Yuhua Zhang received a B.S. and a Ph.D in precision instruments engineering from Tianjin University, China. He had post-doctoral training in adaptive optics in Beijing Institute of Technology and Auckland University, New Zealand. He did research on optical coherence tomography in the University of West Australia, Australia. He had been an associate professor in Shanghai Jiaotong University during 1999-2001. During 2004-2008, He had been an Assistant Research in the University of California at Berkeley. He was appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology at University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in 2008. Now He is an associate professor in UAB. 

Dr. Zhang’s research focuses on advanced retinal imaging technology for in vivo assessment of retinal structure and function in the living mammalian eye at the cellular even subcellular level. He developed the micro-electrical-mechanical system (MEMS)-based adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (AOSLO) in 2006 (R&D 100 Award 2007). In UAB, he has developed adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy and optical coherence tomography (UAB AO-SLO-OCT), AO differential phase contrast imaging (AO-DPC), and the new generation high speed AO imaging. 

Dr. Zhang’s clinical research interests are in inherited retinal degeneration and age-related macular degeneration. He also has interests in other common medical and neurologic conditions such as angle glaucoma, hypertension, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr. Zhang’s research has been funded by the NIH, EyeSight Foundation of Alabama, International Retina Research Foundation, Buck Trust of Alabama. He has published more 50 peer-reviewed papers.

Terms of Appointment: Nov 2016 – Dec 2019