David L. Epstein, MD, MMM

David L. Epstein, MD, MMM grew up in Chicago, Illinois and attended Johns Hopkins University for both undergraduate and medical school, graduating in 1968. Following an internship at the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, he was a pre-resident fellow in the Howe Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary (MEEI), Harvard Medical School, from 1969-1970. He served as a flight surgeon at the USAF School of Aerospace Medicine in San Antonio, Texas from 1970-1972. From 1973-1976, Dr. Epstein completed his residency and a clinical and research glaucoma fellowship at MEEI. In 1978, Dr. Epstein joined the faculty at MEEI and Harvard Medical School, and from 1982-1991, served as the Director of the Glaucoma Consultation Service. After a year as Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of California at San Francisco, he became Professor and Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology at the Duke University School of Medicine in 1992. In 1996, he was named Joseph A. C. Wadsworth Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology. He received his Masters of Medical Management degree in 2001 from Tulane University School of Public Health.

He is a glaucoma clinician and scientist with both clinical and laboratory research interests. He is also a founder of a Duke “spinoff” glaucoma drug development company, Aerie Pharmaceuticals (2005). He has over 230 refereed scientific publications and has received numerous awards. He received the Alcon Research Institute Award in 1982 and most recently he received Duke University School of Medicine Medical Alumni Association’s Distinguished Faculty Award (2012) and The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) – Mildred Weisenfeld Award for Excellence in Ophthalmology (2013). He was President of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) from 1992 to 1993, President of the Chandler-Grant Glaucoma Society from 2004-2005, and he was President of the Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology (AUPO) in 2011.

He has given many named lectures, some of which are: the W. Morton Grant Lecture (1993), the Jules Stein Lecture (1995), the Robert N. Shaffer Glaucoma Lecture (1995), the Chandler-Grant Lecture (1997), the Saul Sugar Lecture (2000), the Irving Leopold Lecture (2002), the American Glaucoma Society Lecture (2005), the Mansour F. Armaly Lecture (2005), the Florence Teicher Lecture (2005), the F. Bruce Fralick Lecture (2006), the Hoover Lecture (2008), the John R. Lynn Lecture (2009), the Jose S. Pulido Endowed Lecture (2009), the Thorpe Lecture (2010), the Kerrison Lecture (2010), the Irvine Lecture (2011), ARVO – Weisenfeld Award Lecture (2013), and the Bettman Lecture (2013). He has served on many national Scientific Advisory Boards, often as Chairman. He has a special interest in fostering M.D. clinician scientists’ careers in ophthalmology and translating the best in science to the understanding and treatment of human ocular disease.