Russell N. Van Gelder, MD, PhD

Dr. Van Gelder was born and raised in and around New York City. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Stanford University. He remained at Stanford for the MD/PhD program, earning his PhD in Neurosciences studying the molecular biology of circadian rhythms. Following internal medicine internship at Stanford, he completed his residency in ophthalmology at Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University in St. Louis, and his medical retina and uveitis fellowship at the Barnes Retina Institute.

Dr. Van Gelder remained on faculty at Washington University from 1999 until 2007. His research has been continuously funded by the NIH since 1999. His laboratory has been at the forefront of two fields, non-visual photoreception and pathogen detection in uveitis. He has published over 100 papers and book chapters, including papers in Science, Neuron, Nature Genetics, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He was appointed the Bernard Becker Professor of Ophthalmology at Washington University in 2006. Dr. Van Gelder has won numerous awards for his research, including the Research to Prevent Blindness Career Development Award, an NEI K08 Award, the Culpeper Foundation Clinician-Scientist Award, the inaugural Becker/RPB/AUPO Research Award, and the Translational Scientist Award of the Burroughs-Wellcome Foundation.

Since 2008, Dr. Van Gelder has been the Boyd K. Bucey Memorial Chair, Professor, and Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology at University of Washington in Seattle. He is Director of the UW Medicine Eye Institute, and is Adjunct Professor of Biological Structure and of Pathology. Nationally, he is a Trustee of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, and serves as Chair of the Council. He is past President of the American Uveitis Society. He is a Trustee of the Society of Heed Fellows, and serves on the Scientific Advisory Board for Foundation Fighting Blindness. Dr. Van Gelder is an active clinician-scientist and teacher. He sees patients with ocular inflammatory disease one day per week, and divides his remaining time between his research, teaching, and administrative duties. Dr. Van Gelder lives on Mercer Island, Washington, with his wife and two teen age children. His pastimes include hiking, backpacking, skiing, music, and photography.