Alessandro Iannaccone
Professor of Ophthalmology


Alessandro Iannaccone, MD, MS, FARVO is Professor of Ophthalmology at the Duke University Department of Ophthalmology, in Durham, NC, where he serves as the Director of the newly established Center for Retinal Degenerations and Ophthalmic Genetic Diseases. Prior to joining Duke University on September 2016, Dr. Iannaccone was an Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at the Hamilton Eye Institute in Memphis, TN, where he served as the founding Director of the Retinal Degenerations & Ophthalmic Genetics Service and the Lions’ Visual Function Diagnostic Lab since 1997.

Dr. Iannaccone received his medical degree from the University La Sapienza, Rome, Italy, where he also completed his residency in Ophthalmology, followed by fellowships on retinal degenerations with Dr. Jacobson at the Scheie Eye Institute, University of Pennsylvania and on pediatric retinal and optic nerve diseases at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, where he subsequently also obtained a Masters in Biostatistics and Epidemiology.

Dr. Iannaccone specializes in hereditary and degenerative diseases of the retina and macula, including age-related macular degeneration, ophthalmic genetic diseases, autoimmune and paraneoplastic retinopathies and optic neuropathies, and other acquired conditions such as drug-induced retinal toxicity. In addition to his clinical expertise, Dr. Iannaccone also brings to the table over 20 years of experience with visual function testing via electrophysiological and psychophysical methods, and retinal imaging. He has been an invited lecturer on 65 occasions, and he has written, presented, and published extensively in these areas, with over 90 peer-reviewed manuscripts, over 30 other publications, and nearly 160 meeting presentations.

Dr. Iannaccone has been serving for a number of years as Scientific Advisory Board member for the Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB), the Choroideremia Research Foundation, and the Blue Cone Monochromacy Families Foundation, and presently serves also on the Advocacy and Outreach Committee of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), of which he is a longtime member and a Silver Fellow. Dr. Iannaccone was also the Co-Founder of the FFB’s Mid-South Chapter of Memphis, on which he has also served as Chair of the Educational Committee and President, and has been a longtime member of the Memphis Downtown Lions Club. He is a member of several other professional societies, including the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), the International Society for Genetic Eye Disease and Retinoblastoma (ISGEDR), the International Society for Clinical Electrophysiology of Vision (ISCEV) and the Italian Society of Ophthalmology (SOI).

Dr. Iannaccone’s research has received uninterrupted funding since 1998 through numerous grants, contracts, and awards from federal agencies, private foundations, and industry, including a K23 Award, an R21 and an R01 from the National Eye Institute, and a Career Development Award from Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB), followed in 2012 by the RPB’s Physician Scientist Award. In 2009 he also received the ARVO/Alcon Clinician-Scientist Research Award. He has served as Site PI for numerous clinical studies and trials, such as the CNTF and the valproic acid trials for retinitis pigmentosa (RP).

Current Appointments & Affiliations

Contact Information

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