Peter McDonnell, MD

Dr. McDonnell is a 1982 graduate of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and completed a residency in ophthalmology at the Wilmer Institute, followed by a fellowship in Cornea and External Diseases at the Doheny Eye Institute of the University of Southern California. He returned to Johns Hopkins as Assistant Chief of Service at the Wilmer Institute, before joining the full-time faculty at the University of Southern California, advancing to the rank of professor in 1994. In 1999, he was named the Irving H. Leopold Professor and Chair, Department of Ophthalmology, University of California-Irvine. In 2003, he returned to Johns Hopkins University, Wilmer Institute as the sixth William Holland Wilmer Professor and Director. Wilmer is the largest ophthalmology department in the country with over 200 full-time faculty. It includes the only designated eye trauma center in Maryland. Dr. McDonnell’s research interests include surgical correction of refractive error, dry eye disease, ocular infection and the use of nanotechnological solutions for improving drug delivery to the eye. He has published over 250 scientific articles and holds eight patents. He was honored by the American Academy of Ophthalmology in 1991 (Honor Award), in 2001 (Senior Achievement Senior Achievement Award), and in 2003 received the Alcon Research Institute Award. He has served on the editorial boards of six ophthalmology journals and is currently Medical Editor of Ophthalmology Times. He is Vice President-elect of the Pan-American Association of Ophthalmology and past president and current member of the National Alliance for Eye and Vision Research.