About

Drew Scoles, MD PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine. He specializes as a Retina Specialist at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia VAMC, focusing on retinal diseases and conditions. Dr. Scoles completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Rochester in 2008, earning a BS, followed by a PhD in Biomedical Engineering in 2016, and an MD in 2016 from the same institution. His research and clinical work are centered on ophthalmology, with a particular emphasis on retinal disorders. He has contributed to numerous publications in the field, including studies on vitreoretinopathy, retinal detachment, and retinal degeneration. Dr. Scoles's work involves detailed structural analysis of retinal abnormalities and evaluating innovative diagnostic and treatment approaches in ophthalmology.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Ophthalmology
• Optometry
• Biology
• Optics

Selected publications

• POSTENDOPHTHALMITIS “BUCKET HANDLE SIGN” SIGNIFIES BULLOUS INTERNAL LIMITING LAMINA SEPARATION

  Retina · 2026-02-19

  article

  PURPOSE: To describe an optical coherence tomography finding termed the "Bucket Handle Sign" in patients with a history of endophthalmitis. METHODS: The electronic heath record from a single institution was queried for the international classification of disease 9/10 codes (H44.0X) corresponding to endophthalmitis from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2022. Identified patients were cross-referenced with optical coherence tomographies to quantify patients with bucket handles. Histopathologic analysis of the corresponding tissue was performed on one eye that underwent vitrectomy. RESULTS: A total of 854 patients were diagnosed with endophthalmitis. Of these, 244 had gradable optical coherence tomographies, and 20 (8.2%) demonstrated a bucket handle sign. Key features of the bucket handle sign include a thickened hyper-reflective band separated from the underlying retina, a convex shape and a rounded angle of contact. Histologic analysis demonstrated that this optical coherence tomography finding was postendophthalmitis bullous internal limiting lamina separation. CONCLUSION: The bucket handle sign was seen in a significant minority of patients with a history of endophthalmitis. Its presence was rarely visually significant and warranted surgical intervention in select cases. Further research is required to understand the mechanism and to identify other pathologies where the bucket handle sign may be observed.

  PublisherDOI

• Persistent microglial activation following neonatal CMV infection mediates neurodegeneration

  Science Advances · 2026-03-11

  articleOpen access

  Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) causes the most common congenital viral infection in the United States, with well-known acute and late-onset neurological pathologies. Moreover, HCMV, like multiple herpesviruses, has been associated with neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration. Using a well-established neonatal murine (M)CMV infection model, we found that early-life infection drove adult-onset neuron loss and neuropathology in the retina and brain, without evident viral reactivation. Pathology was associated with the persistence of highly activated and inflammatory damage-associated microglia. Transient depletion of these microglia before the development of pathology resulted in repopulation of the tissue by microglia with a more reparative profile, which was then sustained over time. Transient microglia depletion alone was sufficient to preserve retinal structure and photoreceptor neurons, promote healing of some existing retinal damage, and preserve brain neuron density in adult infected mice. Thus, early-life infection by MCMV promoted dysfunctional and pathogenic microglia that drove adult-onset neurodegeneration in the eye and brain.

  PublisherDOI

• Severe retinal vasculopathy associated with myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody optic neuritis in a toddler

  Journal of American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus · 2026-03-25

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• BILATERAL GIANT RETINAL TEAR DETACHMENTS IN AN INFANT WITH DONNAI–BARROW SYNDROME: A CASE REPORT AND REVIEW OF LITERATURE

  Retinal Cases & Brief Reports · 2025-02-28 · 1 citations

  articleSenior author

  PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to report a rare case of bilateral giant retinal tear-related retinal detachments in a 24-month-old man with Donnai-Barrow syndrome (DBS) and to review the current literature on this disorder. METHODS: Clinical information was obtained from the medical records of a patient with DBS seen at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. A literature review was conducted to identify all published cases of genetically or clinically diagnosed DBS. RESULTS: We report a case of a 24-month-old man with a history of DBS presenting with sudden loss of vision in both eyes. Ophthalmic examination revealed bilateral retinal detachments with giant retinal tears, complicated by grade C proliferative vitreoretinopathy in the right eye. The patient underwent sequential scleral buckling, pars plana vitrectomy, membrane peeling, perfluoron, endolaser, fluid-air exchange, and silicone oil placement in both eyes. Both eyes developed redetachment, requiring repeat pars plana vitrectomy. Literature review revealed 10 reported cases of retinal detachments out of 38 patients with DBS who survived past 1 year (26.3%). CONCLUSION: This case highlights the early presentation and complexity of giant retinal tear-related retinal detachment in patients with DBS. Early, aggressive management using prophylactic laser retinopexy or scleral buckling may be essential in improving visual outcomes in patients with DBS.

