Evangelos S. Gragoudas MD

Dr. Evangelos Gragoudas, MD is the Distinguished Charles Edward Whitten Professor of Ophthalmology at the Harvard Medical School and Distinguished Director of the Retina Service at Mass Eye and Ear. A prolific clinician-scientist, Dr. Gragoudas has published over 250 articles in peer-reviewed journals and written or authored more than 100 chapters, reviews, and books. Dr. Gragoudas is considered a world authority on the diagnosis and management of intraocular tumors. He pioneered the use of proton therapy in eye tumors, a treatment modality that has been proven to be extremely successful and has been used in many ocular oncology centers around the world.

Dr. Gragoudas’ second major contribution to Ophthalmology is the use of photodynamic therapy (PDT) for the treatment of AMD. He collaborated with Dr. Joan W. Miller on preclinical studies of PDT and based on large clinical trials, photodynamic therapy became the first widely used treatment for neovascular AMD.

Dr. Gragoudas’ third major contribution to Ophthalmology has been his work on ocular angiogenesis and anti-angiogenesis therapy. He worked with a group of ophthalmologists, including Drs. Joan Miller, Tony Adamis, Pat D’Amore, and others to demonstrate the critical role of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in ocular neovascularization and went on to develop therapies targeting VEGF. In 2014, Dr. Gragoudas and his colleagues received the Champalimaud Vision Award for their work on using anti-angiogenesis drug therapy for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration. This award is considered the “Nobel Prize” in Vision Research.

He has received numerous honors and awards including the Academy Honor Award of the American Academy of Ophthalmology; the Retina Research Foundation prize of the Jules Gonin Lectureship; the Research to Prevent Blindness Senior Scientific Investigators Award; the Senior Achievement Award of the American Academy of Ophthalmology; J. Donald M.Gass Medal of the Macula Society; the Arnall Patz Medal of the Macula Society; Mildred Weisenfeld Award for Excellence in Ophthalmology from ARVO.