Henry Klassen's Biography

Henry Klassen, Associate Professor, University of California Irvine

Henry Klassen, MD, PhD, is Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of California, Irvine. He is an ophthalmologist with specialization in retinal degenerative diseases and extensive research background in neuroscience and stem cell biology. Dr. Klassen has a longstanding interest in neural plasticity and regeneration that dates to his undergraduate days at UC Berkeley and MD/PhD studies at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Klassen’s clinical training included internship at the Cambridge Hospital, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, and residency in ophthalmology at Yale University, followed by a combined fellowship in medical retina and research at Moorfields Eye Hospital and the Institute of Ophthalmology in London. During his research career, he has shown that transplanted progenitor cells reinvigorate nonfunctional photoreceptors and also replace photoreceptor cells that have already died. His project is now entering the preclinical stage of development and holds promise for the treatment of blinding retinal conditions. He is the PI of a CIRM Disease Team Therapy Development Award to advance this technology into clinical trials.