| The Pediatric Eye Disease Investigator Group (PEDIG) is a collaborative network dedicated to facilitating multicenter clinical research in strabismus, amblyopia and other eye disorders that affect children. The network, which was formed in 1997, is funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI). The NEI is a part of the National Institutes of Health, which is the branch of government that funds medical research. There are currently over 100 participating sites (offices) with over 300 pediatric ophthalmologists and pediatric optometrists in the United States and Canada participating in the network.
Five core centers within PEDIG support overall operation and leadership of the network. The core centers are:
- The Coordinating Center (Director, Raymond T. Kraker, M.S.P.H., Jaeb Center for Health Research, Tampa, FL)
- The offices of the Network Co-Chairs (Katherine K. Weise, O.D.,M.B.A., University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL; and Stacy L. Pineles, M.D., M.S., Jules Stein Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, CA)
- The offices of the Past Network Co-Chairs (Susan A. Cotter, O.D., Southern CaliforniaCollege of Optometry at Marshall B. Ketchum University, Fullerton, CA, andJonathan M. Holmes, M.D., University of Arizonia, Tucson, AZ)
- The office of the Network Vice-Chair (Allison Summers, OD, Oregon Health Science University, Casey Eye Institute, Portland, OR; and Courtney Kraus, MD, Wilmer Institute at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD)
- The National Eye Institute (Program Director, Donald Everett, MA, NEI/NIH, Bethesda, MD).
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