José-Alain Sahel#
| Membership Number: | 7237 |
| Membership type: | FOREIGN |
| Section: | BASIC AND CLINICAL TRANSLATIONAL SCIENCES |
| Elected: | 2025 |
| Main Country of Residence: | UNITED STATES |
| Homepage(s): | https://ophthalmology.pitt.edu/people/jose-alain-sahel-md |
| ORCID: | 0000-0002-4831-1153 |
Present and Previous Positions
- 2016 - present Distinguished Professor and Chairman, Department of Ophthalmology, the Eye and Ear Foundation Endowed Chair, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Chairman, Ophthalmology Research Center (Vision Institute of Pittsburgh), University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
- 2023 meritus Professor of Ophthalmology, Sorbonne Université
- 2019 - present Adjunct Professor of Ophthalmology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
- 2017 - present Adjunct Professor of Robotics and Bioengineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh
- 2017 Honorary Professor, University College London
- 2019 - 2023 Director, Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire FOReSIGHT
- 2009 - 2020 Director, Research Centre: Vision Institute, UMR S 968 Inserm, UM80 Sorbonne Univ./ UMR 7210 CNRS.
- 2001 - 2020 Chairman, Departments of Ophthalmology, Quinze-Vingts National Ophthalmology Hospital, and Rothschild Ophthalmology Foundation, Paris, and Professor at Pierre and Marie Curie University
- 2001 - 2017 Cumberlege Chair, Professor of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London.
- 1987 - 1992 Visiting Lecturer in Ophthalmology, Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School, Boston.
- 1988 - 2002 Professor of Ophthalmology, Louis Pasteur University
Fields of Scholarship
- Vision restoration therapies
- Retinal degeneration
- Retinal prosthesis
- Gene therapy
- Optogenetics
- Innovative treatments for retinal diseases
- Development of outcomes for trials targeting currently untreatable inherited and age-related ocular diseases
Honours and Awards
- 2024 Wolf Prize in Medicine, The Wolf Foundation (with Botond Roska)
- 2024 Elected Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors
- 2024 EURORDIS 2024 Scientific Award
- 2024 Michaelson Macula Society Award, the Macula Society
- 2023 International Prize in Translational Neuroscience-The Reemtsma Stiftung- Max Planck Gesellschaft
- 2023 Commandeur Ordre National du Mérite
- 2021, induction in 2022 Member American Ophthalmology Society
- 2022 Chica and Heinz Schaller Foundation Award in Translational Neuroscience (European Federation of Neuroscience Societies, FENS)
- 2021 Breakthrough of the Year in the Life Sciences category, Falling Walls Foundation
- 2020 Elected Member and Ambroise Paré Medal, National Academy of Surgery of France
- 2019 Médaille Grand Vermeil de la Ville de Paris
- 2018 Elected Member, The Association of American Physicians
- 2018 Officier de l’Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur
- 2016 Elected Member, Académie des Technologies, France
- 2015 Foundation Fighting Blindness, Lifetime Achievement Llura Liggett Gund Award
- 2014 - 2020 ERC Synergy HELMHOLTZ (with Mathis Fink)
- 2014 Elected Member the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
- 2012 CNRS Medal of Innovation
- 2010 Honoris Causa Doctorate from the University of Geneva
- 2007 Elected Member Academy of Sciences-Institut de France
