Baruch (Barry) Kupperman, MD, PhD, works as a consultant, professor, and benchtop scientist, but finds the most meaning in the dozens of patients he treats each week.

With research interests in dry AMD and drug delivery, Dr. Kupperman held multiple roles in University of California Irvine’s Department of Ophthalmology before becoming the Roger F. Steinert Professor and Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology School of Medicine in 2017. Although he spends more time in leadership meetings these days, Dr. Kupperman still devotes time to the pursuit of science and medicine.

OIS host Firas Rahhal, MD catches up with Dr. Kupperman after a rare two days off to discuss his career path, the current and future state of drug delivery, and what keeps him awake at night. 

Dr. Kupperman also discusses his residency and first fellowship (he completed three), which involved treating AIDS patients with retinitis. Administering eye injections to patients weekly — even seeing patients at home when they were too sick to visit the clinic — motivated him to help establish a drug delivery unit at UC Irvine to research more convenient ways to deliver treatments.

Listen to the podcast today to discover:

• More about Dr. Kupperman’s background, his work with AIDS patients, and his purposeful detour into neuroscience.
• The evolution of drug development and delivery to date and his views on the current state of drug delivery into the retina. He also names the three most promising long-term developments in ophthalmic research.
• The breadth of innovation happening in Orange County and UC Irvine’s influence in furthering that innovation. The university’s Gavin Herbert Eye Institute spun off several companies, including Glaukos, which developed the first Micro-Invasive Glaucoma Surgery (MIGS) device, iStent, which is now FDA-cleared and commercially available. UC Irvine is also behind stem cell companies and many others.