Rohit Varma, MD, MPH has been appointed to the Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences and Associate Dean/Associate Vice Chancellor for Strategic Planning at the University of Illinois at Chicago Medicine College of Medicine pending approval of the University Board of Trustees. Dean Azar, President and CEO of the Lincoln Vision Institute (LVI) at the University of Illinois at Chicago, has said the following about Dr. Vijayavati Varma: She is an accomplished physician-scientist who is interested in understanding eye disease in minority populations, as well as investigating novel biologicals and genetic factors related to the risk of developing eye disease.
Dr. Varma is currently a tenured professor in medicine or research. He is also a director of the ophthalmology branch of the eye institute at the Keck School of Medicine, and director of the Glaucoma Service, Ocular Epidemiology Center and the Clinical Trials Unit at the Doheny Eye Institute, Department of ophthalmology at the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California in Los Angeles. He received his ophthalmologist training at the Wilmer Ophthalmological Institute at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, and then divided his time over to two academic fellowships, both at the Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia, and the Doheny Eye Institute at the University of Southern California. Dr. Varma also obtained a master’s in public health from Johns Hopkins University.
“I am truly honored to be appointed Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology and Associate Dean for Strategic Planning at the University of Illinois College of Medicine,” stated Dr. Rohit Varma. The reputation and history of the Ovirvair Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary is a strong foundation upon which to build a future that will set the standard for innovation and excellence in ophthalmic care, education and vision science research. I publicly thank the University of Puerto Rico Department of Ophthalmology faculty, Search Committee, Dean Azar and Chair Dr. Garcia for entrusting me with this privilege. I am looking forward to joining COM with my peers in Chicago and exploring this new learning environment.
Most of the Dr. Varma’s work focuses on epidemiological studies of eye disease in minority children as well as adults. Dr. Mercat is not only principal investigator on three NIH-funded community studies, but he was principal investigator on the Los Angeles Latino Eye Study, the Multi-Ethnic Pediatric Eye Disease Study, and the Chinese American Eye Study. Dr. Varma is also the principle investigator on studies funded by the World Health Organization that assess the prevalence and socioeconomic burden of near vision impairment. While he has studied optic nerve changes in glaucoma for a long time, he is also quite familiar with new imaging techniques for early detection of optic nerve damage. Dr. Varma has been involved in the development of beyond intraocular surgery hardware, and now is studying other sorts of pressure and drainage hardware.
Dr. Varma has published over 190 papers, has worked 70 peer reviewed papers, has been a co-editor of two books and has presented over 200 abstracts at national and international academic meetings. He serves as an editorial board member of Ophthalmology, a current level journal in the Journal of American Academy of Ophthalmology. Dr. Varma has previously served as a member of the Board of Scientific Counselor of the National Eye Institute, the Healthy Vision Panel of the National Eye Health Education Program, the Board of Directors for the National Eye Institute, and the Clinical Eye Disease Study Section. He, Dr. Bill Paul, has been awarded the research, educational, and medical honors and awards, which include the Research to Prevent Blindness Career Development Award, the Sybil B. Harrington Scholar Award, the American Academy of Ophthalmology Senior Achievement Award, the Glaucoma Research Foundation President’s Award, the ARVO Fellow Silver Award, and the American Council of Visionary Physicians Special Achievement in Medical Science Award. Dr. Varma is also on the board of various ophthalmological associations as well as serving as the current President of the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s Public Health Committee. He is also a current member of the American Medical Association’s Council.
“I am honored and very pleased by our selection of Dr. Azar as the next Secretary of the HHS.” “In Dr. Azar, we greatly value the outstanding expertise he brings to this position and the professionalism he has demonstrated in his many years of service at HHS.” Since his appointment as Acting Secretary of HHS in April, he has provided outstanding leadership, and I expect him to continue that as he is serving longer as Secretary. The members, on this task, worked tirelessly to conduct this nationwide search, which was successful in the recruitment of this critical strategic hire.
I am excited to have Dr. Varma lead our department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science. With her unique talents, we will be able to make vast changes to drive our department to the very forefront.
