Tyson Kim, MD, PhD

Dr. Tyson Kim is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology at UC San Francisco. He received his BS in Physics from UC San Diego, a PhD in Bioengineering from UCSF/UC Berkeley, and an MD from UC San Francisco. He completed his ophthalmology residency at the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center and fellowship at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute as a Heed Fellow. Dr. Kim has a background in optical engineering and vascular developmental biology. His research centers on studying cellular-level dynamics in intact tissues with an emphasis on understanding mechanisms of chorioretinal vascular dysgenesis in refractory forms of neovascular age-related macular degeneration. Many of the complex interactions of tissues in this disease can be challenging or impossible to understand through traditional assays such as cell or organ tissue culture. The Kim lab, therefore, develops advanced optical and analytical methods and merges these with genetic tools to study the cellular and developmental mechanisms driving disease longitudinally over time in the intact living eye. Dr. Kim aspires to make fundamental advancements in our understanding of oculovascular dysgenesis and macular degeneration and to bridge that knowledge into new therapeutic strategies for vision-threatening diseases.