John P. ("Jack") Whitcher, MD, MPH, is Professor Emeritus at the Francis I. Proctor Foundation and the UCSF Department of Ophthalmology, and a longtime leader in international ophthalmology and the global prevention of blindness. Across a career of more than four decades at Proctor, he specialized in cornea and external eye disease and devoted much of his work to understanding and preventing corneal blindness in the world's most underserved communities.
Dr. Whitcher directed Proctor's World Blindness Center and served as the Foundation's Director of International Programs, building and leading field programs across South and Southeast Asia — including Nepal, Bhutan, Burma (Myanmar), and India. His research helped establish corneal disease as a major cause of global blindness, second only to cataract, and showed that simple, low-cost treatment delivered by trained village health workers could prevent post-traumatic corneal ulcers in rural populations.
An influential educator, he co-edited several editions of Vaughan & Asbury's General Ophthalmology — one of the most widely used ophthalmology textbooks in the world — with Paul Riordan-Eva. In recognition of his contributions, UCSF established the John P. Whitcher Endowed Professorship in Ophthalmology.
Roles & Leadership
- Professor Emeritus, Francis I. Proctor Foundation & UCSF Department of Ophthalmology
- Former Director of International Programs, Proctor Foundation
- Former Director, Proctor World Blindness Center
- Co-editor, Vaughan & Asbury's General Ophthalmology
Areas of Expertise
- Cornea and external eye disease
- Infectious and inflammatory eye disease
- Global blindness prevention and ophthalmic epidemiology
- Corneal ulcer prevention in resource-limited settings
- Trachoma
Education
- University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, MD
- University of California, San Francisco, Residency, Ophthalmology
- Francis I. Proctor Foundation, UCSF, Fellow, Cornea and External Diseases
- University of California, Berkeley, MPH, Epidemiology
Selected Publications
- Whitcher JP, Srinivasan M, Upadhyay MP. Corneal blindness: a global perspective. Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 2001;79(3):214–221.
- Corneal ulceration in South East Asia I: prevention of bacterial ulcers at the village level in rural Bhutan. British Journal of Ophthalmology. 2006.
- Corneal ulceration in South East Asia II: prevention of fungal keratitis at the village level in Burma. British Journal of Ophthalmology. 2006.
- Thygeson P, O'Connor GR, Dawson CR, Whitcher JP, Cunningham ET. The Francis I. Proctor Foundation: the first fifty years. Survey of Ophthalmology. 1998;42(6):548–556.