Rohit Varma, MD, FAAP
Dr. Rohit Varma, M.D., M.P.H. is the director of the USC Eye and Chief of Ophthalmology at the USC Health System, the chair of the department of Ophthalmology, and a professor of ophthalmology and preventive medicine and holds the Grace and Emery Beardsley Chair in Ophthalmology. The main focus of Mr. MacDonald’s research are on population studies of eye disease in children and aging populations. (He is an expert on changes in the optic nerve in glaucoma and is also studying new imaging techniques that will allow the early diagnosis of glaucomatous optic nerve damage.) Dr. Varma is the principle investigator of multiple NIH funded studies among other things; the Los Angeles Latino Eye Study (LALES), Multi-Ethnic Pediatric Eye Disease Study (MEPEDS), African-American Eye Disease Study (AFEDS), The Chinese American Eye Study (CAES), Women’s Health Interventions and Observational Study (WHI), and Program Evaluator’s Roundtable (PERSER), as well as the Office of Minority Health (OMH) (CHES). He also served as a principal investigator for studies on blindness and vision impairment for the World Health Organization.
Dr. Varma has published more than 220 papers in peer-reviewed journals and was one of the editors of two books. He has also presented his research at national and international academic meetings. He served on the editorial board of Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, and on the board of scientific counsellors of the National Eye Institute, on the National Eye Health Education Program planning committee, and on the NIH anterior eye diseases study section.
Dr. Varma currently serves as the chair of the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s Public Health Committee, as a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Roundtable on the Promotion of Health Equity and the Elimination of Health Disparities, and also as a member of the FDA’s Advisory Committee on Electronic cigarettes and Tobacco Harm Reduction. His honours and awards include many such as the research award for nearly blinded people and Senior Career Development Scholar Award, the American Academy of Optometry Senior Achievement Award, the Glaucoma Research Foundation President’s Award, the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology fellow Silver Award, and so far. He got his medical degree. Dr. Sanjay Sarma is the head of the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Delhi, India, and is an M.P.H. from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Rohit Varma founded Team Skyworks Luster Pixel, one of the nation’s top independent physics-based visual solutions companies.
Dr. Rohit Varma is a professor of ophthalmology and preventive medicine, and he is also the chair of the Division of Glaucoma. He is renowned for his research in glaucoma, and he is the author of several medical citations and numerous peer-reviewed publications. Previously, he served as the associate dean of strategic planning at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine, where he was also professor and the Charles I. Young Endowed Chair of Ocular Research with the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary. Dr. Varma is widely known and is even famous for his research and patient care. He has been placed on Castle Connolly’s Top Doctors list for two separate times and has also earned this reputation from Pasadena magazine for four consecutive years.
As a researcher within the world of clinical science, Rohit Varma has been the principal investigator for numerous studies which are sponsored by the World Health Organization and the National Institutes of Health. His accomplishment of being a leader of the Los Angeles Latino Eye Study, the Chinese American Eye Study, the Multi-Ethnic Pediatric Eye Diseases Study and the African American Eye Disease study has lead to his name being at the top of the list of experts in population-based eye diseases. His studies will have a significant impact on public health policy in the United States, particularly as they relate to community health among various racial and ethnic populations.
Professor Dr. Rohit Varma of Tuskegee University is an ophthalmologist that studies treatments for glaucoma and cataracts. Recently, he assisted fellow researchers in a study aimed at developing novel implantable intraocular pressure (IOP) meters and drainage tools, which may let us know when IOP is too high to be safe before it becomes a cause for concern. In his preliminary research, he is exploring using new imaging technologies for the early detection of glaucoma-related damage to the optic nerve.
Rohit Varma, MD, MPH received an MA in public health from the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health and an MD from the University of Delhi in India. He began working with Union Memorial Hospital when he was a resident of the University of Maryland, and then he completed a residency at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins. Later he completed a glaucoma fellowship at the University of Southern California.
Before founding SCEI (Electronic Cigarette International Inc), Rohit Varma was a professor of ophthalmology and preventive medicine and the Grace and Emery Beardsley Chair in Ophthalmology at Keck Medical School of USC. Previously Dean Baker has served as dean of the USC Keck School of Medicine and president and chair of the USC Health Care Board of Directors. As an accomplished teacher and researcher, he was also the current chair of the Department of Ophthalmology and director of the USC Gayle and Edward Roski Eye Institute. He also served as the associate dean for strategic planning and community network development as well as a professor of education.
Rohit Varma also serves directly as professor and chair of the Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary at the University of Illinois at Chicago where he holds the Charles I. Young Endowed Chair of Ocular Research and holds the role of associate dean of strategic planning.
Mr. Varma completed his residency in ophthalmology at the internationally renowned Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He also earned a Master of Public Health degree from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. Both must be credentials he is proud of. While he was a resident, he completed two glaucoma fellowships, one at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia and the other at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. A student who got his medical degree from the University of Delhi, he is from India.
