Paul S. Bernstein, MD, PhD, divides his time between basic science retina research and a clinical practice devoted to medical and surgical treatment of diseases of the retina at the John A. Moran Eye Center at the University of Utah, where he has been a faculty member since 1995. He holds the Val A. and Edith D. Green Presidential Endowed Chair in Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and is Moran’s Director of Clinical Research and Associate Director of Research. He has adjunct appointments in the University of Utah Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, and Division of Neurosciences.
His clinical expertise includes age-related macular degeneration with special emphasis on the role of nutrition and environment in its treatment and prevention, inherited retinal and macular dystrophies, and surgical treatment of vitreoretinal disorders such as diabetic retinopathy and retinal detachments.
Dr. Bernstein did his undergraduate, MD, and PhD training at Harvard University. Highlights of his training at Harvard included a summa cum laude undergraduate degree in chemistry and a PhD thesis entitled “Biochemistry and Pharmacology of Rhodopsin Regeneration in the Vertebrate Eye” with Dr. Robert Rando of the Department of Pharmacology. His medical degree was from the Division of Health Sciences and Technology, a special joint program between Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After completing 12 years at Harvard, he moved to UCLA where he did a post-doctoral fellowship with Dr. Dean Bok in retinal cell biology and a residency in Ophthalmology at the Jules Stein Eye Institute. He then returned to Harvard for two more years for a fellowship in vitreoretinal research and surgery at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary.
Dr. Bernstein has authored over 200 peer-reviewed research articles and reviews as well as over a dozen book chapters and has served as a reviewer for numerous journals, foundations, and institutes. His lab research interests include biochemistry and biophysics of nutritional interventions against inherited and acquired ocular disorders and the genetics and imaging of macular telangiectasia type 2 (MacTel)—a notoriously difficult-to-diagnose hereditary disease that causes central vision loss. He is among the first researchers worldwide to test the early diagnostic capabilities of fluorescence lifetime imaging ophthalmoscopy, a new non-invasive retinal imaging technique known as FLIO.
He has received numerous awards, including the 2020 Mildred Weisenfeld Award from the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology; the Macula Society’s 2019 W. Richard Green Lecture in honor of work that has helped explain the pathogenesis of retinal diseases; and the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s 2016 Outstanding Humanitarian Service Award.
Dr. Bernstein is also dedicated to bringing modern vitreoretinal services to the developing world in a sustainable manner. Currently, access to retinal care is extremely limited in many parts of the world, and Dr. Bernstein provides hands-on specialty training to help expand the availability and quality of care. Dr. Bernstein has worked with Moran’s Global Outreach Division and the Himalayan Cataract Project to train aspiring retina specialists from Nepal, Ghana, Ethiopia, and Bhutan.
