Daniel Finkelstein, M.D., a member of the Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins Medicine community for more than half a century and the inaugural Andreas Dracopoulos Professor of Ophthalmology, passed away Feb. 25 at the age of 81.

Finkelstein entered the institute’s residency program in 1970 and went on to be appointed assistant chief of service. Following a two-year neurophysiology of vision fellowship at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), he was appointed a full-time Wilmer Eye Institute faculty member by the institute’s then director, A. Edward Maumenee, M.D. Finkelstein was promoted to full professor in 1993.

“Generations of Wilmer residents came to know Dan as a great educator who was generous with his time, and a gifted and caring clinician,” says Peter McDonnell, M.D., director of the institute.

Finkelstein played a key role — in partnership with Wilmer director emeritus Arnall Patz, M.D., and Stuart Fine, M.D., a former director of the Retinal Vascular Center at the institute — in building Wilmer’s teaching, research and patient care regarding retinal vascular diseases. Finkelstein was particularly known for his leadership in improving understanding of diabetic eye disease and retinal vein occlusion, and he was Wilmer’s authority on inherited retinal degeneration.

“In the world of medical retina, those are the diseases that really impact vision, and he was an expert at all of them,” says Sharon Solomon, M.D., the Katharine M. Graham Professor of Ophthalmology at Wilmer.

Finkelstein’s landmark study on branch retinal vein occlusion, funded by the NIH, tested whether a laser treatment revolutionized by Patz could be used to reduce swelling in the retina and improve vision for patients with the condition. The study showed it was effective, and it was the first treatment developed to help these patients.

He was also known to provide free eye care to people who could not afford it. “He was a thoughtful person,” says Kathy Anglemyer, senior associate director of development at Wilmer. “He was somebody that always had the time to be helpful, however he could.”

In 2015, Finkelstein was named the inaugural Andreas Dracopoulos Professor of Ophthalmology. Other particularly notable awards and recognitions include being elected president of the Macula Society in 2004 and receiving the Arnall Patz Medal in 1995.

Mentoring As His Mission

Those who worked with Finkelstein describe him as approachable and as someone who wanted to encourage the next generation of ophthalmologists.

One of Finkelstein’s mentees was Mandeep Singh, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.B.S., a retinal specialist and assistant professor who joined Wilmer in 2015 and now provides care for some of Finkelstein’s former patients. “He was that very warm, kind and welcoming mentor that was just the perfect kind of guy that I needed,” Singh says. “His door was always open, and he would invite you to come in and take a seat and would give you the space and time to talk and to learn from him.”

Two things in particular about Finkelstein struck Singh as being extremely special. First was his immense heart for the patient. Singh says Finkelstein was always able to put himself in the patient’s shoes, and he wanted to understand what was going on in their lives. Regarding research, Finkelstein stressed that it needed to be explained to patients in a way they could understand.

“He really wanted the patients to know — and understand very deeply — the science that we were doing,” Singh says. “And I use those tools in my clinic all the time.”

Second was Finkelstein’s attention to cutting-edge research to develop cures for retinal conditions. Singh, who has performed research on retinal stem cell therapy, says Finkelstein was interested in his work and many of the gene therapy trials taking place at Wilmer’s Genetic Eye Disease Center.

“Many of the patients that Dr. Finkelstein used to care for had no treatment options,” Singh says. “These were patients with genetic eye conditions for which there’s an absence of good options for treatment.”

Many in the retinal community at large looked up to Finkelstein as a leader and mentor, and he led clinical trials that changed ophthalmology for physicians around the world.

“He was clearly recognized as a scientific leader, as a top-class scientist, and as someone who brought people together and moved organizations forward,” Singh says. “I think generations of retinal specialists looked up to him for mentorship.”

Finkelstein appreciated the long arc that was unfolding in the study of the retina and wanted to share his insights with the next generation of retina specialists. It’s a story that began several decades ago, when rare retinal conditions were recognized. Over time, genetic testing technology has enabled doctors to discover the genes causing these conditions and, as a result, natural history studies could be conducted to understand the subtleties between the conditions and the characteristics of the diseases.

Now, with the advent of stem cell and gene therapy and technologies, doctors and researchers are at the doorstep of treatment development.

“I think Dan knew that for the current and future generation of scientists and doctors working in this area, they needed to know the decades of information that came before because, really, those are the foundations,” Singh says. “Certainly, for early career scientists like myself, having someone take you through the context and background history of how we got here — that's absolutely invaluable.”

Beyond the Eye

Finkelstein’s colleagues say he wasn’t only interested in treating a patient’s visual concerns. He believed that as a doctor, he could not only have the ability to perform surgery or prescribe medication, but could also be someone a patient could talk to about their fears, worries and concerns. His unique perspective on the doctor-patient relationship included an office where the patients would sit on a couch with pillows, instead of the typical chair, so they could feel comfortable and welcomed.

“He was very dedicated, and sort of single-minded, in his pursuit of knowledge, to try to make himself a better physician, so that he could serve his patients better,” says Solomon.

Providing well-rounded care required Finkelstein to be more well-rounded himself. He became formally educated in religion and spirituality, earning a master’s degree in theology.

“He felt that it was very important not to treat the patient as a retina or blood vessel problem, but as a human being,” says McDonnell.

Finkelstein also had a passion for ethics. He held a second appointment at Johns Hopkins, at the Berman Institute of Bioethics. He started an ethics lunch group, co-chaired the Johns Hopkins Medical Ethics Committee and was the founding editor of The Johns Hopkins Hospital Medical Ethics Newsletter .

“He was a very responsible physician, and an excellent colleague,” says Morton F. Goldberg, M.D., the Joseph Green Professor of Ophthalmology and former director of the Wilmer Eye Institute. “Of course, we will miss his presence.”