Jonas Friedenwald Associate Professor of Ophthalmology and Biomedical Engineering

Research Interests:

• Retina disease
• Vitreous disease
• Age-related macular degeneration
• Diabetic retinopathy
• Retinal vascular disease
• Retinal detachments
• Ocular trauma
• Macular and sub-macular surgery
• Surgical management of complex retinal detachment

Yannis Paulus is the Jonas Friedenwald Associate Professor of Ophthalmology and Biomedical Engineering and a vitreoretinal surgeon at the Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute. A surgical and medical retina specialist, he directs an active, multidisciplinary research laboratory that develops novel retinal imaging systems, lasers and long-lasting therapies, and nanotechnologies to allow physicians to determine cellular markers of disease, enabling early diagnosis, improved treatment monitoring, and more individualized, personalized precision medicine tailored to each patient’s needs.

Particularly interested in translating technologies that he develops into commercially viable products, Paulus has received several entrepreneurship awards and patents in addition to starting up multiple companies. He serves on the editorial board of multiple journals and has more than 165 peer-reviewed publications in leading journals such as Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Communications, Science Advances, JAMA Ophthalmology, the Journal of Neuroscience, Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, ACS Nano, and Light: Science & Applications. Paulus has received numerous fellowships and awards from leading international organizations, including the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology/Alcon Early Career Clinician-Scientist Research Award; senior member designation by the Society of Photographic Instrumentation Engineers, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Optica, and the Heed Ophthalmic Foundation; the Evangelos S. Gragoudas Award from the Macula Society; and a Starr E. Shulman MPA fellowship from the California Academy of Eye Physicians and Surgeons. He was recognized on the Greek America Foundation’s Forty Under 40 list and previously served as president of the Hellenic American Professional Society of California.

After earning his bachelor’s degree in chemistry and physics from Harvard University and his medical degree at the Stanford University School of Medicine, Paulus completed an internship at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, a residency in ophthalmology at the Byers Eye Institute at Stanford University, and a surgical and medical retina fellowship at the Wilmer Eye Institute. After this, he served as the Helmut F. Stern Career Development Associate Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences  at the University of Michigan W.K. Kellogg Eye Center for nearly 10 years.