Retina SAB

Dr. Jay S. Duker, M.D., serves on the Aldeyra Therapeutics Retina Scientific Advisory Board and is the Director of the New England Eye Center (NEEC), one of the largest academic, multi-specialty ophthalmology practices in the United States.  He is also Professor and Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology at Tufts Medical Center and the Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. Dr. Duker received his medical degree magna cum laude from Jefferson Medical College. He completed both his ophthalmology residency and his two year fellowship in vitreo-retinal diseases at the Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia. His clinical practice is limited to medical and surgical diseases of the posterior segment with particular emphasis on macular diseases, posterior uveitis and intraocular tumors. Dr. Duker has published over 250 journal articles, with his major research interests, which include retinal imaging and in particular, optical coherence tomography (OCT), retinal vascular diseases and drug delivery to the posterior segment. His book, Yanoff and Duker’s Ophthalmology, is one of the best-selling ophthalmic texts over the past decade. He is the editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Retina and Vitreous (IJRV) and serves on the editorial board of OSLI Retina. Dr. Duker is the co-founder of three companies, including Hemera Biosciences, a clinical stage biotech whose focus is a gene-therapy-based treatment for age-related macular degeneration. He is also a Director of two publicly traded biotech companies –  Eleven Biotherapeutics, a clinical-stage targeted protein engineering company concentrating on oncologic indications and pSivida which specializes in sustained release drug delivery.

Dr. Dean Eliott, M.D., serves on the Aldeyra Therapeutics Retina Scientific Advisory Board. He is the Stelios Evangelos Gragoudas Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School, Director of the Retina Service at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Director of the Retina Fellowship at Harvard/Mass. Eye and Ear, and Co-Founder of Helio Vision. Dr. Eliott enjoys a national reputation as a talented vitreoretinal surgeon and is sought by colleagues for difficult surgical cases. He is especially interested in treating retinal detachment, proliferative vitreoretinopathy, diabetic retinopathy, eye trauma, and complex vitreoretinal surgical problems. Dr. Eliott received his undergraduate degree with honors from Duke University, and he received his medical degree with honors from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. He completed his residency at the highly regarded Wilmer Eye Institute of Johns Hopkins Hospital. He received his retina fellowship training at the Duke Eye Center of Duke University Medical Center, working with Dr. Robert Machemer, who is considered the father of modern vitreous surgery for performing the first vitrectomy. Dr. Eliott then served as Chief Resident and retina faculty member at the Duke Eye Center. Following this, Dr. Eliott was the Director of the Retina Service, Associate Professor, and Retina Fellowship Director at the Kresge Eye Institute of Wayne State University School of Medicine. Subsequently, he was the Director of the Doheny Retina Institute, Professor, and Retina Fellowship Director at the Doheny Eye Institute of the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine.

Dr. Jeffrey S. Heier, M.D., serves on the Aldeyra Therapeutics Retina Scientific Advisory Board and is the Co-President and Medical Director, Director of the Vitreoretinal Service, and Director of Retina Research at Ophthalmic Consultants of Boston (OCB), one of the largest and most prestigious multi-specialty ophthalmology practices in the United States. Dr. Heier received his medical degree from Boston University, then did a transitional internship and ophthalmology residency at Fitzsimons Army Medical Center. Between his internship and residency, Dr. Heier served as a physician in a Combat Support Hospital in the Persian Gulf War, where he was awarded a Bronze Star. Dr. Heier then completed a vitreoretinal fellowship at Ophthalmic Consultants of Boston/Tufts University School of Medicine. Dr. Heier is on the Executive Board of the Retina Society, the Executive Committee of the American Society of Retina Specialists, past President of the New England Ophthalmological Society, and a member of the Macula Society. Dr. Heier is the past Secretary of Online Education for the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the past President of the Center for Eye Research and Education Foundation in Boston, MA. From the American Academy of Ophthalmology, Dr. Heier received the Senior Achievement Award in 2010, the Secretariat Award in 2007, and the Honor Award in 2003. He is also the recipient of the Honor Award and Senior Honor Award from the American Society of Retina Specialists. Dr. Heier is one of the leading retinal clinical researchers in the country for new treatments in exudative and non-exudative macular degeneration, diabetic macular edema, venous occlusive disease, vitreoretinal surgical techniques and instrumentation, and diagnostic imaging of the retina. He serves on the Scientific Advisory Board or as Clinical Design Consultant to over thirty bio-technology and pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Heier is the lead investigator on numerous clinical trials, ranging from phase I safety and proof of concept trials to phase IV post-marketing studies. Dr. Heier lectures nationally and internationally on retinal research and the innovative approach to the treatment of retinal diseases. He has authored or co-authored numerous works in peer-reviewed journals, as well as served as a reviewer for the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, Ophthalmology, Archives of Ophthalmology, American Journal of Ophthalmology, Retina, and numerous other journals.

