Dr. Steven F. Abcouwer is a Research Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Michigan Medicine, Kellogg Eye Center. His research has been funded by multiple National Eye Institute (NEI) R01 research grants and industry research contracts. His lab uses rodent models of retinal ischemia-reperfusion, retinal detachment, and diabetic retinopathy to study the innate immune responses to neurodegeneration and how inflammation affects retinal degeneration and the loss and restoration of the inner blood-retinal barrier. Other research areas are the role of mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling in retinal physiology, including retinal vascular development, retinal ganglion cell pathophysiology, and bipolar cell light-evoked responses. Dr. Abcouwer is Director of the Molecular Biology Core of the National Eye Institute P30 grant-funded University of Michigan Vision Research Center. He has served as a member and chair of several national and international grant review panels, including NIH study sections. He serves as the Chief Editor of the Journal of Ophthalmology and Associate Editor of Frontiers in Retina and Frontiers in Multiple Sclerosis and Neuroimmunology, sits on the editorial boards of the journals Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science (IOVS), Translational Vision Science and Technology (TVST), Molecular Vision, International Journal of Molecular Sciences (IJMS), Diabetes Research, and AJP - Endocrinology and Metabolism.