Research is a critical part of our departmental mission; we seek to understand the eye in sickness and in health in order to help people with eye disease see better.

Vision research is thriving at UW! Scientists in the Department of Ophthalmology are fortunate to work in an environment which fosters innovation. Researchers at the University of Washington hold more than 48 NIH grants relating to vision and optic nerve research, making it one of the country’s leading institutions engaged in vision research. Our department faculty collaborates with their colleagues who are experts in fields as diverse as Engineering, Psychology, Physiology and Biophysics, Biological Structure and Genomics. In addition, as an international computer science and biotech center, the city of Seattle offers the opportunity to join forces with outstanding scientists and technicians from the private sector.

Within our own department, there is more than 6000 sf of dedicated lab space located in the heart of the University of Washington Medical Center. Animal facilities are located in adjacent towers. For 34 consecutive years, the University of Washington has held a NEI Vision Core Grant which is administered through the Department of Ophthalmology. The Core facilities serve to bring together researchers from across the university.

Currently a dedicated group of clinician-scientists and basic science researchers make up the core of the Ophthalmology Department’s research program. Our goal is to team with the outstanding facilities and faculty in our neighboring departments to build a vision research program that is truly university-wide.

Department of Ophthalmology based research labs:

• Van Gelder Lab ^[1]
• Neitz Lab ^[2]
• Shen Lab ^[3]
• Vision Core Lab ^[4]

The Department is grateful for the support of the research activities which comes from a variety of sources, including the NIH, Research to Prevent Blindness, the Allergan Foundation, Alcon, the Bishop Foundation, the Coulter Foundation.