Dr. Pepose, a specialist in refractive surgery and corneal and external diseases, is the founder and Medical Director of the Pepose Vision Institute and held the Bernard Becker Chair in Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. He is a consultant to numerous ophthalmic drug and device companies and serves as a Director and Chief Medical Advisor for Ocuphire Pharma. Dr. Pepose has been involved in over 40 clinical research trials, including registration trials for dry eye drugs, and has been the recipient of R-01 grant support from the National Eye Institute. He has served on the editorial boards of numerous prestigious journals, including the American Journal of Ophthalmology, Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science (IOVS), Cornea, and The Journal of Refractive Surgery and has over 200 peer reviewed publications. Dr. Pepose, an ARVO Gold Fellow, is a recipient of the Cogan Award from the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) and the Life Achievement Honor Award from the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Dr. Pepose received an A.B. and M.A. in neurophysiology from Brandeis University and completed the M.D.-Ph.D. program at UCLA School of Medicine. He completed ophthalmology residency at the Wilmer Institute at the Johns Hopkins Medical Center and fellowship training at Georgetown University Medical Center.