Longtime NEI Director Paul Sieving to retire, join UC Davis

Paul A. Sieving, MD, PhD, who has served as the director of the National Eye Institute since 2001, will retire and join the faculty of the UC Davis Health Eye Center.

“Dr. Sieving brings tremendous strengths in basic research and clinical care that have led to new treatments for patients,” Lars Berglund, MD, PhD, interim dean of the UC Davis School of Medicine, said in a press release. “His expertise complements the exceptional work of UC Davis vision scientists, eye center faculty and researchers across UC Davis who study the genetic components of eye diseases and vision loss and work to develop new treatments. We are very excited to have him join our team.”

Sieving is expected to assume an endowed chair in retinal research, in addition to his position as professor of ophthalmology at the UC Davis Eye Center, the release said.

His tenure at the NEI included managing an $800 million budget, launching the NEI Audacious Goals Initiative for Regenerative Medicine and serving as senior investigator at the National Institutes of Health, where he developed treatments for retinitis pigmentosa, Stargardt disease and other retinal disorders.

“It has been a privilege to work with such an accomplished scientist, administrator, clinician and trusted colleague,” NIH Director Francis S. Collins, MD, PhD, said in a separate statement. “All of us at NIH owe Paul a profound debt of gratitude for his guidance, support, dedication and advocacy for vision science on behalf of the American public.”