Leadership

Hilel Lewis, M.D.

Hilel Lewis, M.D., is chairman of the Division of Ophthalmology and director of the Cole Eye Institute at The Cleveland Clinic. He is recognized as a pioneer in the treatment of diseases of the retina, macula and vitreous. Dr. Lewis has made significant contributions to the understanding of these diseases, has described several new diseases and has developed new treatments for many of these disorders.

His primary areas of research include the development of new surgical techniques, as well as the use of drug therapy for the treatment of diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and uncomplicated retinal detachments. Dr. Lewis also serves as the principal investigator for numerous clinical trials.

Born and raised in Mexico, Dr. Lewis completed his residency at the Jules Stein Eye Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles. In addition, he completed two vitreoretinal fellowships, one in surgical retina at the Eye Institute of the Medical College of Wisconsin Clinics in Milwaukee, Wisc., and a fellowship in medical retina at the Wilmer Ophthalmological Institute at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.

Prior to his appointment to The Cleveland Clinic in 1993, Dr. Lewis held an academic position at UCLA, where he was a Charles Kenneth Feldman Scholar. Under Dr. Lewis' direction, the Cole Eye Institute has had the highest patient volume in the United States and has become one of the leading ophthalmic research institutions in the country.

Dr. Lewis has been the recipient of more than 50 national and international honors and awards in his career. He is a member of 30 national and international professional societies and serves on the editorial board of 10 ophthalmic scientific journals, including being associate editor of the American Journal of Ophthalmology. A frequent lecturer for national and international meetings, Dr. Lewis has contributed to more than 150 publications, over 20 book chapters and is the author of the textbook "Medical and Surgical Retina: Advances, Controversies and Management."

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Joe G. Hollyfield, Ph.D.
Director of Ophthalmic Research

Dr. Hollyfield has been Director of Ophthalmic Research at the Cole Eye Institute since 1996. The research staff he directs includes nearly 50 people whose primary focus is finding ways to prevent and treat retinal disease. The primary focus of his own research is on studying the organization of the interphotoreceptor matrix in which photoreceptor cells are imbedded. Novel molecules present in this matrix comprise excellent targets for involvement in degenerative retinal diseases, including age related macular degeneration. His work also involves the analysis of how proteins interact to form this matrix and the involvement of hyaluronan as the scaffold on which this matrix is organized.

A major new initiative in his laboratory is in the isolation and characterization of sub-types of drusen, the major risk factors for developing age-related macular degeneration.

Dr. Hollyfield is editor-in-chief of Experimental Eye Research and past president of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology and the International Society for Eye Research.

He received his doctorate in zoology from the University of Texas in 1966 and his masters in zoology from Louisiana State University in 1963. He received his bachelor's degree in biology from Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas, in 1960. Dr. Hollyfield completed special training at the Hubrecht Laboratory in Utrecht, The Netherlands. He was professor of ophthalmology and neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston before joining the Cole Eye Institute.

In addition to his work at the Cole Eye Institute, Dr. Hollyfield also serves as a visiting professor in the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Puerto Rico in San Juan and is a professor in the Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy at Ohio State University, Columbus.

He is on the scientific advisory board of several research foundations including The Foundation Fighting Blindness, Owens Mill, Maryland; Research to Prevent Blindness, New York, New York; The Helen Keller Eye Research Foundation, Birmingham, Alabama; Retina International, Zurich, Switzerland; and Retina Preservation Foundation, Johannesburg, South Africa.

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Elias I. Traboulsi, M.D.
Director of the Residency Program

Dr. Elias I. Traboulsi directs the Residency Program at the Cole Eye Institute. He is also director of the Department of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Adult Strabismus. He joined the Cleveland Clinic in 1997 after being associate professor of ophthalmology and pediatrics at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore. He also is director of the Center for Genetic Eye Diseases and a professor of ophthalmology at Ohio State University.

He received his medical degree from the American University of Beirut Medical Center in Lebanon and completed his first residency training there. He later completed a second residency, including one year as chief resident, at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, D.C. He served a fellowship in ophthalmic genetics with Irene H. Maumenee, M.D., at Johns Hopkins and another in pediatric ophthalmology and strabismus with Marshall M. Parks, M.D., at the Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. He then spent a year as a clinical assistant professor of ophthalmology at Georgetown University Medical Center, after which Dr. Traboulsi returned to the Johns Hopkins Center for Hereditary Eye Diseases of the Wilmer Institute as assistant professor of ophthalmology. He also served a chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore from 1990 to 1997.

He is board-certified in ophthalmology and medical genetics. He is president of The International Society for Genetic Eye Disease and is a frequent guest speaker at national and international meetings. He has authored more than 130 scientific articles and 40 book chapters and edited the eye disease sections of the Birth Defects. He is the author and editor of "Genetic Diseases of the Eye," a textbook published in 1998. His clinical and research interests include the genetics of strabismus, the classification and management of ophthalmic and general medical genetic disorders, ocular developmental biology and ocular malformations, cancer of the eye, retinal dystrophies, childhood cataracts and glaucoma, and other pediatric eye disorders.

Dr. Traboulsi is editor-in-chief of Ophthalmic Genetics and serves on the editorial board of The American Journal of Ophthalmology.

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