Reza Dana

Reza Dana is the Claes H. Dohlman Professor of Ophthalmology, senior scientist and W. Clement Stone Clinical Research Scholar at Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School, and director of the Harvard-Vision Clinical Scientist Development Program.

Dana is an internationally recognized expert in the field of corneal disorders and ocular inflammation. He is best known for his work on the molecular and cellular mechanisms of ocular inflammation with translational applications to autoimmunity, transplantation, dry eye disease, and angiogenesis. He is a member of editorial boards of 10 journals, including as editor-in-chief of Cornea.

Education and training
Dana attended the Tehran International School during his early years and graduated summa cum laude from St. Paul's School, New Hampshire. He pursued his baccalaureate degree at Johns Hopkins University School of Arts and Sciences, where he was invited to join the Phi Beta Kappa. Dr. Dana attended medical school at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and also obtained a master's degree in Public Health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He received his Ophthalmology residency training at the Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary, and clinical cornea and external diseases fellowship at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia. He received advanced fellowship training in Immunology and Uveitis at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear and pursued laboratory research training in Ocular and Transplantation Immunology Laboratory at the Schepens Eye Research Institute, Harvard Medical School under the mentorship of the late J. Wayne Streilein.

Research and career
Dana joined as an instructor in the department of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School in 1995 and has been a faculty member here ever since. In 2006, he was named the director of Cornea Service at Massachusetts Eye and Ear, and in 2007, he was appointed the Claes H. Dohlman Chair in Ophthalmology and vice chairman for academic programs. He is also an honorary professor of ophthalmology at Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University.

Dana's research focus is in the area of immuno-inflammatory disorders of the cornea and ocular surface. He has published over 370 peer-reviewed publications and over 150 reviews, edited several books and serves as the senior editor for Elsevier's Encyclopedia of the Eye. His work has been cited more than 25000 times and carries an h-index of 82. His is widely recognized for (i) identifying, phenotyping and functionally characterizing resident bone marrow-derived antigen-presenting cells (APC) of the cornea, (ii) identifying novel mechanisms of corneal APC trafficking, (iii) defining novel functional interactions between lymphatic endothelia and APC, (iv) identifying selective topical cytokine and chemokine targeting to promote transplant survival by suppressing effector T cells,   (v) defining novel mechanisms employed by the corneal epithelium to maintain angiogenic privilege including the VEGFR-3 sink and PD-L1 mechanisms, (vi) developing strategies to promote corneal endothelial cell survival in transplantation, including gene therapy.

Awards and honors



 * 1981 – National Cum Laude Society
 * 1984 – Phi Beta Kappa (Junior Year), Johns Hopkins University
 * 1981-85 – Dean's List (every semester), Johns Hopkins University
 * 1989 – Henry Strong Dennison Award for Research, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
 * 1990 – National Eye Institute/ARVO Travel Fellowship
 * 1995 – Heed Ophthalmic Foundation Fellowship (Ocular Immunology)
 * 1996 – Knapp Fellow of the Society of Heed Fellows
 * 1996 – Clinical Scientist Career Award (KO8) from NIH
 * 1999 – Research to Prevent Blindness William & Mary Greve Special Scholar
 * 2002 – Achievement Award, American Academy of Ophthalmology
 * 2002 – Kronfeld Memorial Lecturer, Illinois Eye & Ear Infirmary
 * 2002 – Fry Memorial Lecturer, Wills Eye Hospital Biennial Cornea Conference
 * 2003 – Cogan Award, Association for Research In Vision and Ophthalmology
 * 2003 – Dohlman Lecturer, Boston Biennial Cornea Conference
 * 2004 – Alta Lecturer and visiting professorship, University of California San Francisco
 * 2004 – Keynote Address, 28th All-Japan Cornea Conference, Yonago, Japan
 * 2005 – Research to Prevent Blindness Physician Scientist-Merit Award
 * 2006 – Service Recognition Award, American Academy of Ophthalmology
 * 2007 – Listed, “Best Doctors of America”
 * 2007 – Listed, “Best of Boston” Ophthalmologists, Boston Magazine
 * 2007 – Listed, “Best Ophthalmologists of America”
 * 2008 – Alcon Research Institute Award
 * 2009 – Research to Prevent Blindness Lew R. Wasserman-Merit Award
 * 2011 – David Easty Lecturer, Bowman Club, Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh
 * 2011 – Joaquin Barraquer Lecture, Spanish Congress of Ophthalmology
 * 2011 – LSU Chancellor's Award in Neuroscience and Ophthalmology
 * 2012 – Mentoring Award, European Young Investigator Network for Ocular Surface Inflammation
 * 2013 – Senior Scientific Investigator Award, Research to Prevent Blindness
 * 2013 – Gold Fellow, Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology
 * 2013 – Keynote Speaker, Biennial Meeting of the European Society of Ophthalmology, Copenhagen, Denmark
 * 2014 – Thygeson Lecture, Ocular Microbiology and Immunology Group
 * 2014 – A. Clifford Barger Excellence in Mentoring Award, Harvard Medical School
 * 2015 – Kersley Lecture, British Ocular Surface Society, London, England
 * 2015 – Keynote Address & Certificate of Honor, European Association for Vision and Eye Research, Nice, France
 * 2016 – Roger Meyer Lecture, University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center
 * 2016 – Elected, Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis
 * 2016 – Mooney Lecture, Irish College of Ophthalmologists, Republic of Ireland
 * 2016 – Endre A. Balazs Prize, International Society for Eye Research
 * 2017 – Plenary Address, 121st Meeting of Japanese Ophthalmological Society
 * 2017 – Senior Achievement Award, American Academy of Ophthalmology
 * 2017 – Streilein Lecture, 30th Biennial Cornea Conference
 * 2018 – Friedenwald Award, Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO)
 * 2018 – Research to Prevent Blindness Stein Innovation Award
 * 2019 – Ellis Island Medal of Honor
 * 2020 – Power List 2020 – The Ophthalmologist

Teaching and Mentoring
Dana is the vice chair of academic programs at the Department of Ophthalmology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear and a faculty for the Graduate Program in Immunology, Harvard Medical School. He is the recipient of the Harvard Medical School Clifford Barger Excellence in Mentoring Award, the top mentoring award bestowed at Harvard Medical School. He has mentored over 120 postdoctoral research fellows from 33 countries, 80 clinical fellows and residents, medical students, and graduate students enrolled in Harvard Medical School. He is the director of the NIH-funded Harvard-Vision Clinical Scientist Development Program since 2004.