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William Joseph Foster, PhD
Professor of Ophthalmology & Bioengineering

Temple University
Philadelphia, USA
Phone: 215-707-3185
Email: william.foster@tuhs.temple.edu

Education

Institution and Location

DEGREE

Year

Field of Study

California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA

BS

1988

Physics

Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

MA

1990

Physics

Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

PhD

1995

Physics

Duke University, Durham, NC

MD

1999

 


Biography

Dr Foster is an experienced retina specialist and Board Certified Ophthalmologist. Academically, He earned his PhD from Harvard University in Physics, his MD from Duke University and has a track record of externally funded basic and translational research. He is also an Examiner for the American Board of Ophthalmology (ABO) and serves on the ABO committee to write questions for all of the ABO examinations. He is currently involved in teaching resident physicians and medical students the diagnosis and treatment of retinal diseases and uveitis. He has experience with both industry-sponsored and investigator-initiated clinical trials in ophthalmology and retinal diseases. He has active experience as a site PI and co-PI in several of the national multi-center clinical trials in retina, including Macugen®, EVIZONTM, CEDAR and DRCR.net. Additionally, his experience includes supervising the research of undergraduate and graduate students as well as clinical fellows. He has developed a unique translational research program in retinal research that includes fundamental cell biological/biophysical studies of retinal tissues as well as in vivo studies, and is aimed at bringing these basic findings to the bedside. The primary goal of his research program is to better understand the effect of the physical properties of advanced materials including the elastic modulus on the growth and differentiation of retinal cells, and to translate these findings into applications in clinical retina. This work lies at the intersection of bioengineering/nanomedicine and retinal cell biology. He has been studying the effect of substrate elastic modulus on the growth, proliferation, and gene expression of Müller cells, retinal glia that are thought to play a key role in proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR or scar tissue formation) and considered by some investigators to be able to serve as retinal precursor cells. Because he is seeking to understand the influence of the physical niche on retinal cells, this work is relevant to better integration of stem cell-based and prosthetic therapies into the retina, as well as in the design of improved vitreous substitutes for the repair of retinal detachment. He has found that substrate elastic modulus has marked influence on the production of numerous growth factors that are known to be upregulated in PVR membranes.

In addition, he has an ongoing research interest in the use of computational physics, including fluid and structural mechanics and finite element calculations to describe how retinal surgery techniques (such as pneumatic retinopexy and scleral buckling) achieve their goals, as well as to build on this work in order to develop improved surgical instruments. Finally, he is certified as an Epic Physician Builder (one of only a few in Ophthalmology) and thus has formal training on modifying the Epic EMR, including Kaleidoscope (the Ophthalmology module) for efficient and optimal use, minimizing disruptions and facilitating more efficient use of Epic.

Research Interest

  1. Clinical trials in retinal disease
  2. Applications of Bioengineering to vitreoretinal surgery
  3. Analytical and finite-element analysis of ophthalmic surgical techniques
  4. Quantitative clinical analytics

Scientific Activities:

Positions and Honors

1995

Scholarship to attend the Physics of Biological Systems, From Molecules to Species
European-Nordic Summer School & Workshop, Krogerup Højskole, Humlebæk, Denmark

1995

Collegium Fellowship to attend the Summer Institute on Faith and Intellectual Life, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA

1996-99

Hazel Endowed Scholarship at Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC

1999

James S. Westra/CMDS Medical Student Scholarship

1999

Wilbert C. Davison Scholarship, Duke University Medical Center

2002

National Eye Institute/ARVO Travel Fellowship Grant

2002

Rosenbaum Research Award, Washington University Department of Ophthalmology Saint Louis, MO

2004

First-author publication in Physics in Medicine & Biology selected as an IOP Select Article. The Institute of Physics awards this to the authors of papers “chosen by our Editors for their novelty, significance and potential impact on future research.”

5/2005

Participant in the European VitreoRetinal Society Training School
at Augenklinik Universitätsallee, Bremen, Germany

2005

Fellow of the American Academy of Ophthalmology

2005

Competitively selected, Gordon Conference on Clusters, Nanocrystals, & Nanostructures

2006

Competitively selected, Gordon Conference on Nanostructure Fabrication

2006

Participant, The Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (IPAM), Workshop I: Membrane Protein Science and Engineering

2006

Competitively selected, National Academies Keck Futures Initiative on Smart Prosthetics

2006

Competitively selected, 5-Star Physician by the Uniformed Services Family Health Plan

2007

American Medical Association Physician Recognition Award with Commendation

2008

Competitively selected, Gordon Conference on Visual System Development

2008

Provost’s Undergraduate Research Scholarship (to Nadia Dowla, UH student in my lab)

2008

NEI Fellowship, Fundamental Issues in Vision Research: Molecular and Cell Biological Approaches at the Marine Biological Laboratory

2009

AFER/Retina Research Foundation Travel Grant (to Joshua Davis, UH Physics PhD student in my lab)

