Michael Belkin (ophthalmologist)

Michael Belkin is a leading Israeli academic and researcher working in ophthalmology. Belkin is Professor Emeritus of Ophthalmology at Tel Aviv University. His research brought about advances in glaucoma treatment such as the ExPress glaucoma implant, the Ioptimate CO2 laser glaucoma surgery and a fast, non-contact glaucoma laser treatment.

He established and was the inaugural director of the Tel Aviv University Eye Research Institute, located at the Sheba Medical Center.

Education

Belkin completed a master's degree in natural sciences from the University of Cambridge, and a doctorate in medicine from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Career

Belkin served as head of the Research, Development and Non-Conventional Warfare Medicine department of the Israel Defence Forces Medical Corps for three years. During that time, he development military goggles to protect the eyes of soldiers.

He also publicized the threat of laser radiation to the eye and endeavoured to find treatment for laser-induced eye injuries.

Belkin is a Senior Scientific Advisor to the Singapore National Eye Centre. [18]

Belkin founded Belkin Laser Ltd. in 2013 and served as the company's Chief Medical Officer. He serves on the board and scientific advisory board of various companies engaged in developing novel ophthalmic technologies.

Belkin has been a voting member of SPIE, the International Society for Optics and Photonics for 11 years, and serves on the organization's Conference Program Committee.

Developments in ophthalmologic technology

Belkin developed the novel External Automatic Glaucoma Laser (EAGLE), a Direct Selective Trabeculoplasty (DSLT) device to change conventional glaucoma management from a specialized procedure to a procedure which general ophthalmologists can perform. Belkin's company BELKIN Laser Ltd was part of a multidisciplinary, multinational consortium that successfully received EU funding of 2480275 Euros in 2016. Under the project title GLAUrious this consortium aimed to ease commercialization of the EAGLE technology and drive adoption by general ophthalmologists.

Sheba Medical Centre carried out the first-in Human Clinical trials of the EAGLE. Their results found that their automated DSLT is a safe and effective method for reducing intraocular pressure.

GLAUrious began clinical trials in Italy at the University of Genoa and in the UK at Queens University Belfast and Moorfields Eyes Hospital, London in 2018.

In 1998, Belkin developed a novel miniature glaucoma shunt, named ex-PRESS. The implant is commonly used in glaucoma surgery.

Prof. Belkin was involved in developing and clinically proving a method to treat adult amblyopia (lazy eye), an achievement which was previously considered impossible. He also invented methods of automatic measuring visual function in children and binocular treatment of amblyopia.

Belkin is named as inventor or co-inventor on 16 patents registered in the United States and as inventor or applicant on 30 patents globally.

Research and findings

Belkin identified a correlation between the development of Myopia and years of schooling and intelligence in a substantial male population aged 17-19.

He was one of the first to prove that reducing visual acuity in the elderly, mostly due to improperly fitted or non-use of eyeglasses is associated with reduced cognitive functions.

Belkin was part of the team investigating the implantation of pre-treated macrophages into rats stimulated tissue repair. This procedure was later extended to human trials for spinal injury patients and established that humans could tolerate the procedure.

He was one of the first to use stem cells in vascular and ophthalmic diseases clinically.

Belkin was part of a team researching the link between cigarette smoking and ocular disease, both through tobacco and exposure to passive smoke.

Selected publications

Publications

Title	Cited by	Year
Implantation of stimulated homologous macrophages results in partial recovery of paraplegic rats O Rapalino, O Lazarov-Spiegler, E Agranov, GJ Velan, E Yoles, ... Nature medicine 4 (7), 814-821	914	1998
Improving vision in adult amblyopia by perceptual learning U Polat, T Ma-Naim, M Belkin, D Sagi Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 101 (17), 6692-6697	451	2004
The association between cigarette smoking and ocular diseases Y Solberg, M Rosner, M Belkin Survey of ophthalmology 42 (6), 535-547	358	1998
Clinical experience using incubated autologous macrophages as a treatment for complete spinal cord injury: phase I study results N Knoller, G Auerbach, V Fulga, G Zelig, J Attias, R Bakimer, JB Marder, ... Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine 3 (3), 173-181	279	2005
Laser eye injuries Y Barkana, M Belkin Survey of ophthalmology 44 (6), 459-478	268	2000
Intracoronary injection of basic fibroblast growth factor enhances angiogenesis in infarcted swine myocardium A Battler, M Scheinowitz, A Bor, D Hasdai, Z Vered, E Di Segni, ... Journal of the American College of Cardiology 22 (7), 2001-2006	212	1993
The role of excitotoxicity in organophosphorous nerve agents central poisoning Y Solberg, M Belkin Trends in pharmacological sciences 18 (6), 183-185	197	1997
Intelligence, education, and Myopia in males M Rosner, M Belkin Archives of ophthalmology 105 (11), 1508-1511	190	1987
Effects of low‐level energy lasers on the healing of full‐thickness skin defects JS Surinchak, ML Alago, RF Bellamy, BE Stuck, M Belkin Lasers in surgery and medicine 2 (3), 267-274	181	1983
Long term effect on IOP of a stainless steel glaucoma drainage implant (Ex-PRESS) in combined surgery with phacoemulsification CE Traverso, F De Feo, A Messas-Kaplan, P Denis, S Levartovsky, ... British Journal of Ophthalmology 89 (4), 425-429	168	2005
Inflammation after axonal injury has conflicting consequences for recovery of function: rescue of spared axons is impaired but regeneration is supported DL Hirschberg, E Yoles, M Belkin, M Schwartz Journal of neuroimmunology 50 (1), 9-16	159	1994
Temporal parameters of low energy laser irradiation for optimal delay of post-traumatic degeneration of rat optic nerve E Assia, M Rosner, M Belkin, A Solomon, M Schwartz Brain research 476 (2), 205-212	159	1989
Biocompatibility of the Ex-PRESS miniature glaucoma drainage implant A Nyska, Y Glovinsky, M Belkin, Y Epstein Journal of glaucoma 12 (3), 275-280	158	2003
Ocular injury by mustard gas Y Solberg, M Alcalay, M Belkin Survey of ophthalmology 41 (6), 461-466	142	1997
Eye injuries in twentieth century warfare: a historical perspective TY Wong, MB Seet, CL Ang Survey of ophthalmology 41 (6), 433-459	136	1997
Recovery of visual response of injured adult rat optic nerves treated with transglutaminase S Eitan, A Solomon, V Lavie, E Yoles, DL Hirschberg, M Belkin, ... Science 264 (5166), 1764-1768	135	1994
Special report: noninvasive multi-parameter functional optical imaging of the eye DA Nelson, S Krupsky, A Pollack, E Aloni, M Belkin, I Vanzetta, M Rosner, ... Ophthalmic Surgery, Lasers and Imaging Retina 36 (1), 57-66	130	2005
Potential treatment modalities for glaucomatous neuropathy: neuroprotection and neuroregeneration. M Schwartz, M Belkin, E Yoles, A Solomon Journal of glaucoma 5 (6), 427-432	129	1996
Tumor necrosis factor facilitates regeneration of injured central nervous system axons M Schwartz, A Solomon, V Lavie, S Ben-Bassat, M Belkin, A Cohen Brain research 545 (1-2), 334-338	125	1991
Dependency between light intensity and refractive development under light–dark cycles Y Cohen, M Belkin, O Yehezkel, AS Solomon, U Polat Experimental eye research 92 (1), 40-46	122	2011

Personal life

Belkin is married with three children.