The 20 Best Retinoblastoma Doctors in Maryland, US

Dr. Kenneth Pienta is the Donald S. Coffey Professor of Urology and a professor of oncology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He also holds an appointment in the department of pharmacology and molecular sciences. He is an internationally recognized leader in prostate cancer research and translational science. Dr. Pienta serves as the director of research for the Brady Urological Institute and co-leader of the Kimmel Cancer Center's Prostate Cancer Program. Dr. Pienta has a proven, peer-reviewed track record in organizing and administering a translational research program that successfully incorporates bench research, agent development and clinical application. He has international expertise in the development of novel chemotherapeutic programs for prostate cancer and has championed the concept that translational research is often best accomplished by multi-disciplinary teams of scientists and clinicians. Under his direction, the success of these endeavors led to the receipt of the first annual American Association for Cancer Research Team Science Award in 2007. Dr. Pienta received his B.A. in human biology from the Johns Hopkins University. He earned his M.D. from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He completed his residency at the University of Chicago Hospitals and Clinics and performed a fellowship in oncology at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Prior to joining Johns Hopkins, Dr. Pienta was the associate vice president for research, health sciences for the University of the Michigan from 2012 to 2013 and director of precision medicine for the Michigan Center for Translational Pathology from 2008 to 2013. He joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in 2013. Dr. Pienta's research interests include the ecology of cancer, tumor microenvironment, metastasis, biomarker development and novel therapeutic development. Dr. Pienta is a two-time American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professor Award recipient. He holds several patents, has authored more than 350 peer-reviewed articles and has been the principle investigator on numerous local and national clinical trials. Dr. Pienta is currently actively developing clinical trials and treating patients with newly diagnosed high risk and metastatic prostate cancer. Dr. Pienta is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Retinoblastoma. His top areas of expertise are Prostate Cancer, Bone Tumor, Familial Prostate Cancer, Prostatectomy, and Orchiectomy.

Yannis M. Paulus, M.D., F.A.C.S., is the Jonas Fridenwald Professor in Ophthalmology, an associate professor in the Johns Hopkins University Department of Ophthalmology and Department of Biomedical Engineering, and a vitreoretinal surgeon at the Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins Medicine’s East Baltimore and Columbia locations. Dr. Paulus served as a surgical retina specialist and director of a research laboratory at the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center for almost 10 years, where he developed novel imaging systems, lasers and long-lasting therapies and nanotechnologies to allow physicians to determine cellular markers of disease, enabling early diagnosis, improved treatment monitoring and more individualized, personalized precision medicine tailored to each patient’s needs. After earning his bachelor’s degree in chemistry and physics from Harvard University and his medical degree at Stanford University School of Medicine, Dr. Paulus completed an internship at the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, a residency in ophthalmology at the Stanford University School of Medicine Byers Eye Institute, and a surgical and medical retina fellowship at Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins Medicine. CVhttps://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/-/media/wilmer/documents/cvs/Paulus_CV%2021225.pdf. Dr. Paulus is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Retinoblastoma. His top areas of expertise are Diabetic Retinopathy, Late-Onset Retinal Degeneration, Age-Related Macular Degeneration (ARMD), Vitrectomy, and Cataract Removal.

Robyn Gartrell, MD, MS is a physician-scientist and pediatric oncologist who joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine as Assistant Professor in January 2024. Dr. Gartrell completed her clinical pediatric hematology/oncology fellowship at New York Presbyterian / Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC), and a postdoctoral fellowship in Immunotherapy and Precision Medicine. She also completed a Master of Science in Patient Oriented Research as well as her first 5 years as faculty at CUIMC. Dr. Gartrell’s primary research focuses on combination approaches including radiation, chemotherapy, and other target agents with immunotherapy to improve response, increase survival, and decrease toxicity for children, adolescents, and young adults with cancer. Her laboratory uses advances in tumor immunology to develop more effective and more personalized therapies using multiplex platforms and immunogenomics to evaluate the tumor microenvironment and determine which pediatric tumor types, and which patients, will respond to immunotherapy. Dr. Gartrell is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Retinoblastoma. Her top areas of expertise are Glioma, Diffuse Midline Glioma H3 K27M-Mutant, HER2 Negative Breast Cancer, and Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma.