2009

Provost’s Undergraduate Research Scholarship (to Peter Lam, UH student in my lab)

2009

Competitively selected, National Academies Keck Futures Initiative “Synthetic Biology: Building on Nature's Inspiration”

2009

STAR Scholarship (to Peyman Zabihinoury, UH student in my lab)

2009

First-author publication in Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol, that was featured
on MDLinx.com, “The world's most up to date index of articles that matter in the daily lives of physicians and other healthcare professionals

2010

Competitively selected, Gordon Conference, Signal Transduction by Engineered Extracellular Matrices

2011

National Eye Institute/ARVO Travel Fellowship Grant (to Peter Lam, UH Student in my lab)

2011

Awarded a SUPERB Avvo physician rating - 10 out of 10 in three ratings categories: experience, industry recognition and professional conduct (www.avvo.com)

2012

Competitively selected, Gordon Conference, Signal Transduction by Engineered Extracellular Matrices

2014

Honor Award, American Society of Retina Specialists

2015

Presentation selected as a 'Hot Topic' at the meeting of the Association for Research in Vision & Ophthalmology, 'representing the newest and most innovative research being   conducted in various specialties'

2015-17

Accepted into Temple University School of Medicine's Physician Leadership Academy

2016-

Elected Fellow, College of Physicians of Philadelphia


Publications

  1. C. Stull, R. Valdes-Rodriguez, B. Shafer, A. Shevchenko, L.A. Nattkemper, Y.H. Chan, S. Tabaac, M. Schardt, D. Najjar, W.J. Foster, G. Yosipovitch, "The Prevalence and Characteristics of Chronic Ocular Itch: A Cross-Sectional Survey", Itch, Accepted for Publication (2016).
  2. J.J. Wang, J.M. Koterwas, N.M. Bedrosian, W.J. Foster, "Practice Patterns in the Use of Prophylactic Antibiotics Following Non-Operative Orbital Fractures", has been accepted for publication in Clinical Ophthalmology", Clinical Ophthalmology, 10:2129—2133(2016).
  3. W.J. Foster, D. Fleece, "Hacking the EpicCare Electronic Health Record System: How to make this widely used EHR system more efficient for high-volume vitreoretinal surgeons", Retina Today, July/August:16-30 (2016).
  4. I. Mehta, W.J. Foster, "A mechanism for spontaneous closure of a traumatic macular hole with commotio retinae in a pediatric patient", International Journal of Ophthalmology & Eye Science, 03:95-96 (2015).
  5. K.S. Boochoon, J.T. Davis, J.C. Manarang, A.M. McDermott, W.J. Foster, “The Influence of Substrate Elastic Modulus on Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cell Phagocytosis”, Journal of Biomechanics, 47:3237-3240 (2014). doi: 10.1016/j.jbiomech.2014.06.021
  6. J. Litvinov, A. E. V. Hagström, Y. Lopez, M. Adhikari, K. Kourentzi, U. Strych, F.A. Monzon, W. Foster, P.T. Cagle, R.C. Willson, “Ultrasensitive immuno-detection using viral nanoparticles with modular assembly using genetically-directed biotinylation”, Biotechnology Letters, 36:1863-8 (2014).
  7. W.J. Foster, J.K. Meen, D.A. Fox, "The Effect of Physiologic Aqueous Solutions on the Perovskite Material Lead-Lanthanum-Zirconium Titanate (PLZT): potential retinotoxicity", Cutaneous and Ocular Toxicology, 32(1):18-22 (2013).
  8. J.T. Davis, Q. Wen, P.A. Janmey, D.C. Otteson, W.J. Foster, "Müller cell expression of genes implicated in proliferative vitreoretinopathy is influenced by substrate elastic modulus", Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, 53(6):3014-3019 (2012).
  9. W.J. Foster, "Bilateral Patching in Retinal Detachment: Fluid Mechanics and Retinal 'Settling' ", Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, 52(8):5437-5440 (2011).
  10. W.J. Foster, W. Tufail, A.M. Issa, "The Quality of Pharmacoeconomic Evaluations of Age- Related Macular Degeneration Therapeutics: A Systematic Review and Quantitative Appraisal of the Evidence", British Journal of Ophthalmology, 94:1118-1126 (2010).
  11. W.J. Foster, N. Dowla, S.Y. Joshi, M. Nikolaou, “The Fluid Mechanics of Scleral Buckling Surgery for the Repair of Retinal Detachment”, Graefe's Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology, 248(1):31 (2009).
  12. M.C. Hacker, A. Haesslein, H. Ueda, W.J. Foster, C.A. Garcia, D.M. Ammon, R.N. Borazjani, J.F. Kunzler, J.C. Salamone, A.G. Mikos, “Biodegradable Fumarate-Based Drug Delivery Systems for Ophthalmic Applications”, Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part A, 88A:976-989 (2009).
