Dr. Katz comes to Montefiore and Einstein from both academic medicine and industry, where he has been most recently engaged in the biotech arena and drug development for several years. He served as CEO of Danube Pharmaceuticals and chief medical officer of both Fovea Pharmaceuticals and Eyetech, which brought the first medical therapy for macular degeneration to market. Prior to that, he had a distinguished career in academia, most recently as professor and chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology at the George Washington University School of Medicine. Over the course of his 25-year career, Dr. Katz has earned a reputation as a gifted clinician and teacher as well as an accomplished researcher. He also served as co-director of a joint fellowship in ophthalmologic drug development, regulation and trials co-sponsored by George Washington University and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
As a neuro-ophthalmologist, Dr. Katz’s clinical expertise is in treatment of optic nerve diseases, unusual eye movements, and ocular manifestations of systemic diseases. He has joint appointments in the departments of ophthalmology, neurology, and neurosurgery at Montefiore and Einstein.
Dr. Katz received his medical degree from Case-Western Reserve University School of Medicine. He completed an internship in medicine at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, served as a research staff associate in neuro-virology at the National Institutes of Health, completed a residency in neurology at Harvard University and an ophthalmology residency at Tufts-New England Medical Center. He completed fellowships at Harvard, at the National Hospital for Nervous Disease at Queen’s Square in London, and at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Dr. Katz obtained an M.B.A. in finance and healthcare management from the University of Rochester’s Simon School of Business, and has served on the faculties of the University of California, San Diego, UCSF, and the University of Rochester.
Dr. Katz has authored numerous articles published in peer reviewed journals, and has served on the board of directors for professional societies including the Ophthalmology Research and Education Foundation and the International Eye Foundation. He resides in New York City.