James T. Handa, M.D., is Chief of the Retina Division and the Robert Bond Welch, M.D., Professor of Ophthalmology at the Wilmer Eye Institute. He specializes in medical and surgical management of complex vitreoretinal diseases such as age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, retinal detachment, retinopathy of prematurity and other pediatric retinal diseases. He also has expertise in intraocular oncology and manages patients with choroidal melanomas and metastatic tumors of the eye. Not only is he a highly skilled surgeon and clinician, but he also devotes significant effort to research related to the early causes of age-related macular degeneration using molecular pathological approaches to understand how the eye transforms from normal aging to early disease. He has been funded by the National Eye Institute for the last 19 years, and he currently holds two R01 awards for his work in AMD. He has also been funded by the Thome Foundation, Research to Prevent Blindness, Fight for Sight and the American Health Assistance Foundation. His other research focuses on surgical innovation using an integrated robotic surgical system. Dr. Handa is currently the Wilmer Eye Institute’s implanting surgeon for the Argus II retinal chip implant, which was recently approved by the FDA after Dr. Handa participated in the clinical trial leading to its approval. Dr. Handa is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Retinoblastoma. His top areas of expertise are Melanoma of the Eye, Late-Onset Retinal Degeneration, Age-Related Macular Degeneration (ARMD), Metastatic Uveal Melanoma, and Vitrectomy.

Dr. Christine Pratilas is a pediatric medical oncologist at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center and Associate Professor of Oncology, Pediatrics & Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She joined the Hopkins pediatric sarcoma team in 2014. Dr. Pratilas received her undergraduate degree in Biology from Drew University in New Jersey and her medical degree from UMDNJ - Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (now Rutgers University), where she also completed her internship and residency from 1999 to 2002. From 2002 to 2005 she was a fellow in hematology and oncology in the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) Department of Pediatrics, and in the Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology at New York Weill Cornell Medical Center. She was a postdoctoral research fellow in Dr. Neal Rosen’s Molecular Oncogenesis Laboratory at MSKCC. From 2006 to 2014 she was attending in Pediatric Oncology at MSKCC, specializing in developmental therapeutics & sarcoma. She has been the director of the pediatric sarcoma program at Hopkins since 2018. Dr. Pratilas focuses her research on cancer-associated pathways and signal transduction, which involves figuring out how a cell’s internal molecular pathways work, and how those pathways can be molecularly controlled. This knowledge is the basis for developing promising new molecularly targeted cancer therapies, which is the focus of Dr. Pratilas’s research. Among her important scientific contributions is advancing our understanding of how certain proteins that can be mutated in cancer, known as RAF kinases (specifically BRAF), affect a cancer cell’s behavior. The research in Dr. Pratilas' laboratory is focused on RAS signal transduction pathways, concentrating on pediatric sarcomas such as rhabdomyosarcoma and malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors, in order to develop novel therapeutics for children with these tumors. Dr. Pratilas is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Retinoblastoma. Her top areas of expertise are Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumor, Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1), Neurofibromatosis, Adult Soft Tissue Sarcoma, and Osteotomy.

Dr. Stacy Cooper is the Director of the Pediatric Hematologic Malignancy Program, Director of the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program, and Clinical Director of the Pediatric Oncology Inpatient Program at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Dr. Cooper received her undergraduate degree in Biology and Spanish at the University of Notre Dame. She earned her M.D. at SUNY Upstate Medical University. She completed her general pediatric residency and chief residency at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She completed her pediatric hematology-oncology fellowship with the Johns Hopkins-National Institutes of Health. Dr. Cooper joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in 2015. Her research focuses on clinical research in acute lymphoblastic leukemia, as well as medical education scholarship related to fellowship training. Dr. Cooper is a member of the American Board of Pediatrics, the American Society of Hematology, the American Society of Pediatric Hematology Oncology and the Association of Pediatric Program Directors. Dr. Cooper is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Retinoblastoma. Her top areas of expertise are Classical Hodgkin Lymphoma, Hodgkin Lymphoma, Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), Leukemia, and Bone Marrow Transplant.

