Boston Retinal Implant Member Directory
Hank Kaplan, M.D.
University of Louisville
Surgical Research
Dr. Henry Kaplan received his M.D. from Cornell University School of Medicine in 1968. He continued his formal education as an Intern in medicine at the University Hospitals of Cleveland (Case Western Reserve University) in 1969; a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Immunology at the University of Texas at Dallas (Southwestern Medical School) from 1972-1975; a Resident in ophthalmology at the University of Iowa, from 1975-1978; a Fellow in retina, at The Medical College of Wisconsin, from 1978-1979. He accepted a faculty position as an Associate Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at Emory University in 1979, where he became Director of Research. In 1988, he assumed the position of Professor and Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis, MO.). In 2000 he was appointed the Evans Professor of Ophthalmology, Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Louisville, and Director of the Kentucky Lions Eye Center. Dr. Kaplan continues his research in age-related macular degeneration, hereditary retinal degeneration and uveitis at the University of Louisville.
Dr. Kaplan performs in-vivo research on animals to determine how the retina responds to electrical stimuli within the sub-retinal space. During his experiments, Dr. Kaplan electrically stimulates the retina from the sub-retinal space with microfabricated electrode arrays. Through his research, he hopes to determine the electrical parameters needed to initiate cortically-evoked visual responses. Ultimately, in collaboration with the engineers at the University of Louisville, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Cornell University, he hopes to permanently implant a microfabricated electrode in the sub-retinal space to restore vision.
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