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Dror Sharon, Ph.D., is a Senior Lecturer of Ophthalmic Genetics and head of the Molecular Ophthalmology Laboratory at the Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem. Dr. Sharon came to Hadassah in 2003 from his Postdoctoral fellowship at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School, where since 1998, he studied genes involved in retinal disease under the supervision of Prof. Thaddeus Dryja and Prof. Eliot Berson. In 1998, Dr. Sharon completed his postdoctoral fellowship at the Weizmann Institute of Science in the laboratory of Prof. Doron Lancet, the head of the Israeli Human Genome Project. Dr. Sharon earned his doctoral degree in 1996 from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Dr. Sharon studies two major questions related the retina: what are the genes and mechanisms causing retinal disease in the Israeli and Palestinian populations and which genes are involved in retinal, and especially macular, development? He has made significant contributions to different fields of research during his academic career. He was the first scientist to map the avocado genome, his evolutionary analysis of olfactory receptor genes lead to the identification of ancient haplotypes under selection in the human genome, he studied numerous genes causing retinal degenerations, he identified gene expression patterns in different retinal regions, and performed genotype-phenotype correlations in retinal disease. His primary aim is to identify retinal disease genes, study the history of different mutations in the Israeli and Palestinian populations, and identify the genes and pathways leading to macular development in avian species and humans. Dr. Sharon has published widely in the scientific literature, having written over 35 articles and book chapters. He has served as a reviewer for ophthalmology and genetic journals, such as the American Journal for Medical Genetics, IOVS, and Molecular vision. Along the last five years, Dr. Sharon has received research support from different sources including the Israeli Science Foundation, The United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation, American Health Assistance Foundation, Foundation Fighting Blindness, and The Israeli Ministry of Health. Among his awards and honors, Dr. Sharon has received the UNESCO travel prize in 1992 and the Haim Gvati prize for excellence in Agriculture in 1994. He was elected as a Committee Member of The Israeli Society for Vision and Eye Research in 2006. |
