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Neil Bressler, MD graduated from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1982 and completed an ophthalmology residency at Harvard Medical School's Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in 1986. He joined the Wilmer Eye Institute faculty at Johns Hopkins in 1988, where he currently is chief of the retina division and the inaugural James P. Gills Professor of Ophthalmology. With over 15 full-time clinical faculty, the retina division serves the Johns Hopkins Hospital and an additional five satellite clinics, dedicated to basic, translational and clinical research in conjunction with clinical care and education revolving around the prevention and treatment of retinal diseases.

His main research interests have been collaborative efforts in clinical trials of common retinal diseases, including age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy, having chaired several NIH-sponsored and industry-sponsored multicenter randomized clinical trials and authored over 300 peer-reviewed publications. He has chaired the NIH-sponsored Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network where he currently serves as Past Network Chair, responsible for guidelines, policies, protocol development as well as implementation, and to facilitate Network operations in a way that maintains academic integrity and optimal clinical trial performance. He chairs the National Eye Institute's Data and Safety Monitoring Committee for intramural clinical trials, has chaired the FDA Ophthalmic Devices Panel, has chaired the Committee on Outside Interests (including conflicts of interest) and is chair of the Continuing Medical Education Advisory Board at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Since July 2013, Dr. Bressler has been editor-in-chief of JAMA Ophthalmology, one of the leading peer-reviewed ophthalmic journals in the world. He has won numerous awards in ophthalmology, including the Macula Society's J. Donald M. Gass Medal, the Society of Heed Fellows Award, the American Society of Retina Specialists Gertrude Pyron Award, the American Academy of Ophthalmology's Secretariat Award, a Gold Fellow in ARVO, and a Senior Scientific Investigator Award from Research to Prevent Blindness. He has been elected to be President of the Macula Society in 2013 and 2014, one of three major retina societies in the U.S. Outside of medicine, as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Interlochen Center for the Arts, he also shares responsibility for an entity which engages and inspires people worldwide through excellence in educational, artistic and cultural programs in the arts.