ophthalmologists on non-human primate and dog models, and I do think there's so much for physician ophthalmologists to learn from veterinary ophthalmologists. A One Health approach is really the best approach to understanding the best animal models possible to answer questions about human glaucoma.

College is the Diplomates of the American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists. So that's our board certification process. Residents have to do a 3- or 4-year program, and then have to pass a very difficult boards qualifying exam. And there are now over 400 veterinary ophthalmologists that are board-certified in the American College of Veterinary ophthalmology. Europe also has this analogous certification process, but their college is even smaller than ours. So we are an intimate group, but a group that can help physician ophthalmologists and glaucoma researchers answer many questions regarding animal modeling and and therapeutic development.