Kristina Irsch

Research Team

Quantitative in vivo corneal and ocular microscopy

Specialty areas

Photonics

Scientific biography

Kristina Irsch is a physicist specializing in ophthalmic instrument development. She received her PhD degree under the tutelage of Prof. Josef F. Bille at Heidelberg University. During her graduate studies she also worked at the Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute in Baltimore, Maryland and continued with a postdoctoral research fellowship in ophthalmology there with David L. Guyton, MD. She then remained at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine as an Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology, merging her background in physics with endeavors in the field of ophthalmology to help bridge the gap between engineer and clinician. While continuing the development and translation of a diagnostic screening device for remote detection of vision disorders in young children, she came to the Vision Institute / 15-20 National Eye Hospital also working in collaboration with the Langevin Institute on the development of high-resolution ocular imaging methods. She recently joined the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) to continue applying her physics training to problems in ophthalmology at the Vision Institute where she now leads an emerging team entitled “Quantitative in vivo corneal and ocular microscopy.” Her current research focuses mainly on the characterization, compensation, and use of ocular scattering for patient imaging. The overall goal is to exploit the potential of the cornea and the eye to serve as a window into systemic processes within the body. Parallel to her research pursuits, she also teaches ophthalmic optics and instrumentation at the annual basic science and eye review courses at Columbia University, University of Illinois at Chicago, Wills Eye Hospital, and Stanford University.