Duke Health Referring Physicians

I am a translational clinician-scientist within the Duke Center for Macular Diseases, where I fully embrace our mission to “Discover. Invent. Transform.” My scientific research program is focused on understanding the role of inflammation in the development of severe wet macular degeneration, which affects up to 40% of patients and is difficult to treat with available medications. In the laboratory, we are using specialized disease models to identify the specific mechanisms of this disease, with the explicit goal of discovering novel targets for future therapies. I am passionate about opportunities to innovate, and our group of clinician-scientists is actively collaborating with Duke engineers to develop novel imaging devices and with Duke chemists to invent new drugs, for improved diagnosis and treatment of macular diseases. Finally, I am an active clinical researcher. In addition to participating in industry-sponsored clinical trials of novel drugs for age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy, I lead “home-grown” studies (originating here at Duke) to develop new treatment approaches and biomarker technologies to transform the care of patients with macular diseases.