About Yoshihiro Yonekawa

Graduating from Cornell Medical College, where he received grants from the National Eye Institute and Fight for Sight and was recognized with the Edward Norton Award in Ophthalmology, Dr. Yoshihiro Yonekawa went on to undertake an ophthalmology residency at Harvard Medical School. After Harvard, Dr. Yonekawa underwent specialized fellowship training in adult and pediatric retina surgery at Associated Retinal Consultants, William Beaumont Hospital, where he received a number of prestigious national awards, including awards from the Retina Society, the Heed Ophthalmic Foundation, and the Ronald G. Michels Foundation.

Dr. Yonekawa is currently a pediatric and adult retina surgeon at Wills Eye Hospital, the current president of the Vit Buckle Society (VBS), and serves on the board of the American Society of Retina Specialists (ASRS). He has published over 450 scientific papers, editorials and book chapters focusing on vitreoretinal diseases, and serves as Assistant Editor for RETINA, Associate Editor for Graefe's Ophthalmology, Section Editor for Journal of VitreoRetinal Diseases, OSLI Retina, and Review of Ophthalmology, and on the editorial boards for JAAPOS, Retina Today, and RETINA Roundup.

Dr. Yonekawa believes it is a great time to be an investigator for novel retinal therapeutics. “Retina is leading all fields of medicine in gene and cell therapies, and that excites me the most,” he says. “We will be entering a new era of medicine soon, and many patients with previously untreatable conditions can now have hope. Even closer on the horizon, and currently available, are longer-acting intravitreal treatments and implantable devices that lower treatment burden for patients with neovascular conditions. The pipeline for promising novel therapies is also extensive and hopefully many of these interventions will be approved for clinical use soon.”

Looking forward, Dr. Yonekawa says he loves “waking up to go to work every morning” and hopes he will still be doing exactly what he does in his role right now: taking care of patients in clinic, repairing the retinas of both children and adults in the OR and training Wills Eye’s “excellent fellows”, as well as committing his after-hours time to research and editorial work in a bid to help societies advance their missions in the retina field. “The most important thing is to keep doing what we love, and opportunities will naturally arise,” he adds.

Outside ophthalmology, Dr. Yonekawa spends time with his wife and four children practising the traditional Japanese martial art of kendo (Japanese fencing). “Medical training took me away from kendo for 15 years, but I got back into it a few years ago when our children started and it’s become a big part of our lives. Once or twice a week, all six of us practice together at our dojo, Cherry Hill Kenyukai, where I function as an assistant instructor. One of our most memorable kendo tournaments recently was the US kendo nationals in Las Vegas, where my wife was on the women’s team for our federation, my two older boys were on the youth team, and I was on the men’s team. My seven-year-old daughter just started practicing with her armor on, which is the cutest thing ever.”

From the nominator: "Dr. Yonekawa is a highly accomplished retina specialist who is leading the charge in the advancement of pediatric retinal surgery."