Notable Alumni

Harold Scheie, MD (1950) founded Scheie Eye Institute at the University of Pennsylvania

Endre A. Balazs, MD (1951) inventor of Healon, used worldwide as a viscoelastic substitute in intraocular surgery and to treat degenerative joint disorders

Arthur Jampolsky, MD (1952) whose efforts led to the creation of the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute

Ludwid Von Sallman, MD (1954) Professor and Research Director, Columbia University Dept. Ophthalmology, 1939-1954. Chief of the Ophthalmology Branch of the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness, later to become Chief of the Intramural Program at the National Eye Institute until his retirement in 1970

A. Edward Maumenee, MD (1958) Director of the Wilmer Eye Institute, founder of the Eye Bank Association of America and force behind the creation of the National Eye Institute (NEI) at the National Institutes of Health

David G. Cogan, MD (1961) Director of Harvard Medical School’s Howe Laboratory of Ophthalmology, 1962-1968. Chair of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School, 1974-1985. Chief of neuro-ophthalmology at the National Eye Institute, 1974-1985. Member of the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission following WWII

Carl Kupfer, MD (1961) Director of the NEI for 30 years

László Bitó, PhD (1965) who developed the glaucoma drug Xalatan

Robert Machemer, MD (1966) the “father” of modern retinal surgery

Morton Goldberg, MD (1972) Chair of Ophthalmology, Univ. Illinois College of Medicine, 1970-1989. Director, Wilmer Eye Institute 1989-2003. Authored 500+ publications with an emphasis on diseases of the retina

Irene Maumenee, MD (1973) internationally renowned pediatric ophthalmologist and expert in hereditary eye diseases

David Abramson, MD (1979) clinician and researcher noted for his expertise in pediatric eye cancers

Paul Sieving, MD, PhD (1980) current Director of the NEI

Eve J. Higginbotham, SM, MD (1985) Vice Dean for Diversity and Inclusion at Perelman School of Medicine and Senior Fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute for Health Economics

Dimitri Azar, MD, MBA (1987) Chair, Dept. Ophthalmology Visual Sciences, 2006-2011, Dean, College of Medicine, Univ. Illinois, 2011-2017

Anthony Adamis, MD (1995) co-discoverer of the role of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in ocular disease for which he shared the 2014 Champaulimaud Vision Award; developed first anti-VEGF therapy for macular degeneration

Jayakrishna Ambati, MD (2002) winner of the ARVO Cogan Award

Vinit B. Majahan, MD, PhD (2011) researched blinding retinal disease in seven generations of an Iowa family

Anna-Maria Demetriades, MD, PhD (2012) Director of the Glaucoma Service at Weill Cornell Medicine

Salil Lachke, PhD (2013) Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow

Jordan Greco, PhD (2018) Founder of LambdaVision