MAY 28-29, 2022


Corneal Confocal Microscopy: a Surrogate Endpoint for Neurodegeneration in Clinical Trials

Ioannis Petropoulos, PhD

Ioannis Petropoulos

Assistant Professor of Research in Medicine
Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar
Doha, Qatar

Dr. Ioannis N. Petropoulos is appointed as an Assistant Professor of Research in Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (2020-present). He holds a B.Sc. in Optometry (2007) from the University of West Attica (Athens, Greece); a M.Sc. in Investigative Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences (2008); and a Ph.D. in Medicine (2013) from the University of Manchester (UK). He undertook postdoctoral training in Prof Rayaz Malik’s Lab at the University of Manchester (2013-14) and Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar, Research Division (2014-2016; 2017-2020). He has also served as a science advisor for clinical research and physiology at Wellcome in London, UK (2016-17). Dr. Petropoulos primary research interest is in developing corneal confocal microscopy as an imaging biomarker of neurodegeneration. He has successfully applied corneal confocal microscopy to quantify neurodegeneration in diabetic neuropathy and more recently in central neurodegenerative conditions including multiple sclerosis and epilepsy. He has been centrally involved in several international collaborative studies employing corneal confocal microscopy to study Friedreich’s ataxia (WCM, New York), chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (Dusseldorf, Germany) and Parkinson’s disease (Manchester, UK); multinational clinical trials of neuropathy (Biogen, Araim foundation); and the development of novel quantification methods of neurodegeneration based on artificial intelligence (Qatar and Liverpool, UK). He was awarded the Goran Sundkvist Young Investigator Award for Clinical Science in 2015 by the Neuropathy in Diabetes study group (NEURODIAB) of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes. He is a member of NEURODIAB since 2015 and the International Multiple Sclerosis Visual System Consortium since 2019. Dr. Petropoulos has been a co-investigator or primary mentor on grants from the European Committee for the Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis; the Michael J. Fox Foundation; Biogen Inc. and Qatar National Research Fund.

Co-Sponsors