Daniel F. Martin, MD, is professor of ophthalmology at the Emory University School of Medicine. He completed medical school at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, followed by residency and chief residency in ophthalmology at Emory University School of Medicine. He completed a fellowship in vitreoretinal surgery at Duke University Eye Center, followed by a fellowship in uveitis and clinical trials at the National Eye Institute/National Institutes of Health.

From 1993-2008, Martin rose through the academic ranks at Emory to serve as the Thomas M. Aaberg Professor of Ophthalmology and interim chair of the Department of Ophthalmology. From 2008-2024, Martin served as chair of the Cleveland Clinic Cole Eye Institute and the Barbara and A. Malachi Mixon III Institute Chair in Ophthalmology.

Martin currently serves as network chair for the DRCR Retina Network. He previously served as study chair for the Comparison of AMD Treatments Trials (CATT) and has chaired numerous other national clinical trials, including those that led to the FDA approval of the ganciclovir implant and valganciclovir. Martin has served as principal investigator, member of the data and safety monitoring committee (DSMC), and/or member of the steering committee for dozens of other studies, including AREDS, SOCA and MUST. He has published more than 220 peer-reviewed articles, delivered 45 named lectures and presented more than 550 invited lectures.

Martin has held numerous leadership roles in professional societies, including serving as president of the Macula Society. He has received numerous prestigious awards, including the 74th Edward Jackson Memorial Lecture, the AAO Lifetime Achievement Award, the AAO Secretariat Award, the AAO Senior Achievement Award, the Heed-Gutman Award from the Society of Heed Fellows, the J. Donald M. Gass Medal from the Macula Society, the Roger Johnson Award in AMD Research from the University of Washington, the Pyron Award, and the Crystal Apple Award from the American Society of Retina Specialists (ASRS).

He has also received the Rosenthal Young Investigator Award from the Macula Society, the Sam and Maria Miller Award for Scientific Achievement in Clinical Research from the Cleveland Clinic, the J. Donald M. Gass Lectureship Award from the Retina Society, the Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Clinical Trials, and the Cless Medal. Martin has also served on the Board of Governors for the Cleveland Clinic.

Welcome back to the Emory Eye Center. For the benefit of those who may not know you yet, can you speak toward what you hope to bring to the Emory Eye Center? 

My formative years in ophthalmology were at Emory. I completed residency here and served on the faculty for the first 15 years of my academic career. I have been away eth least 16 years and when the opportunity arose to return, it made sense. I think Emory is poised to grow tremendously, especially with the opportunity we have to build a new Eye Center at Executive Park. I wanted to be a part of that.

In 2008, the Cleveland Clinic made me a superb offer to serve as the chair of the Cole Eye Institute. I knew it would be good experience, but I had no idea how amazing it would become. Between 2008-2024, we grew from a faculty of 35 to 125, from 130,000 patients served to 400,000, from 5,000 surgeries to 21,000 surgeries and from a small number of refractive cases to 3,000 refractive surgery cases per year.

Over the same period of time, we improved our physician and employee engagement dramatically, achieving and maintaining the highest engagement scores of any department at the Cleveland Clinic for more than a decade. The stability of the department was remarkable and our turnover over 16 years was virtually zero. Extensive planning and fundraising ultimately led to the building of a new 150,000 square foot facility that more than doubled our footprint on the main campus. With the opening of the new building, it was a natural time for me to think about where I wanted to spend the last decade of my career.

What I hope to bring with my return to Emory is the knowledge I gained while serving as chair, along with a deep enthusiasm for the place and a consistent growth minded perspective. I hope to share that with the department and become an important supporter of everything we set out to accomplish at the Emory Eye Center.

We want to learn more about you. Is there anything you particularly enjoy about Atlanta? What led you to return to Emory?

I had the great privilege of training here as a resident and serving as chief resident in the late 1980s. I then did two fellowships and returned to the faculty in 1993. I served here for 15 years and rose to interim chair of ophthalmology. Emory is my home. Emory is my alma mater. I thought I would be cremated and my ashes sprinkled on the front lawn of the Emory Eye Center and never in my wildest dreams thought I would ever leave. After 16 years away, I was ready to come back and serve my alma mater for the last decade or so of my career. Through a number of conversations with health care leadership, pivotally with Allen Beck, that was made possible. I am absolutely delighted to be here.

In terms of what I enjoy about Atlanta, there is a lot. I am a life-long Southerner and am happy to be back in the area. People are surprised how much I love Cleveland, and I did and still do, but I won’t miss the weather. The climate here is something I am looking forward to enjoying along with connecting with old friends and making lots of new ones. 

What study are you currently pursuing and what impact do you think it will have on medical and or surgical procedures?

I have been very fortunate to serve as the chair for a number of clinical trials over the course of my career that ultimately led me to become the network chair for the DRCR Retina Network.

At present, we are running five randomized clinical trials, we are planning another four, and we have 10 ongoing AI related projects. These studies will hopefully reshape how we treat neovascular AMD, how we manage radiation retinopathy, how we manage eyes that have a macular pucker or epiretinal membrane and have good vision but are very symptomatic, and how we optimally advanced diabetic retinopathy with surgery and laser.

Finally, we are about to launch two studies to re-evaluate the natural history of diabetic retinopathy in the era of continuous glucose monitoring and the use GLP-1 receptor agonists, as well as to determine if additional technology can help us identify variables that will better predict the longterm outcomes in patients with diabetic retinopathy. 

You have chaired many national clinical trials, as well as designed and collaborated on numerous others. Is there a trial that stands out in particular? Have these trials helped to lead you to your current area of investigation?

Yes, the Comparison AMD Treatments Trials (CATT). I had the extraordinary privilege to design this national randomized clinical trial, to assemble and work with most amazing team ever to conduct it (including here at Emory) and to serve as its chair. The findings from CATT and the 67 publications that followed have been heralded as among the most important in ophthalmology over the last 25 years. It dominated my academic life for over a decade during which we were able to produce essential findings that have defined how we best treat neovascular AMD, the leading cause of permanent vision loss worldwide.

CATT re-emphasized how important it was to have a standing national clinical trials group for all retinal diseases. We had previously been trying to expand the Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network (DRCR.net), which I helped establish in 2002 in partnership with the National Institutes of Health (NIH). With the success of CATT and of the Age Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS), the need for more work in AMD was clear. In 2017, the NIH allowed us to expand the DRCR.net into a larger retina network to study all retinal diseases. I currently serve as one of the two network chairs for this expanded clinical trials group, to which I devote a great deal of time.

What is the key takeaway you would like the community to know about in terms of your research and role at Emory? 

I hope that I can use what I have learned from my clinical and research experiences at Emory and the Cleveland Clinic, along with what I have learned from serving in a variety of national leadership roles, to help the Emory Eye Center reach its full potential.