Dr. John Kempen is well-known nationally and internationally as an expert in ocular inflammatory diseases—such as uveitis, scleritis, and others—as well as ocular complications of AIDS. He is also engaged in international research in India and Ethiopia regarding ophthalmic epidemiology and trachoma research.

Dr. Kempen is Co-Founder and President of Sight for Souls, a US 501(c)(3) charity developing self-sustaining, tertiary eye institutes in developing countries as a strategy to address global blindness through self-sustaining service delivery, public health outreach, training and research. Approximately 80% of global blindness and low vision requires individual-level clinical care, which is directly addressed by this strategy.

Dr. Kempen has doctoral training in epidemiology, and masters-level training in biostatistics and public health.  He has completed research fellowships in clinical trials and in preventive ophthalmology.  He is a fellow of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, and a member of the American Uveitis Society, the International Uveitis Study Group, the Society for Clinical Trials, and the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology.  He was appointed by President Bush to serve as a member of the Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council (2004-2008), and has approximately 150 publications in the leading journals of his specialty. He serves as the Editor-in-Chief of Ophthalmic Epidemiology.

Clinical Interests

Uveitis, iritis, pars planitis, panuveitis, sympathetic ophthalmia, choroiditis, retinitis, neuroretinitis, Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease, Fuchs’ heterochromic cyclitis, retinal vasculitis, serpiginous retinochoroiditis, birdshot chorioretinitis, immunosuppressive therapy for eye disease, scleritis, orbital inflammatory disease, ocular complications of AIDS, cytomegalovirus retinitis, acute retinal necrosis, infectious retinitis, toxoplasmic retinitis, trachoma, international ophthalmology, Ethiopia, India.