Ronald Klein MD, MPH

Dr. Ronald Klein is a Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, as well as an epidemiologist and practicing retinal specialist. He received an MD degree from the New York University School of Medicine in 1969 and an MPH degree from the University of North Carolina in 1973. Dr. Klein’s research is focused primarily on the epidemiological study of eye disease with the goal to decrease the burden of visual impairment and blindness due to diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, and cataract. Along with Dr. Barbara E. K. Klein, he co-directs the University of Wisconsin-Madison Ocular Epidemiology Grading Center. He is involved with developing and implementing protocols to grade ocular photographs for the severity of age-related macular degeneration and other eye diseases, and data analyses and paper writing from many large ongoing cohort studies and collaborations worldwide. Additionally, Dr. Klein is co-principal investigator of two population-based epidemiological studies, the Wisconsin Epidemiologic Study of Diabetic Retinopathy (WESDR, begun in 1979) and the Beaver Dam Eye Study (BDES, begun in 1988). The findings of both studies have been instrumental in improving medical and ophthalmologic care for persons with diabetes and for persons with age-related eye diseases.