Robert N. Weinreb, MD, completed his third and final five-year term as Chair of the Viterbi Family Department of Ophthalmology and Director of the Shiley Eye Institute on May 31, 2026, closing a 15-year tenure that reshaped vision care and research at UC San Diego.
Weinreb is a Distinguished Professor of Ophthalmology and Bioengineering (affiliate), holds the Morris Gleich, MD Chair in Glaucoma, and directs both the Gleiberman Center for Glaucoma Research and the Hamilton Glaucoma Center.
The department grew on every measure during his tenure. Full-time faculty increased 50 percent, to 44; staff grew 30 percent, to 300; and endowed chairs increased 400 percent, to 15.
Launched with a $50 million gift from Andrew Viterbi in August 2018, the 100,000-square-foot Viterbi Family Vision Research Center opened under Weinreb’s direction; he oversaw its planning and construction. The building houses research laboratories, clinical trial space for gene and stem cell therapies, and an Education Center. Its scientists are working to restore vision and cure blinding eye diseases, including glaucoma and retinal degenerations.
With generous support from Darlene Shiley and UC San Diego Health, he also oversaw the renovation of the Eye Center’s second floor, which added 25 state-of-the-art examination rooms for retina and glaucoma, dedicated ophthalmic procedure rooms, a refractive laser center, and expanded patient waiting areas. The Tricia Shiley Low Vision Evaluation Clinic was constructed on the first floor.
A clinician, surgeon, and scientist, Weinreb has spent over four decades at UC San Diego delivering world-class patient care, conducting groundbreaking research, and teaching the next generation. His clinical and research interests span the eye from front to back: diagnostic ocular imaging, intraocular pressure and its influence on glaucoma, neuroprotection in glaucoma, glaucoma surgery, and the application of artificial intelligence to health care through the eye. He has received many of the most prestigious national and international awards in the field, recognizing his scientific discoveries, clinical innovations, mentoring, teaching, and service to the profession (see table for notable awards of the past five years). Many of his trainees now chair departments of their own around the world.
Weinreb earned his medical degree from Harvard Medical School and a degree in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and completed his ophthalmology residency and fellowship at UC San Francisco. He joined UC San Diego in April 1984.
“I am so proud to have led the Viterbi Family Department of Ophthalmology and the Shiley Eye Institute,” Weinreb said. “Among the many initiatives we undertook, protecting and restoring the vision of countless individuals with blinding eye diseases has always been a high priority. With scientists and clinicians among the very best in the world, our impact will be greater still as we integrate breakthrough vision research and clinical eye care excellence to focus on personalized disease prevention and treatment.”
UC San Diego, Shiley Eye Institute and Viterbi Family Department of Ophthalmology
Media Contact: Naomi Kleinschmit
