About Dr. Nurhan Torun
Nurhan Torun, MD, FRCSC
Chief of Ophthalmology, BIDMC
Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School
Research Group
Marc A. Bouffard, MD
Konstantinos Douglas, MD, DVM, MBA
Vivian Paraskevi Douglas, MD, DVM, MBA
Edsel Ing, MD
Research Focus
Dr. Nurhan Torun's research in 2020 focused on oculomotor nerve schwannomas (ONS) originating from proliferating nerve sheath cells. These are rare, benign CNS tumors, with a limited number of reports (fewer than 100 cases) in the literature. Unfortunately, very few physicians have sufficient experience in treating non-vestibular schwannomas. The fact that their symptomatology can vary widely, depending on location and size of the lesion, poses an additional challenge. Given the rarity of such non-vestibular, intracranial schwannomas, many physicians may not even consider these lesions when patients present with diplopia. Management options include surgical excision, stereotactically delivered radiation therapy, and symptomatic treatment (strabismus surgery or prisms). There is currently no established management guideline that aids providers in deciding on surgical versus non-surgical management. Therefore, Dr. Torun and her research group set out to review the literature on the topic to identify indications for treatment as well as outcome measures (e.g., local control rates and survival rates as well as complication rates) that have been reported as associated with the various treatment modalities. The group's collaboration with Tufts Medical Center also yielded four previously unreported cases of ONS that were included in this study. The cohort was divided into one group that had been managed with open microsurgery and a second group that was managed without surgical intervention but with stereotactically delivered radiation therapy (SRS). The data analysis is underway. The goal of Dr. Torun's research group is to develop an algorithm for evaluation and treatment of ONS in order to establish consensus on how these tumors should be treated.
Recent Accomplishments
- Dr. Torun was invited to the 55th Turkish National Neurology Congress in November 2019 in Antalya, Turkey to deliver the following lectures:
- What is New in Optic Neuritis?
- Nystagmus and Other Ocular Oscillations (“Ask an Expert” session)
- Dr. Torun presented the following lectures in 2020:
- A Matter of Simple Addition: A Young Woman with Abnormal Eye Movements, Longwood Medical Area Ophthalmology Conference
- Giant Cell Arteritis: Ophthalmologists’ Perspective, Rheumatology Grand Rounds, BIDMC
- Dr. Torun was selected for the BIDMC Academy Award in 2020.
- Dr. Torun accepted invitations to give lectures at Weill Cornell Ophthalmology Grand Rounds, the New England Ophthalmological Society meeting, and the Neuroophthalmology Fall Festival in 2021.
- Dr. Torun's division transitioned in September 2020 to Nextech, an ophthalmology-specific EHR, which is a major step away from paper charts.
- Dr. Torun's team started seeing patients in a satellite office in Chestnut Hill, MA in December 2020.
Teaching, Training and Education
Dr. Nurhan Torun is involved in didactic and bedside teaching of residents and fellows. Dr. Torun developed a curriculum of 12 core neuro-ophthalmology lectures that she delivers each year to neurology residents at BIDMC. She supervises ophthalmology residents in her comprehensive ophthalmology clinics and while doing on-call duty. She also is one of the instructors teaching the Core Medicine Ophthalmology Course to Harvard Medical School students in the Longwood Medical Area, which involves eight to 10 two-hour lectures each year. Since 2015, Dr. Torun has been one of the Neuro-ophthalmology Fellowship preceptors for the Harvard Neuro-ophthalmology Fellowship. Since 2019, she has taught fellows of the BIDMC and Tufts University Combined Neuroradiology Fellowship by presenting two one-hour lectures on “Clinico-anatomical Correlation in Neuro-ophthalmology.” Dr. Torun also delivered two lectures to Neuro-ophthalmology fellows and two lectures to Joslin fellows in 2020.
Abstracts, Posters and Exhibits
Bouffard MA, Mallery R, Liao YJ, Torun N. Incipient Optic Neuritis. 45th Annual Meeting of the North American Neuroophthalmology Society; Las Vegas, NV (poster presentation)
Frank S, Bouffard M, Dawson R, Lim A, Torun N, Malik W. Quantitative Oculomotor Biomarkers for Huntington’s Disease. American Academy of Neurology meeting, virtual (poster presentation)
Abbasi B, Bouffard MA, Torun N. Transient Monocular Vision Loss following Pipeline Embolization of ICA Aneurysms. 46th Annual Meeting of the North American Neuroophthalmology Society; Amelia Island, FL (poster presentation)
Selected Publications
Ing E, Kam J, Weisbrod L, Wong SWK, Strungaru MH, Cheng J, Torun N. The incidence of non-arteritic ischemic optic neuropathy following topical clear corneal cataract surgery: Survey and meta-analysis. Can J Ophthalmol 2020;55(1):87-92.
Ing E, Miller N, tenHove M, Torun N. Diplopia and giant cell arteritis. J Neuroophthalmol 2019;39(4):546-547.
Nguyen HV, Gilbert AL, Fortin E, Vodopivec I, Torun N, Chwalisz BK, Cestari DM, Rizzo JF. Elevated intracranial pressure associated with exogenous hormonal therapy used for gender transition. J Neuroophthalmol 2020; in press.
Ing EB, Xu Q, Salimi A, Torun N. Physician deaths from coronavirus (COVID-19) disease. Occup Med (Lond) 2020;70(5):370-4.
Ing E, Majdedi K, Hurwitz J, Nijhawan N, Oestreicher J, Torun N. Nomenclature: Thyroid-associated orbitopathy, Graves ophthalmopathy or thyroid eye disease? Can J Ophthalmol 2020; in press.
Douglas VP, Chiang HH, Douglas KAA, Van Zyl T, Torun N. A matter of simple addition: A young woman with abnormal eye movements. Digit J Ophthalmol 2021;2(1).
