Subscribe to Newsletter

Alex Huang

The Power List 2017


Alex Huang

Assistant Professor, Doheny and Stein Eye Institute, Department of Ophthalmology, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Today, Alex Huang is a glaucoma specialist, a founding member of the Doheny Eye Institute and UCLA affiliation, and NIH-supported clinician scientist whose laboratory is developing an aqueous humor imaging technique, aqueous angiography, that should not only help improve our basic understanding of aqueous outflow, but also help optimize the efficacy of interventions that seek to enhance natural outflow pathways – like some MIGS devices. But Alex’s story begins with neuroscience, not glaucoma.

His undergraduate degree research included work on axon guidance and hippocampal synaptic transmission. As a MD/PhD candidate at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine under Solomon Snyder in the Department of Neuroscience, Alex went on to research atypical amino acids and their role in melanocortin production, melanocortin behaviors, and retinal development – and it was this work that prompted him to pursue residency training in ophthalmology at Doheny Eye Institute.

This is when his clinical and research interest in glaucoma really began. It started with a basic science research endeavor with James Tan at UCLA/Doheny that involved them identifying collagen and elastin as the biological origins of endogenous trabecular meshwork autofluorescence in the human eye. After that, he became a Heed Ophthalmic Foundation-supported glaucoma fellow with Robert Weinreb at the University of California, San Diego, where Alex, with Robert, developed the basis for his research program that examined the unstudied and potential post-trabecular meshwork sources of aqueous humor outflow resistance in the eye. This led to an NIH Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career Development Award, and Alex is also funded by the American Glaucoma Society and Research to Prevent Blindness to develop aqueous angiography into a technique that can be used to visualize outflow in a clinical setting. At home, Alex spends his time with his wife, Maggie, and two young sons, Ethan and Evan, most frequently building Legos probably bought at the Legoland theme park in Carlsbad, California.

One nominator said: “Alex is an inventor of aqueous angiography, a ground-breaking technique that visualizes real-time aqueous humor outflow for improving the basic understanding of fluid flow in the eye. He is Principal Investigator of several studies that have validated the used of this technology experimentally (post-mortem human eyes and non-human primate live eyes), as well as in human patients. This new technology offers great potential for enhancing and individualizing glaucoma surgery.”


Part of the Power List 2017

Top 50 rising stars

Thanks to the demographics of the developed world, the future of eyecare looks like it will be one of limited resources and rising patient burden.

So who will lead ophthalmology over the next few decades and shape its future? To find out, we asked you, our readers, to vote for ophthalmology’s Top 50 rising stars… and here they are.

Welcome to the 2017 Power List.

In 2018, The Ophthalmologist will be recognising the Top 100 pioneers and game-changers in the field of ophthalmology.

Go to The Power List 2017

Register to The Ophthalmologist

Register to access our FREE online portfolio, request the magazine in print and manage your preferences.

You will benefit from:
  • Unlimited access to ALL articles
  • News, interviews & opinions from leading industry experts
  • Receive print (and PDF) copies of The Ophthalmologist magazine

Register

Disclaimer

The Ophthalmologist website is intended solely for the eyes of healthcare professionals. Please confirm below: