Biography

Julia A. Haller, MD is Ophthalmologist-in-Chief of Wills Eye Hospital, where she holds the William Tasman, M.D. Endowed Chair. She serves as Professor and Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University and Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals, and Co-Director of the Wills Vision Research Center at Jefferson.

Dr. Haller was educated at the Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore, Princeton University, and Harvard Medical School. After a Halsted surgical internship at Johns Hopkins and a fellowship in ocular pathology with Frederick A. Jakobiec, M.D. at Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital, she completed her residency in ophthalmology at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins. She received a Heed Fellowship award for her retina training at Hopkins, directed by Ronald G. Michels, M.D. She then became Wilmer’s first female Chief Resident, joined the faculty thereafter, and was named the inaugural Katharine Graham Professor of Ophthalmology in 2002, and the inaugural Robert Bond Welch, M.D. Professor of Ophthalmology in 2006. At Wilmer, also she directed the Retina Fellowship Training Program. She assumed leadership of the Wills Eye Hospital in 2007.

Dr. Haller’s honors include the Bryn Mawr School scholarship award for valedictorian, a National Merit Scholarship, her A.B. in philosophy magna cum laude, Alpha Omega Alpha, the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) Honor Award, the Rolex Achievement Award (to a past participant in collegiate varsity lacrosse), the AAO Senior Achievement Award, the Vitreous Society Senior Honor Award, the Crystal Apple Award of the American Society of Retina Specialists (ASRS) for teaching and mentorship, the Kreissig Award from EURETINA, the President’s Award from Women in Ophthalmology, a Secretariat Award from the AAO, the Gertrude Pyron Award from the Retina Research Foundation/ASRS, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the AAO, the Louis Braille Award from Associated Services for the Blind and the Heed Award from the Society of Heed Fellows.

Dr. Haller has published over 300 scientific articles and book chapters. One of the world’s most renowned retina surgeons and invited lecturers, she has a particular research interest in retinal pharmacology, macular surgery, retinal venous occlusive disease, diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, the repair of complicated retinal detachments, and health care disparities, currently serving as principal investigator on $9m in government grant-funded projects.

Dr. Haller is president of the Retina Society, past president of the American Society of Retina Specialists, and president-elect of the Board of Trustees of the Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology. She is an editorial board member of the publications RETINA, Retinal Physician, Retina Times, Ocular Surgery News, Retina Today, Ophthalmology Times, EyeWorld, and Evidence-Based Eye Care.

A member of numerous scientific advisory boards and data and safety monitoring committees, she is also a past member of the Boards of Trustees of Princeton University and the Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore, and has served as a consultant to Walter Reed Army Medical Center. She currently sits on the Boards of the ARVO Foundation for Eye Research, Women in Retina, the Foundation for The History of Women in Medicine, the Harvard Medical School Alumni Council, and the Johns Hopkins Medical and Surgical Association.