Eliot L. Berson,  MD

Dr. Eliot L. Berson is the William F. Chatlos Professor of Ophthalmology and Director of Harvard Medical School’s Berman-Gund Laboratory for the Study of Retinal Degenerations at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. The Laboratory performs multidisciplined research to discover the causes, understand the pathogenesis, and seek means for treatment of retinitis pigmentosa, Usher syndrome, macular degeneration, and allied retinal degenerative diseases. He also is Director of the Electroretinography (ERG) Service at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary where he evaluates patients with retinitis pigmentosa and allied retinal diseases who come for diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment where appropriate.

Clinical Interests

Hereditary retinal degenerations including retinitis pigmentosa

Research Interests

Hereditary retinal degenerations

What would you like your patients to know about you?

Evaluates in consultation patients age 6 and over with hereditary retinal disease or suspected retinal disease on referral from the patient’s physician. Evaluation requires an entire day in the ERG (Electroretinography) Service.

Publications

For a full publication list, please see his CV. A representative list (2006 - 2012) is available through www.pubmed.gov. 

Rio Frio T, McGee TL, Wade NM, Iseli C, Beckmann JS, Berson EL, Rivolta C. A single-base substitution within an intronic repetitive element causes dominant retinitis pigmentosa with reduced penetrance. Hum Mutat. 2009 Sep; 30(9): 1340-7.

Sandberg MA, Johnson EJ, Berson EL. The relationship of macular pigment optical density to serum lutein in retinitis pigmentosa. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2010 Feb; 51(2): 1086-91.

Berson EL, Rosner B, Sandberg MA, Weigel-DiFranco C, Brockhurst RJ, Hayes KC, Johnson EJ, Anderson EJ, Johnson CA, Gaudio AR, Willett WC, Schaefer EJ. Clinical trial of lutein in patients with retinitis pigmentosa receiving vitamin A. Arch Ophthalmol. 2010 Apr; 128(4): 403-11.

Pawlyk BS, Bulgakov OV, Liu X, Xu X, Adamian M, Sun X, Khani SC, Berson EL, Sandberg MA, Li T. Replacement gene therapy with a human RPGRIP1 sequence slows photoreceptor degeneration in a murine model of Leber congenital amaurosis. Hum Gene Ther. 2010 Aug; 21(8): 993-1004.

Benaglio P, McGee TL, Capelli LP, Harper S, Berson EL, Rivolta C. Next generation sequencing of pooled samples reveals new SNRNP200 mutations associated with retinitis pigmentosa. Hum Mutat. 2011 Jun; 32(6): E2246-58.

Page updated: January 10, 2013