The thin layers and fine structures of the retina have given it the distinction of being one of the most difficult parts of the human body for surgical intervention. That challenge has not deterred Wilmer’s Peter Gehlbach, M.D., Ph.D. In fact, it has motivated him to the point that he has dedicated the last 12 years of his professional life to collaborating with engineers at the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering to invent and develop robotic approaches to retinal surgery. The research team now refers to its exceedingly productive collaboration as “The Whiting-Wilmer Bridge.”
“There are so many brilliant minds and dedicated scientists at Whiting,” Gehlbach says. “Their technical skill, matched with our clinical understanding of what’s actually needed in the operating theater, has been a truly productive pairing. This enduring relationship has led to some exciting and high-impact work together.” Gehlbach humbly acknowledges a continuous stream of collaborative grant funding, numerous patents, peer reviewed papers, and national and international talks. His pride is most evident when discussing the influence of this collaboration on the many promising young engineering researchers who will now contribute their knowledge and skills to improving retinal surgery. “At some point, we became an internationally recognized team that has changed the future,” he says.
Even before that partnership began, however, Gehlbach had made a name for himself by inventing the gastrointestinal chemical pacemaker — for treating patients after surgery who suffer from nerve-based intestinal blockage. After earning his M.D. and then his Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota in cell and integrative physiology (where he identified a role for iron in reperfusion injury to the retina), he completed a residency in ophthalmology at Washington University before moving on to a retina fellowship at the Casey Eye Institute. It was there that he secured institutional research board approval for testing a new method of screening for certain retinopathies using a “wide-field camera.” On arriving at Wilmer, Gehlbach was the recipient of a National Institutes of Health K08 award, Knights Templar Eye Foundation Grant and Research to Prevent Blindness Career Development Award for work in the areas of gene therapy and angiogenesis/anti-angiogenesis.
Recently, Gehlbach’s stature was solidified when he became the inaugural recipient of the recently endowed J. Willard Marriott, Jr. Professorship of Ophthalmology, established by the hotelier J.W. “Bill” Marriott Jr. The endowment was years in the making, built through a number of gifts by Marriott, his family, the J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation, and other contributors. Gehlbach plans to deploy the funds into his academic mission.
As a permanent endowment, the professorship will support future generations of Wilmer researchers as they pursue their best ideas. Gehlbach notes: “It is in this ‘forever contribution’ that I am personally most pleased, and all of us at Wilmer are beholden to Bill Marriott and his family for this honor.”
The endowment will cover many aspects of the J. Willard Marriott, Jr. Professor’s work, including partial support of salary, buying that critical piece of equipment or affording that much needed resource to advance research. It also allows for the strengthening of collaborative bridges with the
Whiting School and other research programs. In that regard, Gehlbach says, the word “important” does not begin to describe the critical role that an endowed professorship plays for a research-focused institution like Wilmer.
“Professorships are the backbone, the ballast, that get us through the lean times — the COVID-19 times — providing flexibility and allowing our creativity, ingenuity, inventiveness and inspiration to continue uninterrupted,” he says.
These are the precise qualities that Bill Marriott hoped to support through his endowment.
“Dr. Gehlbach is a brilliant surgeon and scientist. What makes him especially unique is his secondary appointment at the Whiting School of Engineering,” Marriott says. “My family and I are indebted to Dr. Gehlbach and proud that our professorship will support his work. Collaboration is at the heart of discovery and innovation, and it has been a privilege to play a part in ensuring that robotics and retinal microsurgeries continue to develop hand in glove.”