Dr. Mahajan recognizes that empathy, trust, and respect are as important to patient care as his expertise in treating eye disease. His partnership with patients and their families forms the cornerstone of his practice.
As a Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology at Stanford University, Dr. Mahajan specializes in the surgical and medical care of vitreoretinal diseases such as macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, retinal detachment, uveitis, and inherited retinal dystrophies. He also sees patients at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System.
As Vice Chair for Research and Director of the Molecular Surgery Program, Dr. Mahajan collaborates with leading scientists and physicians in the areas of proteomics and genomics. He believes advances in molecular biology and genetics are the key to curing many forms of blindness, and doctors who are as comfortable in the laboratory as they are in the operating room and clinic can accelerate the discovery process.
Mahajan is a fellow of Stanford ChEM-H and a member of Stanford Bio-X . He was elected by his peers for inclusion in Best Doctors in America and received research awards from Fight for Sight, The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Research to Prevent Blindness, The Heed Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health. He has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, People Magazine, the CBS2 Morning News, and CNN.
Please see our Patient Guides below:
- Patient Guide to Vitrectomy
- Patient Guide to Genetic Testing
- Patient Guide to Myopic Degeneration
- Patient Guide to Floaters and Flashes
- Patient Guide to Dry Macular Degeneration
- Patient Guide to Coronavirus and Your Eyes
Please contact us for a consultation or to learn how you can support our research program.
Education & Training
After earning his bachelors degree in Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, Dr. Mahajan was among a handful of medical students funded by the National Institutes of Health’s Medical Scientist Training Program to complete both M.D. and Ph.D. degrees. At the University of California, Irvine, he earned his Ph.D. in the laboratory of Dennis Cunningham. Dr. Mahajan’s studies into the mechanisms of thrombin signal transduction were published in scientific journals and won him a U.S. patent.
Dr. Mahajan then joined the residency program at the prestigious Jules Stein Eye Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, and he completed postdocotoral laboratory research as an EyeSTAR Fellow. Dr. Mahajan next specialized in vitreoretinal diseases and surgery at the University of Iowa’s Retina Fellowship Program and joined the faculty.
In 2017, Dr. Mahajan moved to Stanford University where he now teaches and trains the next generation of eye surgeons, medical students, and scientists.
Awards
- Sixteenth Bradley R. Straatsma Lecturer (2018)
- Fight for Sight Alumni Achievement Award (2016)
- NIH K08 Grant (2011)
- Research to Prevent Blindness Career Development Award (2011)
- Fight for Sight Grant (2011)
- Bright Focus (2011)
- Iowa Center for Research for Undergraduates (ICRU) fellowship(2011)
- Fight for Sight Grant (2009)
- P.J. Leinfelder Research Award, U Iowa (2008)
- Heed Fellowship Merit Award, Vitreoretinal Diseases and Surgery (2006)
- Nesburn “Best Research by a Resident” (Southern California) Award, Los Angeles (2006)
- Jules Stein Eye Institute Resident Research Award, UCLA (2006)
- NIH/NEI K08 Grant Award, Jules Stein Eye Institute, UCLA (2005-2006)
- JSEI Alumni Association Research Grant, Jules Stein Eye Institute, UCLA (2005)
- Research to Prevent Blindness Grant, Jules Stein Eye Institute, UCLA (2004-2006)
- Kirchgessner Research Grant, Jules Stein Eye Institute, UCLA (2004 – 2006)
- Stein-Oppenheimer Research Award, Jules Stein Eye Institute, UCLA (2003)
- Giannini Foundation Fellowship Award, Jules Stein Eye Institute, UCLA (2003-2005)
- EyeSTAR (Specialty Training & Advanced Research) Fellowship, Jules Stein Eye Institute, UCLA (2002-2006).
- National Eye Institute Fellowship, Association for Research in Vision Travel Grant (2000)
- National Eye Institute Fellowship, Vision Research Course Grant (2000)
- Dean’s Service Award, UC Irvine College of Medicine (2000)
- Research Award, Western Student Medical Research Committee (1998)
- First Place Paintings, New Physician Magazine Annual Creative Arts Contest (1998)
- First Place, M.D.-Ph.D. Student Lectures (1997)
- American Heart Association Fellowship, Signal Transduction Research (1997)
- Medical Scientist Training Program (M.S.T.P.) Fellowship, UC Irvine College of Medicine (1993-2001)
Publications
Dr. Mahajan has published over 200 peer-reviewed research pulications. Please see our publications page for a full list.