Joan W. Miller Appointed Treasurer of the Macula Society

March 9, 2016
Joan W. Miller

Joan W. Miller, MD, Henry Willard Williams Professor of Ophthalmology and Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School (HMS), was appointed Treasurer of The Macula Society as of February 27, 2016. Dr. Miller is an internationally recognized expert on retinal disorders, including age-related macular degeneration (AMD), retinal degenerations, and diabetic retinopathy. Along with Evangelos Gragoudas, MD, she is credited with developing photodynamic therapy with verteporfin (Visudyne®), the first AMD treatment approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and drug regulatory agencies worldwide. She and her colleagues at Mass. Eye and Ear pioneered the development of photodynamic therapy (PDT) using verteporfin (Visudyne®), the first pharmacologic therapy for AMD. Dr. Miller also identified the role of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in ocular neovascularization, forming the scientific basis of current antiangiogenic therapies for intraocular vascular diseases (including neovascular AMD and diabetic eye disease).

Established in 1977, the Macula Society is a forum to present and critique the rapidly expanding new research in retinal vascular and macular disease, as well as disseminate the most current and most advanced scientific information and research available in this area.