  13. M.S. Ip, S.B. Bressler, A.N. Antoszyk, C.J. Flaxel, J.E. Kim, S.M. Friedman, H. Qin, Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network Study Group, “A randomized trial comparing intravitreal triamcinolone acetonide and focal/grid photocoagulation for diabetic macular edema: baseline features”, Retina. 28:919-930 (2008).
  14. Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network. “A randomized trial comparing intravitreal triamcinolone acetonide and focal/grid photocoagulation for diabetic macular edema”. Ophthalmology. 115:1447-1449, 1449.e1-10. (2008).
  15. W.J. Foster, “Vitreous Substitutes”, Expert Reviews in Ophthalmology, 3:211-218 (2008).
  16. M.D Davis, S.B. Bressler, L.P. Aiello, N.M. Bressler, D.J. Browning, C.J. Flaxel, D.S. Fong, W.J. Foster, A.R. Glassman, M.E. Hartnett, C. Kollman, H.K. Li, H. Qin, I.U. Scott for the Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network Study Group, “Comparison of Time-Domain OCT and Fundus Photographic Assessments of Retinal Thickening in Eyes with Diabetic Macular Edema”, Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, 49:1745-1752 (2008).
  17. Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network, Chew E, Strauber S, Beck R, et al., “Randomized trial of peribulbar triamcinolone acetonide with and without focal photocoagulation for mild diabetic macular edema - A pilot study”, Ophthalmology, 114: 1190-1196 (2007).
  18. W.J. Foster, A.H. Ali, P. Hamilton, N. Ravi, "Internal Osmotic Pressure as a Mechanism of Retinal Attachment in a Vitreous Substitute”, Journal of Bioactive and Compatible Polymers, 21:221-235 (2006).
  19. Beverly E. Faulkner-Jones, M.D., Ph.D., William J. Foster, M.D., Ph.D., J. William Harbour, M.D., Morton E. Smith, M.D., and Rosa M. Dávila, M.D., M.I.A.C, “Fine Needle Aspiration Biopsy with Adjunct Immunohistochemistry in Intraocular Tumor Management”, Acta Cytologica, 49:297 (2005).
  20. H.A. Aliyar, W.J. Foster, P.D. Hamilton, N. Ravi, “Towards the Development of an Artificial Human Vitreous”, Polymer Preprints, 45:469 (2004).
  21. W.J. Foster, T. Chou, “Physical mechanisms of gas and perfluron retinopexy and subretinal fluid displacement“, Physics in Medicine & Biology, 49, 2989 (2004).
  22. Blake A. Cooper, MD, Kevin J. Blinder, MD, Gaurav K. Shah, MD, William Foster, MD, PhD, Marc Leibole, MD, “Femtosecond Laser-induced Premacular Hemorrhage”, RETINA, The Journal of Retinal and Vitreous Diseases, 24, 812 (2004).
  23. W.J. Foster, J.W. Harbour, N.M. Holekamp, G.K. Shah, and M.A. Thomas, “Pars-plana vitrectomy in eyes containing a posterior uveal melanoma”, American Journal of Ophthalmology 136, 471 (2003).
  24. W.J. Foster, M.D. Kraus, P.L. Custer, “Herpes Simplex Virus Dacryoadenitis in an Immunocompromised Patient”, Archives of Ophthalmology, 121, 911 (2003).
  25. W.J. Foster, C.E. Fuller, A. Perry, J.W. Harbour, “Status of the NF1 tumor suppressor gene in uveal melanoma ,“ Archives of Ophthalmology 121, 1311 (2003).
  26. W.J. Foster, P.A. Janmey, "The Distribution of Polyphosphoinositides in Lipid Films,” Biophysical Chemistry, 91, 211 (2001).
  27. W.J. Foster, M.C. Shih, P.S. Pershan, "An X-Ray Diffraction and Brewster Angle Microscopy Study of a Langmuir Monolayer of Methyl Eicosanoate,” Journal of Chemical Physics 105, 3307 (1996).
  28. G.M. Bommarito, W.J. Foster, P.S. Pershan, M.L. Schlossman, "A Determination of the Phase Diagram of Relaxed Langmuir Monolayers of Behenic Acid," Journal of Chemical Physics, 105, 5265 (1996).
  29. G.J. Kellogg, P.S. Pershan, E. H. Kawamoto, W. Foster, M. Deutsch, B.M. Ocko, "X-ray Reflectivity Measurements and Landau Theory of Smectic Wetting in nCB/Benzyl Alcohol Mixtures,” Physical Review E, 51, 4709 (1995).
  30. W.J. Foster, M.C. Shih, P.S. Pershan, "The Structure and Phases of a Relaxed Langmuir Monolayer of Methyl Eicosanoate as Determined by Grazing Incidence X-ray Diffraction and Brewster Angle Microscopy,” in Applications of Synchrotron Radiation Techniques to Materials Science II, volume 375, edited by D.L Perry, G. Ice, N. Shinn, K. D'Amico, and L.Terminello (Mater. Res. Soc. Proc., Pittsburgh, PA, 1994), pp 187.

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