September 1, 2024. Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired shares this research update with VisionServe Alliance Members…
Miami Lighthouse Announces Two-Year Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI) Study
With September being “CVI Month”, effective September 1, Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Inc. announces a two-year, $2 Million award for the study of Cortical Visual Impairment, CVI. The Miami Lighthouse Cortical Visual Impairment Collaborative Center is Florida’s first collaboration between medical professionals, educators, researchers, and service providers responding exclusively to CVI. Miami Lighthouse has provided CVI-specific assessments and comprehensive reports on educational interventions for all children referred to its CVI Collaborative Center. Since 2020, Miami Lighthouse has completed more than160 CVI children’s assessments. These assessments are of utmost importance because functional vision in such children can often be expected to improve with appropriate intervention.
Miami Lighthouse’s CVI Collaborative Center partners include UM-Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, Miami-Dade County Public Schools Office of Exceptional Learners, and NSU College of Business and Medicine for assessment review and Data analysis. Miami Lighthouse and its collaborators are making headway related to research protocol for the medical diagnosis of CVI, suspect CVI infant screening protocols in NICU and PICU settings and assessment and rehabilitation practices.
This $2 Million, two-year project , led by Miami Lighthouse with collaborators from the University of Miami’s Bascom Palmer Eye Institute (BPEI), Nova Southeastern University (NSU), and Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, will:
- Develop an evidence-based, age-appropriate test battery and CVI classification system.
- Identify CVI biomarkers for more accurate diagnosis, risk prediction, and evaluation of assessment and treatment efficacy.
This project began September 1, 2024, and will conclude August 2026 with Miami Lighthouse serving as the major awardee and CEO Virginia Jacko serving as overall PI. The project will significantly contribute to addressing a global critical problem and will lead to a better understanding of CVI’s genetic and neural basis and explore neuroplasticity-based therapies as well as more effective (re)habilitation and early intervention strategies, including assessment validation.
The results will be shared with members of VisionServe Alliance, and medical, research and educational communities, including our colleagues in Israel at Miami Lighthouses’ sister school, Eliya.
Enjoy this Forbes article “Miami Lighthouse Opens Florida’s First CVI Center To Address Pediatric Visual Impairment.”