Yvonne
Ou

Dr. Yvonne Ou is the Dr. and Mrs. Stacy J. Mettier Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where she serves as Vice Chair for Postgraduate Education and directs nationally recognized physician-scientist training programs from residents to early career faculty. She received her B.A. in Biochemical Sciences and M.D., both magna cum laude, from Harvard University, completed her ophthalmology residency at the Jules Stein Eye Institute at UCLA, and pursued glaucoma fellowship and postdoctoral research training at Duke University.

As a surgeon-scientist and glaucoma specialist, Dr. Ou leads a NEI-funded research program focused on the cellular and synaptic mechanisms of glaucomatous neurodegeneration, neural circuit plasticity, and vision restoration. Her laboratory has helped redefine glaucoma as a disease involving early dysfunction and remodeling of retinal neural circuits, identifying mechanisms of synapse loss, circuit rewiring, and retinal ganglion cell vulnerability that may serve as targets for future therapies. In parallel, her translational research has advanced innovative approaches to glaucoma diagnosis and monitoring, including handheld electrophysiology devices and virtual reality-based visual field testing. She is also a leader in collaborative efforts to develop regenerative strategies for vision restoration, including retinal ganglion cell transplantation and repair.