Since joining the Retina Foundation in 1982 as one of its first research scientists, Dr. Eileen Birch has been at the forefront of groundbreaking discoveries that have reshaped our understanding of children’s vision and development. She also holds a faculty appointment as adjunct professor of ophthalmology at UT Southwestern Medical Center.
Her career has encompassed transformative breakthroughs. While completing her fellowship at MIT, she made a landmark discovery: infants don’t perceive the world in three dimensions until around 16 weeks of age.
At the Retina Foundation, Dr. Birch was the first to demonstrate that DHA—a nutrient found in breast milk—is essential for healthy development of the eye and brain in infants. Her work helped pave the way for the global inclusion of DHA in infant formula, improving early development for millions of children worldwide.
Dr. Birch’s lab continues to lead the way in testing and treating pediatric eye disorders, and in exploring how visual conditions impact a child’s overall development. Her current research focuses on developing a simple questionnaire to help identify children at high risk for amblyopia or strabismus and a deep-learning model to analyze eye alignment from photographs.
Recognized as a leading expert in pediatric eye research, her research has been supported by the National Eye Institute continuously since 1984. She has served on the National Advisory Eye Council and on expert grant review panels for the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Thrasher Research Fund, Fight for Sight and Medical Research Council.
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