Chief Medical Officer and Co-founder

Barbara Wirostko, MD, FARVO is Chief Medical Officer and Co-Founder of Qlaris Bio. As a serial entrepreneur and passionate advocate for patients’ needs in ophthalmology, she is responsible for guiding all Qlaris Bio’s medical and clinical development strategy.  In addition to her role at Qlaris Bio, she is a practicing glaucoma clinician researcher, holding an Adjunct Professorship in Ophthalmology at the Moran Eye Center and in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Utah.

Before co-founding Qlaris Bio, Dr. Wirostko was the Chief Medical Officer of EyeGate Pharmaceuticals following its acquisition of Jade Therapeutics, where she was the Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer. In her role at Jade, Dr. Wirostko spearheaded the strategy and operations for the preclinical and clinical development of the unique hyaluronic acid, Ocular Bandage Gel, for human use.  Prior to Jade, she served as the Chief Medical Officer of Altheos, a small, privately held glaucoma biotech company. Dr. Wirostko also held leadership positions in medical and clinical development at Pfizer in Ophthalmology, overseeing anterior and posterior segment ocular programs, including Xalatan (latanoprost) and several other pipeline programs.

Dr. Wirostko received her MD and completed her residency at Columbia University and holds a BA in Microbiology from Cornell University. Dr. Wirostko completed a glaucoma fellowship at Cornell University.