Randy H. Kardon

Randy Kardon M.D. Ph.D., an Iowa native, is tenured Professor of Ophthalmology and Fellowship Director of the Neuro-ophthalmology Service at the University of Iowa and Veterans Administration Hospitals. He holds the Pomerantz Family Chair in Ophthalmology and is Director of the Iowa City Veterans Administration Center of Excellence for the Prevention and Treatment of Visual Loss. Dr. Kardon has published over 20 chapters, co-authored a textbook, published over 245 peer-reviewed journal articles (H-Index=58), and is presently the Principle Investigator or co-PI on 6 major grants externally funded by the Veterans Administration, NIH, and the Department of Defense. He has had funding for his research from the Department of Veterans Affairs since 1990, and was one of the first ophthalmologists to receive a VA Career Development Award. He did most all of his training (undergraduate, combined M.D.-Ph.D, residency and two year fellowship in neuro-ophthalmology at the University of Iowa and started as faculty in Ophthalmology in 1989. Dr. Kardon currently teaches and mentors undergraduate students, medical students, and residents and has received a University of Iowa Collegiate Teaching Award for his teaching and commitment to education. His main areas of current research interest include pupil physiology and clinical application, ocular blood flow using laser speckle flowgraphy, facial features dynamically extracted in real time to monitor ophthalmologic and neurologic disorders, traumatic brain injury and its treatment, the therapeutic use of novel molecules to preserve vision from optic nerve and retinal damage, radiation retinopathy, structure-function relationships in optic nerve disease, image analysis and telemedicine of the retina and optic nerve with home testing, and electrophysiology of the retina.