Associate Professor

Dr. Gonzales's interests involve the diagnosis and management of infectious and non-infectious inflammatory conditions of the eyes (uveitis) and Sjögren’s disease-associated dry eye. Many ocular inflammatory diseases are part of a systemic disorder and require a complete review of one’s health, personalized treatment, and close monitoring. Working as a team with a patient’s rheumatologist, internist, pediatrician, and/or oral medicine specialists ensure that his patients receive optimum care.

John A. Gonzales's Research

RESEARCH AND CREATIVE ACTIVITIES SUMMARY  

My research involves epidemiologic and randomized trials in ocular inflammatory disease.

I am funded by the National Institutes Health – National Eye Institute to study keratoconjunctivitis sicca in Sjögren’s syndrome, examining dry eye diagnostic criteria, quality of life measures, depression, and all-cause and cancer-related mortality in the Sjögren’s International Collaborative Clinical Alliance (SICCA) cohort.

I am the primary investigator for a randomized controlled trial, Systemic and Topical Antivirals for Control of Cytomegalovirus Anterior uveitis: Treatment Outcomes (STACCATO), being conducted in USA, Thailand, and Taiwan.

I am examining the lymphoma-associated mutations in vitreoretinal lymphoma in the MDS: An Exploratory Sequencing Technique for Recognizing Ocular lymphoma (MAESTRO) study. The goal here is to further characterize molecular features that play a role in the pathophysiology of vitreoretinal lymphomas and to identify mutations that confer chemotherapeutic resistance.

I am using high-throughput sequencing to characterize novel biomarkers in the peripheral blood of patients with ocular sarcoidosis.

Current Projects:

Major Goals: The proposed “Sjögren’s Team for Accelerating Medicines Partnership (STAMP)” is strategically positioned to apply cutting-edge technologies to interrogate the tissue and systems biology of Sjögren’s disease (SjD) to better understand 1) the pathogenesis of SjD and identify therapeutic targets, and new biomarkers; and 2) disease mechanisms inherent to progression of SjD from non-SjD to SjD, and from “early SjD” to “advanced SjD”. To achieve these goals, we plan to develop a 5-year scientific research agenda, and design standardized clinical research protocols to recruit, enroll, phenotype, and collect relevant biospecimens from, observational cohorts of individuals with SjD and controls.

I am the study ophthalmologist and perform the ocular examinations for STAMP at the UCSF site.           

Sjögren's International Collaborative Clinical Alliance Next Generation Studies (SICCA-NextGen)               

We leverage unique NIDCR-funded resources by utilizing existing infrastructure and an expanded team with high level expertise to better understand the pathogenesis of Sjögren’s disease and identify therapeutic pathways, and new biomarkers. We propose to enhance the Sjögren’s International Collaborative Clinical Alliance (SICCA) biorepository/registry by generating genome-wide DNA 

Cytomegalovirus (CMV), along with other Herpesviridae family members, is an important and common infectious cause of anterior uveitis. CMV anterior uveitis can cause vision loss and blindness through corneal damage and glaucoma, but there are no defined treatment and preventative strategies. Here we propose two multicenter international randomized placebo-controlled trials to establish the most effective treatment for active CMV anterior uveitis and the most ideal preventative approach.

For more please visit: https://profiles.ucsf.edu/john.gonzales