Dr. Daniel Palanker is a distinguished scientist working at the interface of physics and medicine. He is a Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and in the Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory at Stanford University, and serves as a Director of Research in the Department of Ophthalmology.

     Focus of his research is on interactions of electric field with biological cells and tissues, including laser-tissue interactions and electro-neural interfaces. He received his Ph.D. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem after his undergraduate and MSc degrees at Yerevan State University in Armenia. He received numerous awards recognizing his achievements as a researcher and inventor, including Scientific Achievement Award by Alcon Research Institute, Bressler Prize in Vision Science, and SPIE Translational Research Award. More than 50 of his patents have become the foundation of 7 platform technologies transferred to industrial development and manufacturing in startups and established companies. His research efforts and associated patents have served as the foundation for 6 medical device companies including PEAK Surgical, Optimedica, Oculeve, Avalanche Biotechnologies, DigiSight, and Pixium Vision. The PASCAL laser for retinal therapy, and the Catalys Femtosecond Laser for cataract surgery, on which he is a joint patent holder with Dr. Mark Blumenkranz, have received multiple leading edge technology awards and have now been used on hundreds of thousands of patients world-wide.