About Us

Robyn Guymer

Robyn Guymer AM is Professor of Ophthalmology at Melbourne University and a deputy director of the Centre for Eye Research Australia. She is also a senior retinal specialist at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital. She is a clinician scientist who leads a team of researchers primarily investigating Age related macular degeneration (AMD) and has co-authored over 450 peer reviewed papers. She is currently investigating new strategies for treating early stages of AMD and is working to identify novel imaging and functional biomarkers and surrogate endpoints to improve the feasibility of conducting early intervention trials.

She has been a principal investigator in many industry sponsored trials, serves on several pharmaceutical advisory boards and is a member of several international working groups on macular diseases. She is an inaugural fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.

Jeffrey Heier

Jeffrey S Heier, MD, is the Director of the Retina Service and Director of Retina Research at Ophthalmic Consultants of Boston (OCB), one of the largest multi-specialty ophthalmology practices in the United States. Dr. Heier served as Co-President & Medical Director from 2016-2020. He is also the Chief Scientific Officer at Ocular Therapeutix.

Dr. Heier is the Past President of the Retina Society, a former member of the Executive Committee of the American Society of Retina Specialists, the Past President of the New England Ophthalmological Society, and a member of the Macula Society.  He 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 is a scientific advisor to many biotechnical or pharmaceutical companies, lectures nationally and internationally, and has authored numerous, peer-reviewed works.

Dr. Heier received his medical degree from Boston University, completed an internship and residency at Fitzsimons Army Medical Center, and vitreoretinal fellowship at OCB/Tufts School of Medicine.  He served as a physician in a Combat Support Hospital in the Persian Gulf War, where he was awarded a Bronze Star.

Peter Kaiser

Peter K. Kaiser, M.D. graduated magna cum laude with Highest Honors from Harvard College and magna cum laude from Harvard Medical School. He completed an internal medicine internship at Massachusetts General Hospital, an ophthalmology residency at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, and a vitreoretinal fellowship at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute where he was awarded a Heed Ophthalmic Fellowship , before joining the vitreoretinal department of the Cole Eye Institute, Cleveland, Ohio where he is the Chaney Family Endowed Chair in Ophthalmology Research and Professor of Ophthalmology at the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine.

As a National Eye Institute and National Institute of Health RO1-funded principal investigator, Dr. Kaiser leads a team involved in the evaluation of vascular biology in age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic retinopathy (DR). In addition, Dr Kaiser is actively involved in clinical research having served as Study Chairman for numerous major, multi-center, international clinical trials, and principal investigator in over 60 trials evaluating new treatments for AMD, DR, and other retinal disorders. He is the director of Center for Ocular Research and Evaluation (CORE). Dr. Kaiser has been honored to receive the Lew R. Wasserman Award from the Research to Prevent Blindness and the Macula Society’s Young Investigator Award. Complementing his research endeavors, Dr. Kaiser serves on numerous scientific advisory boards and addresses his research interests as an invited speaker at national and international conferences. He is a major contributor to the medical literature having authored 7 textbooks, 30 book chapters, and more than 450 peer-reviewed manuscripts. He served as Editor-in-Chief of Retinal Physician, Associate Editor of International Ophthalmology Clinics, Associate Editor of American Journal of Ophthalmology and serves on the editorial boards of American Journal of Ophthalmology, Retina, Retina Today, and Ocular Surgery News. Dr. Kaiser has been recognized by American Society of Retina Specialists Honor and Senior Honor Awards, along with the American Academy of Ophthalmology Achievement, Senior Achievement, and Lifetime Achievement Awards. He has been listed as one of the “Best Doctors in America” every year since 2002 and named one of the “150 Top Innovators in Retina” by Ocular Surgery News, selected as a charter inductee of the Retina Hall of Fame in 2017, and appeared on the biannual Ophthalmologist’s “Power List” in 2016, 2018, and 2020 as one of the top 100 most influential people in the world of ophthalmology. He is the team ophthalmologist for the Cleveland Cavaliers (National Basketball Association).

Marion Munk

Prof. Marion R. Munk is a trained MD, PhD, Uveitis and Medical Retina specialist. She is Chief Scientific Officer and Head of Research at Augenarzt-Praxisgemeinschaft Gutblick AG,  Professor at Inselspital, Univ Hospital Bern and adjunct professor at the Northwestern University, Chicago, USA, Director of Eyegnos Consulting and Chief Medical Officer at Isarna Therapeutics. Marion is author of > 270 scientific articles. Her major research interests cover image processing, image analyses, artificial intelligence, macular diseases and uveitis. She is Research chair at the International retinal Imaging Society (InTRIS), member of the Editorial Board of IOVS, Acta Ophthalmologica, Ocular Inflammation and Infection, Ophthalmologica, BMC Ophthalmology and EyeNet and is providing peer-review for a long list of scientific journals within Ophthalmology.