Dr. Quan Nguyen, M.D. is a member of Aldeyra’s Retinal Advisory Board.  He was born in Saigon, Vietnam, and immigrated with his parents and three brothers to the United States in 1980, Dr. Quan Dong Nguyen currently is Professor of Ophthalmology at the Byers Eye Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine. After completing his education in 2001, Dr. Nguyen joined the faculty at the Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, as Assistant Professor and then Associate Professor of Ophthalmology and Director of Medical Education. In 2013, he was appointed as the McGaw Endowed Chair in Ophthalmology, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology and the Inaugural Director of the Stanley M. Truhlsen Eye Institute, and Assistant Dean for Translational Research at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Dr. Nguyen serves as principal investigator on multiple clinical trials sponsored by the National Eye Institute and other organizations for macular edema (from diabetes and uveitis), neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and ocular inflammatory and uveitic diseases, as well as co-investigator on numerous other clinical trials involving novel therapeutic agents. Dr. Nguyen is known for his innovative work in early proof-of-concept, first-in-human clinical trials to evaluate potential pharmacotherapeutic agents for retinal vascular and uveitic diseases. Dr. Nguyen and his team were among the first clinician scientists in the world to evaluate aflibercept for neovascular AMD and ranibizumab for diabetic macular edema (DME); the initial results of these studies served as the foundation for subsequent trials leading to the approval of these pharmacologic agents by the FDA and other regulatory authorities for the indicated diseases. Dr. Nguyen has chaired the United States multi-center READ-2, READ-3, and iDEAL studies, evaluating the potential role of VEGF antagonists, through different pathways, for diabetic macular edema. Dr. Nguyen has lead the SAVE, and the multi-centered SAVE-2, and STOP-UVEITIS studies to evaluate the role of new pharmacologic agents, including specific interleukin inhibition, in uveitis and ocular inflammatory diseases.

Dr. Carl Regillo was a Phi Kappa Phi graduate of Northeastern University, College of Pharmacy, where he was the class Valedictorian.  He received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School on a full military scholarship. He performed his internship in internal medicine at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and both his ophthalmology residency and vitreoretinal fellowship at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia. He was appointed the Co-Chief Resident and awarded a Heed Ophthalmic Fellowship during his postgraduate training. After training, he was commissioned a Major in the United States Air Force and stationed four years as a vitreoretinal surgeon at the San Diego Naval Medical Center. There he was Co-Director of the Ophthalmology Department’s Retina Service, Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of California, San Diego, and recipient of a Naval Commendation medal and the Ophthalmology Department’s annual teaching award.  In 1998, he returned to Philadelphia to join Mid Atlantic Retina and the Retina Service of Wills Eye Hospital. Dr. Regillo is currently the Director of the Retina Service of Wills Eye Hospital, Professor of Ophthalmology at Thomas Jefferson University School of Medicine, and Principle Investigator of numerous major international clinical trials investigating new forms of treatment for macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, and a variety of other retinal conditions. He is the founder and former Director of the Wills Eye Clinical Retina Research Unit, prior Chairman of the Wills Eye Institutional Review Board and prior Chairman of the American Academy’s Basic and Clinical Science Course (BCSC) Retina Section committee. He is the former Wills Retina Fellowship Program Director. Dr. Regillo has authored over 200 scientific papers, lectured nationally and abroad, and has published 9 major textbooks in the field. He has served on the scientific editorial board for the American Journal of Ophthalmology, Review of Ophthalmology, Current Opinion in Ophthalmology, Yearbook of Ophthalmology, Retinal Physician, and Retina Today. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and an active member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, The Retina Society, The Macula Society, and The American Society of Retina Specialists. He is a former examiner for the American Board of Ophthalmology and a recipient of the American Academy of Ophthalmology Achievement, Senior Achievement, Secretariat, and Lifetime Achievement Awards along with the America Society of Retina Specialists Honor and Senior Honor Awards. He was named one of the “150 Top Innovators in Retina” by Ocular Surgery News and selected a Charter Inductee of the Retina Hall of Fame. He also has been listed multiple times through the years as a retina “Top Doctor” in the Philadelphia Magazine, Philadelphia Life, Mainline Today and South Jersey Magazine.