John H.K. Liu

John H.K. Liu, Ph.D., is Adjunct Professor of Ophthalmology and Director of the Glaucoma Molecular Pharmacology Laboratory at the Shiley Eye Institute. Dr. Liu received his undergraduate degree in Pharmacy from National Taiwan University and his Master’s Degree in Molecular Biology from National Tsing Hua University as well as his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from Texas A&M University before completing his Fellowship at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Liu is committed to research in the areas of regulation of intraocular pressure and ocular blood flow and created the 24-hour sleep laboratory for studying glaucoma and other eye diseases. This innovative idea was derived from his research at both UC San Diego and earlier as a faculty member at Harvard Medical School. The research studies the nighttime high eye pressure in glaucoma patients and determines which anti-glaucoma eye drops work best at night as well as during the day. The 24-hour recordings of eye pressure are obtained in a state-of-the-art sleep laboratory located at the Clinical and Translational Research Institute on the UC San Diego La Jolla campus. Dr. Liu is also a member of a research team studying visual abnormalities that occur in American astronauts on the International Space Station.

‍