Training Programs that Generate Leaders
Trainees benefit from strong mentorship and exposure to all subspecialties.

Our Research:
Bold and Broad
One of the nation’s largest ophthalmology research faculty drives innovation across the field through a highly multidisciplinary approach.
Sub-specialty and comprehensive care for a diverse population
7,000 procedures a year
Nationally ranked hospital partners:
Barnes-Jewish Hospital
& St. Louis Children’s Hospital
120,000 patient visits a year
Latest News
2023 Winston Fellow Award Recipient
Congratulations to Sean McCracken, winner of the Inaugural Winston Fellow Competition. Sean McCracken from the Williams Lab presented “Diversity in homeostatic calcium set points predicts retinal ganglion cell survival following optic nerve injury in vivo” In December 2022, David (A&S ‘74) and Deborah Winston made a generous gift to establish the Winston Fellow Award in […]
ARVO 2023 Presenters
Rajendra Apte, MD, PhD Presentation “Laser Therapy/Surgery” Jason Colasanti Poster “C0352: MiR-34a promotes choroidal neovascularization through modulating the KLF2/CXCR4 axis” Isabella Gomes Poster “C0448: Phenotypic heterogeneity in a family with a late Cone-Rod Homeobox truncation mutation” Mae Gordon, PhD Presentation “How to minimize bias”Poster “B0166: Prediction model of visual field progression in the Ocular Hypertension […]
Clinical trials | Use of Imaging on Retina to Identify Alzheimer’s
A noninvasive test may screen for disease before symptoms begin. Dr. Van Stavern is using retinal imaging as a window to the brain to develop a more accessible and affordable screening tool for Alzheimer’s disease that could become part of a routine eye exam. The retina and central nervous system are so interconnected that changes in […]
Global Impact | Capacity Building for Medical Research in Africa
I am a new research faculty in the Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, started last November. My research aims to uncover the molecular and cellular basis of the regional specializations in the retina and understand why certain retinal diseases cause degeneration in specific regions such as age-related macular degeneration in the central eye and […]
Translating Science to Medicine | Tunable Gene Therapy
Gene therapy has been used in clinical trials to treat several types of inherited retinal degenerative diseases. Dr. Shiming Chen’s Lab aims to overcome the limitations of the current gene therapy technology by developing a new strategy called “tunable gene therapy” that has the ability to target diseases linked to mutations. The tunable gene therapy strategy […]