Talya Laufer is a Radiologist in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Laufer has been practicing medicine for over 6 years and is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Retinoblastoma. Her top area of expertise is Retinoblastoma.

Mary Turell is an Ophthalmologist in Frederick, Maryland. Dr. Turell is rated as an Advanced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Retinoblastoma. Her top areas of expertise are Melanoma of the Eye, Choroid Plexus Carcinoma, Metastatic Uveal Melanoma, Uveal Melanoma, and Vitrectomy.

Tao Yu is a primary care provider, practicing in Internal Medicine in Rockville, Maryland. Dr. Yu is rated as an Advanced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Retinoblastoma. Her top areas of expertise are Retinoblastoma, Down Syndrome, Jaundice, and Hemangioblastoma.

Mary Collins is an Ophthalmologist in Towson, Maryland. Dr. Collins is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Retinoblastoma. Her top areas of expertise are Strabismus, Esotropia, Amblyopia, and Oculomotor Apraxia Cogan Type.

Ling Yang is a primary care provider, practicing in Family Medicine in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Dr. Yang is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Retinoblastoma. Her top areas of expertise are Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, Obesity, Type 2 Diabetes (T2D), Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Surgery, and Endoscopy.

Lise Satterfield is a primary care provider, practicing in Family Medicine in Towson, Maryland. Dr. Satterfield is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Retinoblastoma. Her top areas of expertise are Familial Combined Hyperlipidemia, Xanthoma, Cirrhosis, and High Cholesterol.

Ranee Mehra is an Oncologist in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Mehra is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Retinoblastoma. Her top areas of expertise are Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC), Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC), Lung Cancer, Tongue Cancer, and Glossectomy.

Taofeek Owonikoko is a Hematologist and an Oncologist in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Owonikoko is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Retinoblastoma. His top areas of expertise are Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC), Lung Cancer, Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC), EGFR Positive Lung Cancer, and Tissue Biopsy.

Sharon Savage is a Hematologist and an Oncologist in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Savage is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Retinoblastoma. Her top areas of expertise are Dyskeratosis Congenita, Aplastic Anemia, Aase Syndrome, Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), and Bone Marrow Transplant.

Jared Ebert is an Ophthalmologist in Greenbelt, Maryland. Dr. Ebert is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Retinoblastoma. His top areas of expertise are Retinal Detachment, Osteoporosis-Pseudoglioma Syndrome, Familial Exudative Vitreoretinopathy, Neuroretinitis, and Vitrectomy.

Aziza Shad is a Hematologist and an Oncologist in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Shad is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Retinoblastoma. Her top areas of expertise are Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), Infantile Neutropenia, Sickle Cell Disease, and Hodgkin Lymphoma.

Arturo Betancourt is an Ophthalmologist in Glen Burnie, Maryland. Dr. Betancourt is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Retinoblastoma. His top areas of expertise are Cataract, Dry Eye Syndrome, Glaucoma, Blepharitis, and Cataract Removal.

Mark Preslan is an Ophthalmologist in Glen Burnie, Maryland. Dr. Preslan is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Retinoblastoma. His top areas of expertise are Strabismus, Amblyopia, X-Linked Infantile Nystagmus, and Esotropia.

Robert Parnes is an Ophthalmologist in Hagerstown, Maryland. Dr. Parnes is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Retinoblastoma. His top areas of expertise are Late-Onset Retinal Degeneration, Age-Related Macular Degeneration (ARMD), Diabetic Retinopathy, and Retinal Artery Occlusion.