Faculty

An Interdisciplinary Team

UC Davis is internationally recognized for its interdisciplinary approach to research and education. The UCD Center for Vision Science epitomizes this approach. CVS faculty are drawn from 16 different academic departments, and 5 Schools and Colleges, including the School of Medicine, College of Biological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, College of Engineering and College of Letters and Sciences. This interdisciplinary team brings an extraordinary array of expertise to bear on the study of the visual system. The team includes molecular biologists, psychologists, physiologists, neuroscientists, mathematicians, engineers, and clinical ophthalmologists from both human and veterinary medicine, among many other disciplines. Our goal is to conduct research which reveals how the visual system works, and then use this knowledge as a base for developing strategies which improve clinical care.

James B. Ames, Ph.D.
Chemistry
Structure and function of calcium sensor proteins

Rebecca Renee Bellone, Ph.D.
Veterinary Genetics Laboratory; Vet Med – Population Health and Reproduction
Molecular mechanisms underlying inherited ocular disorders in horses

James David Brandt, Ph.D.
Ophthalmology
Clinical and basic science aspects of glaucoma

Kenneth H. Britten, Ph.D.
Neurobiology, Physiology, & Behavior
Higher-order motion processing in extrastriate cortex

Nadean L. Brown, Ph.D.
Cell Biology & Human Anatomy
Molecular mechanisms regulating development of mammalian lens and retina

Marie E. Burns, Ph.D.
Ophthalmology
Photoreceptor physiology and degeneration

Gino A. Cortopassi, Ph.D.
Molecular Biosciences
Mitochondrial form and function in inherited optic neuropathies

William M. DeBello, Ph.D.
Neurobiology, Physiology, & Behavior; Neurology
Molecular plasticity of owl optic tectum

Jochen Ditterich, Ph.D.
Neurobiology, Physiology, & Behavior
Visual decision making

Melissa Barnett Erickson, O.D.
Ophthalmology
Cornea and contact lenses including speciality contatct lenses

Paul G. FitzGerald, Ph.D.
Cell Biology & Human Anatomy
Lens-specific intermediate filament proteins

Joy J. Geng, Ph.D.
Center for Mind and Brain
Integrated attention

Nandini G. Gandhi, M.D.
Ophthalmology
Pediatric and adult strabismus

Tom Glaser, M.D., Ph.D.
Cell Biology and Human Anatomy
Genetic basis of mammalian eye development and retinal cell fate specification

Mark Steven Goldman, Ph.D.
Neurobiology, Physiology & Behavior
Computer and mathematical models for sensory, oculomotor, and short-term memory systems

John M. Henderson, Ph.D.
Psychology
Attention, eye movements, scene perception and reading

Leonard M. Hjelmeland, Ph.D.
Molecular & Cellular Biology, Ophthalmology
Senescence of retinal pigment epithelium

Henry Ho, Ph.D.
Cell Biology & Human Anatomy
The role of receptor tyrosine kinase signaling in visual system function and disease

Steve R Hollingsworth, DVM, DACVO
Ophthalmology

Andrew T. Ishida, Ph.D.
Neurobiology, Physiology & Behavior
Modulation of retinal ganglion cell excitability

John L. Keltner, M.D.
Ophthalmology
MS and effects of vision; cancer related retinopathies, optic neuropathies, and other autoimmune retinopathies

Kathryn G Koehler, DVM, DACVO
Ophthalmology

Leah A. Krubitzer, Ph.D.
Psychology
Cortical organization and plasticity

Anna La Torre, Ph.D.
Cell Biology and Human Anatomy
Cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying neuronal progenitor competence and differentiation

Jennifer Y. Li, M.D.
Ophthalmology
Cornea

Michelle C. Lim, M.D.
Ophthalmology
Glaucoma and retinal imaging

Lily K. Lin, M.D.
Ophthalmology
Eyelid, tear duct/lacrimal system, and orbit disease treatments

Angelique Y. Louie, Ph.D.
Biomedical Engineering
Molecular and cellular imaging, MRI

Steven J. Luck, Ph.D.
Psychology
Neural and cognitive mechanisms of attention and working memory

David J. Maggs, Ph.D.
Surgery & Radiology; Veterinary Medicine
Comparative ophthalmology, feline and equine herpesvirus

