Mark S. Blumenkranz

Biography

Mark S. Blumenkranz, M.D., MMS, is HJ Smead Professor Emeritus in the Department of Ophthalmology at Stanford University. He received his Undergraduate, Master’s degree in Biochemical Pharmacology, and MD at Brown. He completed his surgical internship and ophthalmic residency training at Stanford and a fellowship in vitreoretinal diseases at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute where he was appointed a member of the faculty following completion of his training in 1980. In 1985 he founded the vitreoretinal Fellowship Training Program at the William Beaumont Eye Institute in Royal Oak Michigan, and served as the Fellowship Director until 1992. He returned to Stanford in 1992 as head of the vitreoretinal service and was appointed to serve as the Department Chairman in 1997. He served in that capacity until 2015. He played a leading role in the planning, fundraising and construction of the Byers Eye Institute at Stanford and served as founding Director beginning with its opening in September 2010 through June 2015.

Research Interest

His primary areas of interest are in the diagnosis, medical and surgical treatment of vitreal retinal diseases. These principally include age-related macular degeneration and other diseases of the macula, and tractional syndromes, diabetic retinopathy, and complex forms of retinal detachment. He has been interested in the development of novel technology to diagnose and treat these diseases, including new forms of imaging, laser delivery systems, other microsurgical tools, and new drugs and drug delivery systems that inhibit new blood vessel growth, scarring and intraocular inflammation. He has been actively involved in translational research in the laboratory as well as technology transfer associated with that research for a variety of new therapies that have received FDA clearance and been introduced into clinical practice over the past 30 years.