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Office: 11190A PFPIowa City, IA 52242 Phone: +1 319 356 8301 Email: mark-wilkinson@uiowa.edu
Web: UI Dept. of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences
OD, Optometry, Illinois College of Optometry, 1980
Primary: Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences
age-related vision loss, blindness, driving, intraocular lens, optometry, retinitis pigmentosa, vision, vision rehabilitation, visual field loss, visual impairment
Dr. Wilkinson's research interests are in two general areas; inherited eye diseases and driving with a reduction in visual functioning. Dr. Wilkinson works with Dr. Edwin Stone and the other researchers in the Carver Family Center for Macular Degeneration (CFCMD) to evaluate and quantify the phenotypic differences in visual functioning of individuals with inherited eye diseases. Dr. Wilkinson is also working with the CFCMD on Project 3000, a study designed to genotype and phenotype all individuals in the United States with Leber's Congenital Amaurosis. In the area of driving with a reduction in visual functioning, Dr. Wilkinson recently worked with the FDA's Ophthalmic Device Division to evaluate how contrast sensitivity loss affects driving performance under mesopic lighting conditions. Driving performance was evaluated at the University of Iowa National Advanced Driving Simulator and Simulation Center (NADS). Additional studies Dr. Wilkinson will be involved with in the first quarter of 2007, which will also be contacted at NADS, include a study that will look at the driving behaviors of individuals who have experienced a permanent reduction in their visual fields from conditions such as retinitis pigmentosa and stroke. Another study will evaluate an advanced optics aspheric intraocular lens under night driving conditions. Finally, a study to evaluate the benefits of an advanced optics aspheric contact lens while driving is under development at this time.