Dr. Summers obtained her Ph.D. in Anatomy & Cell Biology from the University of North Dakota in 1989 under the mentorship of Dr. Edward Carlson. After completing a two year post-doctoral fellowship at the Eye and Ear Institute/Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh under the mentorship of Dr. John Hassell, Dr. Summers obtained her first R01 grant in 1992 entitled, “Regulation of Scleral Growth and Remodeling in Myopia” which she still holds today. In 1995, Dr. Summers returned to the University of North Dakota where she continued her research and was heavily involved in teaching the Anatomical Sciences to medical students. In 2003, Dr. Summers moved to OUHSC and has continued her research and teaching activities in the Colleges of Medicine  and Allied Health as a tenured Professor.  The objective of Dr. Summers’ research is to understand, at the molecular level, the mechanism by which the visual environment controls the postnatal growth of the eye. Dr. Summers’ research is based on numerous clinical and experimental observations that near work (such as reading) and visual deprivation (as a consequence of conditions such as corneal scarring, vitreous hemorrhage or ptosis in children) all lead to the development of myopia. This research was initiated nearly 30 years ago, when little was known about the molecular composition of the sclera and the role of the sclera in regulating eye size and the development of myopia. Since then, Dr. Summers and colleagues have clearly demonstrated in chicks, tree shrews and primates, that the sclera is not a static container of the eye, but rather is a dynamic tissue, capable of rapidly altering extracellular matrix composition (proteoglycans and collagen) in response to changes in the visual environment to regulate ocular size and refraction. Based on these studies, Dr Summers has directed her research toward identification of intraocular growth regulators of scleral proteoglycan synthesis for the potential treatment and prevention of myopia.