Nadia Waheed

Dr. Nadia K. Waheed, MD, MPH, is Professor of Ophthalmology and a vitreoretinal surgeon at Tufts University School of Medicine and Chief Medical Officer at Ocular Therapeutix. Dr. Waheed co-founded the Boston Image Reading Center (BIRC) and leads the OCT Research Lab at Tufts Medical Center.  Her research has focused on the evaluation of OCT (Optical Coherence Tomography) and OCTA (OCT Angiography) parameters as endpoints in clinical trials. She has collaborated extensively with the lab led by Dr. James G. Fujimoto to deploy novel OCT and OCTA technologies prior to commercialization.

Prior to her position at Ocular Therapeutix, Dr Waheed held the role of Chief Medical & Development Officer at Beacon Therapeutics, and before that, was Chief Medical Officer and Head of Clinical Development at Gyroscope Therapeutics — both clinical-stage gene therapy companies.

Dr. Waheed has authored over 200 peer-reviewed publications, co-authored and edited three ophthalmology textbooks, and has served as principal investigator or co-investigator on multiple clinical trials. Her work has been recognized by both the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the Macula Society with achievement awards.

Jon Barratt

Professor Jon Barratt’s research is focused on a bench-to-bedside approach to improving our understanding of the pathogenesis of IgA nephropathy, a common global cause of kidney failure. He is the IgA nephropathy Rare Disease Group lead for the UK National Registry of Rare Kidney Diseases (RaDaR) and Convener of the International IgA Nephropathy Network. He works closely with pharmaceutical companies interested in new treatments for IgA nephropathy, and is Chief Investigator for a number of international randomised controlled Phase 2 and 3 clinical trials in IgA nephropathy.

He was a member of the FDA and American Society of Nephrology Kidney Health Initiative work group on Identifying Surrogate Endpoints for Clinical Trials in IgA Nephropathy. He is an Editorial Board member for Kidney International and the American Society of Nephrology journals, co-Chair of the UK Glomerulonephritis Clinical Study Group, and the IgA nephropathy lead for the KDIGO Clinical Practice Guidelines for Glomerular Diseases.

Richard Lafayette

Prof. Richard Lafayette is Professor of Medicine (Nephrology) at Stanford University Medical Center and founder and Director of the Stanford Glomerular Disease Center. He is an internationally recognized expert in glomerular diseases, with a particular focus on IgA nephropathy (IgAN), and has more than 30 years of clinical experience. His research has contributed to advancing the understanding and treatment of IgAN, and he has played a leading role in numerous clinical trials evaluating novel therapies across multiple therapeutic modalities. Prof. Lafayette has published extensively in nephrology and is actively involved in advancing the clinical development of new treatments for patients with IgAN and other glomerular diseases.

Adrian Liew

Dr Adrian Liew is a Senior Consultant Nephrologist at the Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital in Singapore. He is a clinical trialist and sits on the Steering Committees of various international, multi-centre clinical trials focusing on glomerular diseases, diabetic kidney disease and peritoneal dialysis. He is currently a member of the Executive Board of KDIGO and the secretary and Executive of the International Society for Peritoneal Dialysis. He is a member of the Working Groups for the KDIGO Clinical Practice Guidelines on Glomerular Diseases and the KDIGO Clinical Practice Guidelines on the Management of Diabetes in CKD, and he chairs the Asia-Pacific Society of Nephrology Clinical Practice Guidelines on Diabetic Kidney Disease. Dr Liew is also the incoming Chair of the ISN CME Committee and is the Program Director for the ISN Course on Glomerular Diseases.

Vlado Perkovic

Professor Vlado Perkovic is the Provost and Scientia Professor at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, and was previously the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine & Health at UNSW. He is a Nephrologist and a leading clinical trialist in Nephrology. His research focuses on preventing the progression of kidney disease, and its complications. He has led the Steering Committees of a large number of ground-breaking international clinical trials including FLOW, APPLAUSE, DUPLEX, PROTECT, CREDENCE, TESTING, ASCEND, CARMELINA and other, and leads several that are ongoing.

He has received several international awards and is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences. He serves on the Editorial Board of the New England Journal of Medicine, and is a Highly Cited Researcher (Clarivate, top 0.1% of cited authors).

Yusuke Suzuki

Prof. Yusuke Suzuki is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Nephrology at Juntendo University Faculty of Medicine in Tokyo, Japan, and an internationally recognized expert in IgA nephropathy (IgAN). His research has focused extensively on elucidating the pathogenesis of IgAN, identifying disease-specific biomarkers, and translating advances in disease biology into novel therapeutic approaches. His work has contributed to the understanding of mucosal immune dysregulation, pathogenic IgA and autoantibodies in IgAN. Prof. Suzuki has published extensively in nephrology and has held leadership and advisory roles within the International Society of Nephrology, the Japanese Society of Nephrology, and the International IgA Nephropathy Network.

Hong Zhang

Professor Hong Zhang, MD, PhD, is Professor of Nephrology and Head of the Renal Division at Peking University First Hospital, where she also serves as Deputy Director of the Peking University Institute of Nephrology. Her clinical and research interests include IgA nephropathy, glomerular disease and the genetics of kidney disease. She is a member of the Steering Committee of the International IgA Nephropathy Network (IIgANN) and has played a leading role in major international and Chinese IgAN clinical studies, including studies of iptacopan, Nefecon, sibeprenlimab and atrasentan.