David Huang is the Peterson Professor of Ophthalmology, professor of biomedical engineering, and director of the Center for Ophthalmic Optics and Lasers in the Casey Eye Institute at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland.
He co-invented optical coherence tomography (OCT) in 1991 when he was an MD/Ph.D. student at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This novel imaging technology has micron-level resolution in all three dimensions and is able to resolve cell-sized microstructures in the retina and other fine layered structures of the eye. It is indispensable in the diagnosis and management of many eye diseases and has become the most commonly used imaging modality in ophthalmology, with an estimated 30 million people scanned every year worldwide. He has made further contributions to various aspects of OCT technology, including polarization-sensitive OCT, swept-source OCT, anterior eye OCT, OCT angiography, and spectroscopic OCT of nanoparticle-labeled cells.
Huang leads the Center for Ophthalmic Optic and Lasers, which conducts NIH-supported basic, translational, and clinical research on OCT and OCT angiography in retinal diseases, anterior eye disease, glaucoma, and other optic nerve diseases. He is also an inventor of laser therapeutic devices and mobile diagnostic technology, and a founder of Gobiquity Mobile Health, a maker of mobile diagnostic apps for both professional and home use.
For his research and teaching on OCT, Huang shared the 2012 António Champalimaud Vision Award and received the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology’s Jonas Friedenwald Award in 2013 and the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s Senior Achievement Award in 2011. He is a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors.