John Han, PhD

Dr. John Han obtained his undergraduate degree from Shippensburg University and received his PhD training in Nancy Philp's lab at Thomas Jefferson University, where he studied glucose and lactate transporters in the mouse retina. His time in the Philp lab was spent defining the interrelationships between rod, cone, Muller glia, and RPE glucose and lactate exchange, overturning several previously established axioms of outer retinal metabolism. Dr. Han’s research showed that cones survive well without direct glucose or lactate uptake, despite dogma suggesting all photoreceptors are highly dependent on glucose for metabolism and survival. Wanting to focus specifically on one cell type in the eye, Dr. Han joined Jason Miller’s lab at the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Research Center, which specializes in RPE lipid biology, to study RPE lipid metabolism and lipid handling.