Ioannis Pallikaris

About Ioannis Pallikaris

Ioannis Pallikaris

Founder and Director of the Institute of Vision and Optics, University of Crete

Ioannis Pallikaris is perhaps best known as the ophthalmologist who described and named LASIK, was the first to perform the LASIK procedure on a human eye, and went on to develop Epi-LASIK. He described the Photoablatable Lenticular Modulator (PALM) technique for corneal resurfacing, and co-invented the Tracey ray-tracing device for clinical aberrometry. A prolific entrepreneur and innovator, he is also an enthusiastic educator who has over 30 years of teaching experience in both Greece and Switzerland, at undergraduate and post-graduate levels. He has written many textbooks, and received numerous awards for his work, including an AAO Lifetime Achievement Award and the ESCRS Binkhorst Medal. His current research interests include corneal and iris biology, ocular imaging, corneal implants and inlays, and corneal collagen cross-linking.