George R. Mangun, Ph.D.
Psychology, Neurology
Visual attention and fMRI

Mark J. Mannis, M.D.
Ophthalmology
Human cornea and ocular pathogens

Nicholas Marsh-Armstrong, Ph.D.
Ophthalmology and Vision Science
Neuron glia interactions

Kimberly A. McAllister, Ph.D.
Neurobiology, Physiology, & Behavior; Neurology
Cellular and molecular mechanisms of visual plasticity

Lawrence S. Morse, M.D., Ph.D.
Ophthalmology
Pathogenesis of age-related macular degeneration

Ala Moshiri, M.D., Ph.D.
Ophthalmology
Vitreoretinal Surgery and Uveitis

Christopher Murphy, DVM, Ph.D.
Surgical & Radiological Sciences; Ophthalmology & Vision Sciences
Corneal wound healing and repair, and comparative optics

Gary Novack, Ph.D.
Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences
Development of new therapeutics, patient adherence and performance, regulatory affairs

Lisa Oakes, Ph.D.
Psychology
Origins and development of visual attention, perception, and memory in infancy

Mary A. O'Hara, Ph.D.
Ophthalmology
Pediatric ophthalmology and perception

Tingrui Pan, Ph.D.
Biomedical Engineering
Micro- and nanotechnological approaches to studying glaucoma and ocular drug delivery

Susanna S. Park, M.D., Ph.D.
Ophthalmology
Pharmacological treatment of macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy

Edward N. Pugh, Jr., Ph.D.
Physiology
Retinal photoreceptors and color vision

Gregg H. Recanzone, Ph.D.
Neurobiology, Physiology, & Behavior
Cortical mechanisms of visual, auditory, and somatosensory interactions

Susan Rivera, Ph.D.
Psychology
Development of symbolic representation in infants and children

Paul Russell, Ph.D.
Ophthalmology
Trabecular meshwork, glaucoma, and corneal wound repair

Karen Ryan, Ph.D.
Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior
Neuroendocrine regulation of feeding behavior, body weight and glucose control; Mechanisms linking psychological stress and metabolic disease

Naoki Saito, Ph.D.
Mathematics
Feature extraction mechanisms in human vision

Ivan R. Schwab, M.D.
Ophthalmology
Corneal epithelial autografting

Tony J. Simon, Ph.D.
Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Cognitive impairments in genetic disorders

Vivek J. Srinivasan, Ph.D.
Biomedical Engineering
Biophotonics technologies for basic and translational research and clinical diagnostics, neuroimaging, neurovascular coupling, cerebral blood flow and metabolism, in vivo functional optical imaging, light-tissue interactions.

Alice Tarantal, Ph.D.
Cell Biology & Human Anatomy, Pediatrics
Nonhuman primate models, gene therapy, stem cell transplantation, in vivo imaging

Sara Thomasy, DVM, PhD, DACVO
Surgical and Radiological Sciences, Veterinary Medicine
Corneal wound healing, glaucoma, large animal models Of ocular disease, and ocular pharmacology and toxicology

Lin Tian, Ph.D.
Biochemistry & Molecular Medicine
Optical neurophysiology of neural circuitry in health and disease

James Trimmer, Ph.D.
Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior; Physiology and Membrane Biology
Molecular mechanisms responsible for conferring plasticity to intrinsic neuronal excitability

W. Martin Usrey, Ph.D.
Neurobiology, Physiology, & Behavior; Neurology
Functional organization of thalamo-cortical interactions

David K. Warland, Ph.D.
Neurobiology, Physiology, & Behavior
Visual neural computation and coding

John S. Werner, Ph.D.
Neurobiology, Physiology, & Behavior; Ophthalmology
Correlating in vivo retinal images and functional measures of color and spatial vision, and their changes across the life span and in disease

Glenn C. Yiu, M.D., Ph.D.
Ophthalmology
Pathogenesis & Therapy of Age-Related Macular Degeneration and Other Retinal Diseases

Robert J. Zawadzki, Ph.D.
Ophthalmology and Vision Science
Various types of retinal and ONH diseases

Min Zhao, M.D., Ph.D.
Dermatology
Corneal wound healing

Jie Zheng, Ph.D.
Physiology & Membrane Biology
TRPB and cGMP-gated channels