Board of Advisors

Dimitri Azar M.D., MBA

Dr. Azar is the Chief Executive Officer for Twenty/Twenty Therapeutics, a partnership between Verily Life Sciences (Alphabet/Google) and Santen Pharmaceuticals. He is the former Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology, University of Illinois-Chicago and former Dean of the University of Illinois College of Medicine. Dr. Azar is an ophthalmic surgeon who has made significant contributions to the treatment of corneal diseases and to advances in refractive surgery. He has served as a key adviser on Verily’s ophthalmic projects since 2014. Dr. Azar completed his residency and fellowship at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School. He was a Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School before joining the University of Illinois as Head of the Ophthalmology Department. Dr. Azar received his M.D. from American University of Beirut and his MBA from the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business. He is a former board member of Novartis.

Mark S. Blumenkranz M.D., MMS

Dr. Blumenkranz is a co-founder and the Chairman and CEO of Kedalion Therapeutics a clinical stage ophthalmic pharmaceutical company. He is also the Managing Director of Lagunita Biosciences an early stage healthcare investment company and incubator in Menlo Park CA and HJ Smead Professor Emeritus in the Department of Ophthalmology at Stanford University where he is the Founder and Co-Director of the Ophthalmic Innovation Program. He served as the Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology from 1997 until 2015 and played a leading role in the planning, fundraising and construction of the Byers Eye Institute at Stanford. He is a past President of the American University Professors of Ophthalmology (AUPO), the Retina Society and the Macula Society and is a Fellow Emeritus of the Corporation of Brown University where he chaired the Medical School Committee (2002-2019). He is a member of the steering committee of the National Eye Institute’s Audacious Goals Initiative, and was a was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Jackson Laboratory from 2017 to 2020. He is a co-founder and serves as a director of Verana Health and is a member of the board of Directors of BVI Visitec and One Medical (ONEM:NASDAQ).

David F Chang M.D.

Dr. Chang is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Medical School. He completed his ophthalmology residency at the University of California, San Francisco where he is now a clinical professor. Having chaired the ASCRS Cataract Clinical Committee, Dr. Chang has been on the ASCRS Board and Executive Committee since 2009 and served as the 2012-2013 president. He is a past chair of the AAO Cataract Preferred Practice Pattern Panel and the AAO Annual Meeting Program Committee. In addition to the Lifetime AAO Achievement award, Dr. Chang is a 6-time AAO Secretariat Award recipient. He previously served as chief medical editor of EyeWorld, and Cataract and Refractive Surgery Today. Dr. Chang currently co-chairs the ASCRS Foundation and is the recipient of the 2019 AAO Humanitarian Service Award, and the 2020 Aravind Venkataswamy Award

Adrienne Graves, Ph.D.

Dr. Graves is a visual scientist by training and a global industry leader in ophthalmology. As the former CEO of Santen Inc., she successfully established a strong global presence, brought multiple ophthalmic products through development to approval and commercialization, and led global teams through successful acquisitions and partnerships. At Santen, Dr. Graves served as Sr. VP of Worldwide Clinical Development (US, Europe, and Japan) for 7 years and CEO for 8 years. Prior to Santen, she spent 9 years at Alcon, joining as Sr. Scientist to establish Alcon's first Retinal Electrophysiology Laboratory. She progressed through roles of increasing responsibility in R&D, including directing clinical development in multiple therapeutic areas and serving as Director of International Ophthalmology. Dr. Graves currently serves as an Independent Director on the boards of Iveric Bio, Qlaris Bio, Nicox S.A., Surface Ophthalmics, Oxurion, TherOptix, and Greenbrook TMS. Dr. Graves also serves as Director on the following Foundation Boards: ASCRS Foundation, Glaucoma Research Foundation, American Academy of Ophthalmology Foundation (Emeritus), Retina Global, Himalayan Cataract Project, Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB), and the RD (Retinal Degeneration) Fund. Dr. Graves co-founded Glaucoma 360 and OWL (Ophthalmic World Leaders, formerly Ophthalmic Women Leaders). Her recent honors include the Visionary Award from Foundation Fighting Blindness, the Catalyst Award from Glaucoma Research Foundation, the Visionary Award from OWL, the Bernice Brown Memorial Lecture and award from Women in Ophthalmology, and The Ophthalmologist 2021 Power List. Dr. Graves received an AB with Honors in Psychology from Brown University, a Ph.D. in Psychobiology/Neuroscience from the University of Michigan, and she completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Visual Neuroscience at the University of Paris. She is a Visionary Innovation Mentor at the Ophthalmic Innovation Program at Stanford University.

John A. Vukich M.D.

Dr. Vukich is the founding member of Summit Eye Care in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is past president and Board Chairman of the American European Congress of Ophthalmic Surgery and past chairman of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery refractive committee. He has been the lead instructor and moderator of several courses on innovative surgical techniques and new technology devices and has gained international attention for his work in developing the Implantable Collamer Lens. He is currently a principal investigator in clinical trials of innovative laser treatments for the correction of refractive errors, new technology IOLs and ground breaking cell therapy treatment for corneal disease. Dr. Vukich is a frequently invited lecturer and widely recognized as a key opinion leader. He has served on the executive committee of the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s Refractive Surgery section and on the Education Committee of the AAO. He has twice been the program chairman of the largest refractive surgery meeting in the world, the ISRS/AAO Refractive Surgery Subspeciality Day. Dr. Vukich has served as an associate editor of the Journal of Refractive Surgery and serves on the editorial board of both Review of Refractive Surgery and Cataract and Refractive Surgery Today. He has received Best Paper of Session awards at numerous scientific meetings including Australian Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery and the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery. He is the recipient of the AAO Senior Honor Award and has been recognized by as his peers locally in Wisconsin by being voted “Top Doc”. Dr. Vukich is frequently sought out by the media for expert analysis and has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and USA Today. He has appeared in interviews on ABC’s World News Tonight and Good Morning America. Dr. Vukich graduated with honors from Emory University and completed his ophthalmology training at the University of Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary. Dr. Vukich is certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology. He is a member of numerous professional societies at the national, state and local level.

Kevin L. Waltz O.D., M.D.

Dr. Waltz is a board certified ophthalmologist with extensive experience in clinical care and clinical research in the U.S. and abroad. He has been involved in naming, testing, refining, and teaching presbyopia treatment for over 20 years, including many first-in-human trials in Central America of developing technology. In 1998, he personally had bilateral cataract surgery with the Array multifocal IOL, one of the first IOLs to purposely treat pseudophakic presbyopia. He is well known for pioneering the concept of combining world class clinical research with charity eye care to improve the quality and quantity of eye care available in Central America.