Uveitis as a subspecialty refers to the care of an ensemble of ocular inflammatory diseases that affects the uvea (middle layer) of the eye. Uveitis is also a term used to describe any inflammatory disease of the eye that causes swelling and damages tissue. Uveitis can occur spontaneously or be chronic. Diagnosis and treatment of uveitis are often complex due to the nature of the disease which can come from infection, autoimmune disease or it can be idiopathic, meaning the cause can be unknown. The VRC is currently focused on research involving the treatment of non-infectious uveitis.