Yannis Paulus, MD, FACS
Helmut F. Stern Career Development Professor, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences
Assistant Professor, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences
Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering
Medical Director, Grand Blanc ACU, University of Michigan
(734) 764-4182
Yannis M. Paulus, M.D., F.A.C.S, is an academic vitreoretinal surgeon and clinician scientist that loves applying biomedical engineering, photonics, optics, lasers, physics, biodesign, biochemistry, and nanoparticles to develop novel retinal imaging and laser treatment systems. He is the Helmut F. Stern Career Development Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Assistant Professor Tenure Track at the University of Michigan, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, and Department of Biomedical Engineering and Medical Director of the Grand Blanc ACU. He completed his undergraduate in chemistry and physics at Harvard University, medical school and ophthalmology residency at Stanford University Byers Eye Institute, transitional internship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and surgical and medical retina fellowship at Johns Hopkins University Wilmer Eye Institute.
He directs an active, multidisciplinary, diverse laboratory dedicated to improving the vision of patients suffering from eye diseases by developing novel minimally traumatic retinal laser therapies, photoacoustic and molecular imaging of the retina for retinal and choroidal neovascularization, and novel, inexpensive retinal imaging systems. His multidisciplinary team includes postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, masters students, visiting scholars, resident physicians, retina fellows, medical students, and undergraduates with diverse interests and backgrounds. They seek to improve early disease diagnosis, improve treatment monitoring, and practice more individualized precision medicine tailored to each patient through molecular imaging. They have developed a novel, multimodal molecular imaging system to visualize individual capillaries and neovascularization of the eye using a safe energy level that incorporates photoacoustic microscopy, optical coherence tomography, and fluorescence microscopy. They also are developing a novel new treatment using a combination of nanosecond pulse duration laser with ultrasound to selectively treat blood vessels called photo-mediated ultrasound therapy. Dr. Paulus has received several entrepreneurship awards and patents, published more than 120 peer-reviewed publications and 8 book chapters, and consulted for several medical device and start-up companies.