Edwin M. Stone, M.D., Ph.D.
Edwin M. Stone is a Professor of Ophthalmology and the Director of the University of Iowa Institute for Vision Research. He is best known for his work in defining the genetic basis of blinding eye diseases: ranging from two of the most common causes of blindness, macular degeneration and glaucoma, to much rarer conditions like retinitis pigmentosa and Leber congenital amaurosis. Dr. Stone has been very active in removing the technical, legal and financial barriers between genetic discoveries and the patients who could benefit from them. He founded the Carver Nonprofit Genetic Testing Laboratory at the University of Iowa that provides low-cost genetic tests to patients in every state of the U.S. and more than 60 other countries. He also created an open-access web-based teaching tool with thousands of downloadable full-resolution images to help physicians around the world improve their ability to diagnose Mendelian retinal diseases (www.stonerounds.org). His current research interests include the development of affordable gene-and stem cell-based treatments for all molecular forms of inherited retinal disease and the identification of new disease-causing and phenotype modifying genetic variations. Dr. Stone received his M.D. and Ph.D. with honors from the Baylor College of Medicine and his training in ophthalmology and vitreoretinal surgery at the University of Iowa, where he joined the faculty in 1990. He holds the Seamans-Hauser Chair of Molecular Ophthalmology in the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine.

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