John Hetling, PhD

I graduated from Bates College with a BS in Biology in 1989.  After working for two years as a technician in an electrophysiology laboratory, studying modulation of central pattern generators, I entered the graduate program in Bioengineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago.  I graduated with a PhD in Bioengineering and Neuroscience in 1997, focusing on the use of electroretinography to study phototransduction in rod photoreceptor cells, under the guidance of Dr. David Pepperberg.  After a brief post-doc, I joined the faculty in Bioengineering at UIC in August 1998.  I currently have an adjunct appointment in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at UIC.  I am the director of the Neural Engineering Vision Laboratory (NEVL), where we focus on developing new technologies for the diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of eye disease.  We take an integrated approach to addressing clinical needs and patient pain-points, combing our expertise in engineering and vision science with that of our clinician collaborators.  Translation of our technologies to clinical application is facilitated by a company that I co-founded, RetMap, Inc.  I also have a passion for teaching and engineering education and have served as the Director of Undergraduate Studies in Bioengineering for 17 years.