Demetrios Vavvas

Demetrios G. Vavvas, MD, PhD, is the Solman and Libe Friedman Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School and Co-Director of the Ocular Regenerative Medicine Institute. Dr. Vavvas also serves as Associate Director of the Retina Service at Massachusetts Eye and Ear.

A full-time clinician scientist, he received his ophthalmology training in the Harvard Medical School Residency Program. After serving as the Chief Resident and Director of the Eye Trauma service at Mass Eye and Ear, he completed a fellowship in Vitreoretinal Surgery there where he received the Fellow of the Year award for his resident teaching and served as the Chief Fellow.

He is an active member of the retina faculty seeing a variety of surgical and medical vitreoretinal diseases. Dr. Vavvas' clinical work focuses on macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, trauma and oncology. He was the first to describe use of small gauge vitrectomy for complications of cataract surgery and trauma and has described a modified approach to an old surgical technique called scleral buckle in order to make it more predictable and easier to teach to trainees. Along with Drs. Dean Eliott and John B. Miller, he co-directs and organizes the Annual Fellows Course tailored for first-year vitreoretinal fellows from over 20 different programs in the nation.

Clinical Interests:

• Diabetic retinopathy
• Macular degeneration
• Ocular trauma
• Retina

Companies

• Professor of Ophthalmology Harvard Medical School (2021)
• Associate Director Retina Service Massachusetts Eye and Ear (2020)
• Scientific Advisory Board OliX Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (2019)
• Medical Advisory Board Valitor, Inc. (2019)
• Monte J Wallace Ophthalmology Chair in Retina The Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (2016)
• Retina Attending Mass Eye and Ear Infirmary (2007)
• research associate Schepens Eye Research Institute / Harvard Medical School (2005)
• Associate Professor of Ophthalmology Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (2013 — 2021)
• Joan W Miller Scholar in Retinal Research The Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (2010 — 2016)

Education

• Residency Harvard Medical School (2005 — 2007)
• B.Sc. McGill University
• MD/PhD Boston University School of Medicine