Background
Alex Christoff is an assistant professor and certified orthoptist in the Zanvyl Kreiger Department of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Adult Strabismus at the Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Indiana University in 1984, and has been a certified ophthalmic technician since 1987. Mr. Christoff completed his orthoptic training fellowship at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, earning his orthoptic certification in 2001.
Since 2001, Mr. Christoff has been teaching strabismus and retinoscopy courses to certified ophthalmic medical personnel at the annual meetings of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. He began his clinical career at the Wilmer Eye Institute in 2004, earning faculty appointment as a clinical instructor in 2006, and promotion to assistant professor of ophthalmology in 2009.
Mr. Christoff has taken an active role in the education of the Wilmer ophthalmology residents and trainees from around the world at the Wilmer Eye Institute, Georgetown University and the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. He earned the Wilmer Residents’ Faculty Teaching Award in 2009, the first time this award had been presented to an orthoptist at the Wilmer Eye Institute. He was the 45th Richard G Scobee Memorial Lecturer for the AACO in 2014.
Mr. Christoff is a member and clinical investigator in the Pediatric Eye Disease Investigator Group (PEDIG), a collaborative network dedicated to facilitating multicenter clinical research in strabismus, amblyopia and other eye disorders that affect children, and has been intimately involved in protocol development for 2 large, prospective randomized controlled trials.
Mr. Christoff is the current Vice President of the American Orthoptic Council, a national organization responsible for the training and examination of certified orthoptists across the United States, and Vice President of the American Association of Certified Orthoptists (AACO). He is a member of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus (AAPOS), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the Joint Commission on Allied Health Personnel in Ophthalmology (JCAHPO) and the Association of Technical Personnel in Ophthalmology (ATPO).