Jason Comander, MD, PhD, Named Inaugural Incumbent of the Ayoub Family Chair in Ophthalmology
Jason Comander, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School (HMS), has been appointed the first incumbent of the Ayoub Family Chair in Ophthalmology at Mass Eye and Ear. This Chair, which supports an individual and their program in inherited retinal disorders, was endowed by Stephen Ayoub, President and Co-Founder of AHEAD, a computing solutions and AI integration company. Stephen made the gift to honor his sister, Natalia Ayoub, who has an inherited retinal disorder. After being diagnosed elsewhere, Natalia came to Mass Eye and Ear to be evaluated by Dr. Comander and has shared that it was the first time she felt heard since her diagnosis. The $2M gift by Stephen acknowledges the exceptional experience and care Natalia has received from Dr. Comander and the team.
Dr. Comander joined the Harvard Ophthalmology faculty in 2012 as an Instructor in Ophthalmology at HMS and a member of the Inherited Retinal Disorders Service at Mass Eye and Ear. He was promoted to Assistant Professor in Ophthalmology in 2017 and Associate Professor of Ophthalmology in 2025.
Dr. Comander has developed national recognition for his pioneering work in gene and stem cell therapies for retinal disorders. In 2018, he performed the first FDA-approved gene therapy procedure for any inherited disease on a 13-year-old patient with Leber congenital amaurosis, a form of retinitis pigmentosa. He is also the principal investigator for an international, multi-site trial testing the subretinal delivery of human retinal progenitor stem cells for the treatment of retinitis pigmentosa. Dr. Comander was also one of two surgeons who first delivered CRISPR Cas9 gene-editing tools to a human subject in vivo. He was co-awarded a patent for surgical innovation in gene delivery to the inner retina, a newer field, as well as a patent using advanced gene-editing tools to develop a potential therapy for retinitis pigmentosa.
Dr. Comander serves as the Director of the Inherited Retinal Disorders Service at Mass Eye and Ear and is an active member of several institutes and centers dedicated to advancing gene and stem cell therapies, including the Ocular Genomics Institute, the Harvard ophthalmology Ocular Regenerative Medicine Institute, and the Harvard Ophthalmology Mobility Enhancement and Vision Rehabilitation Center of Excellence. He also runs a National Institutes of Health-funded laboratory at Mass Eye and Ear, where his research interests focus on genetic diagnostics and treatments for inherited retinal disorders, which align with his position as a clinical expert and trialist in pursuing innovation relevant to patient care.