About MacuSight

Scientific Advisory Board

MacuSight's scientific advisory board is comprised of world-renowned researchers and clinicians in the field of ophthalmology. These individuals each provide MacuSight with expert insight, perspective and guidance related to the ever-evolving treatment of severe ocular diseases and conditions.

Mark Blumenkranz, M.D. - Chairman of MacuSight's Scientific Advisory Board; Professor and Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology, Stanford University School of Medicine

Dr. Blumenkranz is a noted vitreoretinal surgeon who served as Co-Director of the Retinal Service at Stanford for five years prior to assuming the Chairmanship in November of 1997. Prior to that, he served on the faculty of the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Miami, Florida, and as founder and Director of the Vitreoretinal Fellowship Program at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan, two of the top retinal training programs in the United States. His primary clinical interests center on medical and surgical treatment of vitreoretinal diseases, with a specific emphasis on macular problems.

He is an associate examiner for the American Board of Ophthalmology and a member of the American Society of Retina Specialists, the Retina and Macula Societies, and the Club Jules Gonin. He has served on the editorial board of the journals RETINA, Graefe's Archives for Ophthalmology, and the American Journal of Ophthalmology. He is a past recipient of the Research to Prevent Blindness Special Manpower Award, the Heed Award, the Rosenthal Award in Visual Sciences, and the American Academy of Ophthalmology Senior Honor Award. In 2005, he received the Alcon Research Institute Award for contributions in Ophthalmic Research and the Gertrude Pyron Award from the American Society of Retinal Specialists and the Retinal Research Foundation for lifetime innovations in vitreoretinal surgery. Dr. Blumenkranz is the inventor or co-inventor on multiple patents in the area of novel ophthalmic medical devices, drugs and their combination.

Dr. Blumenkranz is active in various philanthropic activities related to his profession and serves on the Board of Northern California Prevent Blindness and is on the National Advisory Board of Foundation for Fighting Blindness. He has served in the past as Chairman of the Research Committee of the Macula Society, and is currently on the Executive Committee of the Retina Society. He is a member of the Board of Trustees and President-Elect of the American University Professors of Ophthalmology (AUPO) and is a class officer and member of the Corporation of Brown University, where he serves as chairman of the Medical School Committee.

He was a founding member of the Eyetech Pharmaceuticals Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) in 2000, and helped to create the development strategy and plan the clinical trials for Macugen^®*, the company's lead product. Dr. Blumenkranz also previously served on the Board of Directors and as Chairman of the SAB of privately-held Oculex Pharmaceuticals, a company that was acquired by Allergan in 2003 for $230 million.

Pravin U. Dugel, M.D. - Clinical Instructor, Vitreoretinal Diseases and Surgery, Department of Ophthalmology, University of Arizona; Practicing Physician with Retinal Consultants of Arizona

Regarded as a leading practitioner in the area of vitreoretinal diseases, Dr. Dugel presently serves as clinical instructor of vitreoretinal diseases and surgery in the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Arizona. In addition to this academic appointment, he also practices as part of the physician group at Retinal Consultants of Arizona, one of the nation's top teams of retinal specialists.

Throughout his career, Dr. Dugel has served as principal investigator or co-investigator on more than 35 research trials, including several in collaboration with the National Eye Institute. These studies have spanned a broad range of ocular diseases and conditions and included trials related to the treatment and prevention of age-related macular degeneration, as well as the treatment of diabetic macular edema. Dr. Dugel is also a prolific author with more than 50 peer-reviewed articles and 15 book chapters to his credit. Additionally, he serves on the scientific review committees for several ophthalmology industry journals including Retina, American Journal of Ophthalmology, Archives of Ophthalmology, Ophthalmology and Ophthalmic Surgery and Lasers.

An active participant in the ophthalmology community, Dr. Dugel is presently a member of several professional organizations including the American Academy of Ophthalmology, Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, American Medical Association, and American Society of Retinal Surgeons, among others. In addition to MacuSight, Dr. Dugel also sits on the scientific advisory boards of Alcon Surgical, Genentech and Novartis.

Julia Haller, M.D. - Ophthalmologist-in-Chief, Willis Eye Institute and Chair of Ophthalmology, Jefferson Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University

In May 2006, Dr. Haller was named the inaugural Robert Bond Welch, M.D. Professor of Ophthalmology at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins. She is the principal investigator or co-investigator on numerous grants dealing with treatment of cystoid macular edema, age-related macular degeneration, submacular surgery, diabetic retinopathy, retinopathy of prematurity, retinal venous occlusive disease and retinal infectious diseases. Recognized as a vanguard in her field, Dr. Haller has been a visiting professor and lecturer all over the world and has published more than 180 papers in peer-reviewed literature, as well as 15 book chapters.

Dr. Haller is an executive editor for the American Journal of Ophthalmology, and serves on the editorial boards of RETINA, the Wilmer Retina Update, the Vitreous Society Journal, Evidence-Based Eye Care, The Johns Hopkins Women's Health Book, Retina Physician, and the Johns Hopkins Medical News Magazine. She is also Program Chair and President Elect of the American Society of Retina Specialists, a member of the Executive Committee of the Retina Society, and the Retina representative on the American Academy of Ophthalmology's Program Committee.

Alan M. Laties, M.D. - Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pennsylvania

Presently serving as the Harold G. Scheie Research Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, Dr. Laties is also a member of the executive committee of the scientific advisory board of the Foundation Fighting Blindness. He has also served as a member of the National Advisory Eye Council and the chairman of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology's Awards Committee.

A recognized leader in the field of ophthalmology, Dr. Laties has served as editor-in-chief of Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science (IOVS) and sat on the editorial advisory boards of Retina and Clinical Vision Sciences. He has also published more than 100 original papers and 21 review chapters and given more than 25 lectures by invitation on a variety of topics critical to the treatment of diseases of the eye. Dr. Laties is the inventor on several key patents in the area of ophthalmology.

Active in the ophthalmology community, Dr. Laties is currently a member of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, the International Glaucoma Society, and the American Ophthalmological Society. His main areas of interest include autonomic innervation, eye growth and therapeutic approaches to retinal degenerative diseases.

George Williams, M.D. - Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology and Director of the Beaumont Eye Institute at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan; Clinical Professor of Biomedical Sciences, Eye Research Institute of Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan

One of the world's leading experts on vitreoretinal surgery, Dr. Williams has published over 150 articles and book chapters on the topic and participated as principal investigator or co-investigator in over 20 clinical trials. A recipient of the Secretariat Award and the Senior Achievement Award of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, he is chair of the Retina Ophthalmic Technology Assessment Committee and a member of the Health Policy Committee of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Dr. Williams is also a past president of the Vitreous Society, now the American Society of Retinal Specialists, as well as the Michigan Ophthalmological Society.

An active member of the ophthalmology community, he currently serves on the editorial board of the journals, RETINA, Retinal Physician and Current Opinion in Ophthalmology. Dr. Williams is also an associate examiner for the American Board of Ophthalmology and a member of The Retina Society, The Macula Society, the American Society of Retina Specialists, the Association of University Professors in Ophthalmology and the Club Jules Gonin.

*Macugen is a registered trademark of OSI Pharmaceuticals