Barbara Wirostko

Affiliation

University of Utah

Biography

Dr. Barbara Wirostko, a serial entrepreneur, is the Chief Medical Officer and Co-Founder of Qlaris Bio. Dr. Wirostko is a board-certified practicing glaucoma specialist holding a Clinical Adjunct Professor position at the University of Utah, in Ophthalmology at Moran Eye Center and in the Dept. of Biomedical Engineering. She was previously the Chief Medical Officer of EyeGate Pharmaceuticals following its acquisition of Jade Therapeutics where Dr. Wirostko was Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer spearheading the strategy and operations for the preclinical and clinical development of the unique hyaluronic acid, Ocular Bandage Gel (OBG), for human use. For Jade Therapeutics, Dr Wirostko received upwards of 3 M in SBIR funding as the Principle Investigator for the OBG polymer from the Dept of Defense and National Science Foundation. Prior to Jade, she served as the Chief Medical Officer of Altheos, a glaucoma startup company, and held leadership positions in medical and clinical development at Pfizer in Ophthalmology, overseeing the global medical responsibilities for the Xalatan franchise as Senior Medical Director. She sits on various editorial boards including the prestigious Ophthalmology Glaucoma and Journal of Glaucoma, has published and written hundreds of peer reviewed papers, books, serves on numerous advisory boards, grant review committees, and holds fellowship positions with The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology and American Academy of Ophthalmology. She has been invited globally to lecture on her area of clinical research expertise, exfoliation glaucoma. Dr. Wirostko received her MD from and completed her residency at Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, NY, and holds a BA with distinction in Microbiology from Cornell University.