Rate My Professor Daniel Palanker

Daniel Palanker is a Professor of Ophthalmology and, by courtesy, of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. He received an MSc in Physics from Yerevan State University in Armenia in 1984 and a PhD in Applied Physics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel in 1994, followed by postdoctoral research at Stanford University. His work centers on the interactions of electric fields and light with biological cells and tissues, with primary applications in ophthalmology for diagnostic, therapeutic, surgical, and prosthetic technologies. These include photovoltaic retinal prostheses for restoring sight, non-damaging retinal laser therapies, interferometric imaging of neural signals, and electronic control of organs such as tear secretion.

Palanker has held key appointments at Stanford, including Director of the Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory from 2016 to 2021 and Director of Research in the Department of Ophthalmology from 2003 to 2018. He is a member of Bio-X and the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute. His contributions have resulted in multiple commercial technologies now in clinical use worldwide, such as the Patterned Scanning Laser Photocoagulator (PASCAL), the Pulsed Electron Avalanche Knife (PEAK PlasmaBlade), the OCT-guided Femtosecond Laser System for Cataract Surgery (Catalys), and the neural stimulator for enhanced tear secretion (TrueTear). The Photovoltaic Retinal Prosthesis (PRIMA) is in clinical trials. He has received honors including the Translational Research Award from SPIE in 2024, the Bressler Prize in Vision Science in 2016, and the Alcon Research Institute Scientific Achievement Award in 2016. Palanker teaches courses on electro-neural interfaces and has supervised numerous students and postdoctoral researchers.