Joshua R. Ehrlich

Dr. Joshua R. Ehrlich is an Associate Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Michigan Medical School and a Research Associate Professor at the Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research. He holds the Paul R. Lichter Research Professorship in Ophthalmology and serves as Co-Director of the Kellogg Eye Center for International Ophthalmology.

Dr. Ehrlich completed his undergraduate education at Washington University in St. Louis, studying anthropology and Spanish. He earned his MD from Weill Cornell Medical College with honors in research and an MPH in epidemiology from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. His clinical training includes an ophthalmology residency at Wills Eye Hospital and fellowships in glaucoma/anterior segment disease and research at the University of Michigan's Kellogg Eye Center.

Dr. Ehrlich is a population health and health services researcher whose work integrates epidemiology, survey research, and mixed-methods approaches. His primary research focus is on understanding how vision impairment affects health, disability, and quality of life, particularly among older adults. His work examines the relationship between visual decline and cognitive, psychosocial, and physical wellbeing, with emphasis on developing better measurement tools for visual disability and investigating vision's role in optimal aging.

Analysis of Dr. Ehrlich's recent publications reveals a strong emphasis on the vision-cognition relationship, particularly how vision impairment contributes to dementia risk and cognitive decline. His research spans epidemiological studies of vision impairment prevalence, investigations into how vision affects daily activities and healthcare utilization, and global health initiatives focused on vision care delivery systems. Much of his recent work leverages large population-based studies like the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) and LASI-DAD.

Dr. Ehrlich has received significant recognition including a K23 Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health (K23EY027848) for developing and validating survey measures of visual disability. He serves on the Lancet Global Health Commission on Global Eye Health, the Advisory Board for the Center for Vision and Population Health at Prevent Blindness, the editorial board of Ophthalmic Epidemiology, and the WHO Vision Loss Experts Group.

His research is funded by the National Institutes of Health and various private foundations. Dr. Ehrlich serves as an invited member of several important committees including the Lancet Global Health Commission on Global Eye Health and the Vision Loss Experts Group, a technical advisory group to the WHO and Global Burden of Disease project. He is also Co-Investigator for major population-based panel studies of older adults including NHATS and LASI-DAD.

Through the Kellogg Eye Center for International Ophthalmology, Dr. Ehrlich leads global health initiatives focused on research collaborations, capacity building, and strengthening eye care delivery systems worldwide, with particular emphasis on work in India and East Africa. His interdisciplinary research group draws on epidemiology, demography, health services research, and clinical insights to study healthy and optimal aging with special attention to sensory health impacts.