Specialty: Retinal
Diseases, Vitreoretinal Surgery, Uveitis and Ocular Inflammation
Dr.
Kuppermann is a Professor of Ophthalmology, Chief of the Retina
Service, and Vice Chair for Clinical Research in the Department of
Ophthalmology at the University of California.
He also holds
a joint appointment with the Department of Biomedical Engineering at
UC Irvine.
After completing
his Ph.D. in neuroscience at the California Institute of Technology
(Cal Tech), Dr. Kuppermann went to medical school and obtained an
M.D. at the University of Miami (Florida). He interned at LA
County/USC Medical Center and did his residency in ophthalmology at
USC’s Doheny Eye Institute.
Dr.
Kuppermann then went on to complete fellowships in Vitreo-Retinal
diseases and surgeryat St. Joseph’s in Baltimore Maryland with Drs.
Ron Michels, Bert Glaser, and Robert Murphy, and then a combined
retina and uveitis fellowship at the University of California, San
Diego with Dr. William Freeman.
Following his
fellowships he came to UCI and has been on faculty since 1992. He
served as Acting Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology at UC
Irvine from September 1995 to April 1996, and Interim Chairman from
July 1, 1996 to December 1998.
Dr. Kuppermann’s laboratory research focuses on assessing the
toxicity of drugs on retinal cells in culture, including the
assessment of the toxicity of various vital stains, steroids, and
anti-VEGF compounds. He additionally is active in developing drug
delivery systems for the posterior segment through collaborative
work with the Department of Biomedical Engineering at UC Irvine. Dr.
Kuppermann has been extensively involved in the design and conduct
of large scale multicenter clinical drug trials, having served as
the national lead investigator of various trials such as the Vitrase
for Vitreous Hemorrhage phase 3 trials, the Posurdex for Persistent
Macular Edema Phase 2 trial, and the phase 3 Ganciclovir Implant for
Cytomegolavirus Retinitis trial. He has also served as a member of
Data Safety and Monitioring Boards such as the Neovista Cabernet
phase 3 trial for brachytherapy for CNV/AMD as well as the
Squalamine for AMD/CNV phase 2 trials. He is the principal
investigator at UCI for several multicenter national trials
evaluating new drugs and devices for the treatment of diabetic
retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, and the ocular
complications of AIDS. In addition, Dr. Kuppermann has extensive
research collaborations with pharmaceutical and biotechnology
companies, serving as an advisor of numerous companies with a goal
of bringing new treatments to patients for a variety of retinal
diseases.
Dr Kuppermann is listed as one of the best doctors in America, and
for the last several years has been named as one of the “Best
Ophthalmologists in Orange County” by Orange Coast Magazine.
Dr. Kuppermann has been a peer reviewer for the American Journal
of Ophthalmology, Archives of Ophthalmology, Investigative
Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Ophthalmology, Retina, Journal of
Infectious Diseases, and Lancet.
