Mary Elizabeth Hartnett, MD, holds the Calvin S. and JeNeal N. Hatch Presidential Endowed Chair in Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and is a Distinguished Professor at the University of Utah. She is an adjunct professor at the University of Utah departments of Neurobiology and Pediatrics. Dr. Hartnett is the founder and director of Pediatric Retina at the John A. Moran Eye Center and principal investigator of the Retinal Angiogenesis Laboratory.
As director of Moran's Pediatric Retina Center, Dr. Hartnett is one of a few pediatric retina specialists internationally trained to diagnose and treat pediatric retina disorders, which disrupt the healthy development of the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye. She also practices as a vitreoretinal surgeon, providing treatment to patients throughout the Mountain West. She performs surgery at the Moran Eye Center and Primary Children's Hospital.
Her mission is to deliver the best possible care and education while conducting critical research to make future advances in pediatric retina care.
She created the first-ever academic textbook on the subject, Pediatric Retina, in its third edition, which has proven to be an invaluable resource for residents and ophthalmologists internationally. She is a co-director of the Advances in Pediatric Retina meeting held every two years, most recently in 2019 at the U.
Dr. Hartnett has received numerous awards, including the Weisenfeld Award, the highest award for clinician-scientists given by the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), in 2018. She received the 2019 Paul Kayser/Retina Research Foundation Global Award, the Macula Society’s 2016 Paul Henkind Award and its 2019 Arnall Patz Medal, and the 2021 Suzanne Veronneau-Troutman Award, the most prestigious award from Women in Ophthalmology. In 2022, she will receive the Gertrude Pyron award, the highest award from the American Association of Retina Specialists. She was one of six at the University of Utah to receive a distinguished research award, for Pediatrics and Ophthalmology.
Dr. Hartnett's prolific publication record includes more than 225 articles in peer-reviewed journals and over 40 book chapters. She has delivered numerous national and international invited lectures. Her long list of professional committee work includes serving as chair of the Publications Committee of ARVO, as a mentor for the ARVO Leadership Development Program, and in leadership positions internationally as chair of the research advisory committees for The Macula Society and the Jack McGovern Coats Disease Foundation as well as Chair of the Credentialing Committee for The Retina Society. She reviews manuscripts for more than 20 eye and science journals and serves on the editorial boards of PlosOne, Molecular Vision, and the American Journal of Ophthalmology. Dr. Hartnett is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (FACS) and a Silver and Gold Fellow of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (FARVO).
