Paul A. Sieving, M.D., Ph.D.

Professor, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences

Specialty Interests

Inherited retinal and macular degenerations such as retinitis pigmentosa and Stargardt macular dystrophy; genetic DNA patient and family studies, including diagnostic testing

Dr. Sieving is Director of the National Eye Institute at the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Sieving is on faculty leave.

Medical School

University of Illinois, 1978

Ph.D.

Bioengineering
University of Illinois, 1981

Postdoctoral

Physiology
University of California-San Francisco, 1982-1984

Residency

Ophthalmology
Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary
University of Illinois-Chicago, 1982

Fellowship

Retinal Dystrophies
Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary
Harvard Medical School, 1985

Research Focus

Dr. Paul Sieving established the Center for Retinal and Macular Degeneration at the University of Michigan in 1990. This Center performs research into the medical and biological causes of degeneration of the light-sensitive photoreceptor cells of the retina and macula that lead to progressive vision loss in affected people. Studies are underway into the molecular genetic basis of these diseases and the clinical course of vision loss. Center scientists can use their findings to develop ways to slow or arrest the progressive loss of vision from these diseases. This Center is in the national forefront of developing diagnostic molecular genetic testing to assist in clinical diagnosis and identification of genetic carriers.