  PublisherDOI

• Detailed structural abnormalities associated with a novel <i>VCAN</i> variant in a family with versican vitreoretinopathy

  Ophthalmic Genetics · 2025-03-26

  articleSenior author

  PURPOSE: . METHODS: Two sisters ages 16 (proband) and 18 years old and their 48-year-old father underwent comprehensive ophthalmic evaluations. Multimodal imaging was performed with spectral domain optical coherence tomography, ultrawide field short-wavelength fundus autofluorescence, and pseudocolor imaging. RESULTS: (c.4004-2A>C) segregated with the phenotype in the proband and her father. CONCLUSIONS: variant. The patterns of structural abnormalities support classical mechanisms of disease that involve local vitreoretinal traction, as well as possible alternative developmental and/or degenerative changes of the retina, RPE, and/or choroid that result from the primary molecular defect.

  PublisherDOI

• Recovery of cone-mediated vision in Lebercilin associated retinal ciliopathy after gene therapy: One-year results of a phase I/II trial

  Molecular Therapy · 2025-07-02 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Evaluation of ChatGPT-4 in detecting referable diabetic retinopathy using single fundus images

  AJO International · 2025-03-19 · 5 citations

  articleOpen access

  • ChatGPT-4 is unable to adequately read and interpret normal and mild NPDR images limiting utility in low-risk settings. • ChatGPT-4 shows high sensitivity for identifying referable diabetic retinopathy but lacks specificity. • ChatGPT-4 needs improvement in multimodal image fund of knowledge in order to improve real-world applicability. Evaluate ChatGPT-4′s ability to identify referable diabetic retinopathy (DR) from single fundus images. A cross-sectional study comparing ChatGPT-4′s versus retina specialists’ identification of more than mild DR (mtmDR) and vision-threatening DR (VTDR). Images in equal proportions of normal, mild, moderate, and severe nonproliferative DR (NPDR), proliferative DR (PDR), and blurry images with and without suspected PDR were presented to a panel of blinded retina specialists who identified images as readable or unreadable, and potentially as mtmDR or VTDR. These images were also submitted to ChatGPT-4 three times with a standardized prompt regarding mtmDR and VTDR. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) were calculated for ChatGPT-4′s responses regarding mtmDR and VTDR as compared to the retina specialists majority determination. Retina specialists read 158/180 prompts (87.7 %) with excellent interrater reliability while ChatGPT-4 read 132/180 (73.33 %) of the image prompts. For mtmDR, ChatGPT-4 demonstrated a sensitivity of 96.2 %, specificity of 19.1 %, PPV of 69.1 %, and NPV of 72.7 %. Overall, 90.9 % of prompts read by ChatGPT-4 were labeled as mtmDR. For VTDR, ChatGPT-4 demonstrated a 63.0 % sensitivity, 62.5 % specificity, 71.9 % PPV, and 52.6 % NPV compared to retina specialists. ChatGPT-4 labeled 51.5 % of read images as VTDR. Overall referability was 66.6 % for retina specialists and 93.3 % for ChatGPT-4. While ChatGPT-4 demonstrates promise in identifying moderate-to-severe DR, its limited specificity and tendency to overcall disease reduce its current utility as a screening tool.

  PublisherDOI

• Vitreoretinopathy in Asymptomatic Children With CTNNB1 Syndrome

  JAMA Ophthalmology · 2024-08-15 · 4 citations

  letterOpen accessSenior author

  Importance: Previous studies have identified familial exudative vitreoretinonpathy (FEVR) in patients with CTNNB1 syndrome based on severe congenital ocular phenotypes. However, ophthalmoscopy may not be sufficient to detect vision-threatening vitreoretinopathy in all patients. Objective: To report a consecutive retrospective case series of 11 patients with CTNNB1 variants who had previously unremarkable ophthalmoscopic examination results and to describe their detailed ophthalmic phenotypes. Design, Setting, and Participants: This retrospective case series was conducted at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia from October 2022 to November 2023 among patients with identified variants in CTNNB1 and previously documented normal results in office retinal examinations. These consecutive patients subsequently underwent an examination under anesthesia with fluorescein angiography. Detailed genotype information was analyzed for all patients, and each variant was mapped on the CTNNB1 gene to observe any associations with severity of vitreoretinopathy. Main Outcomes and Measures: Number of patients with vitreoretinopathy and number requiring treatment for vitreoretinopathy. Results: The mean (SD) age at the time of CTNNB1 syndrome diagnosis was 2 (1) years, and the mean (SD) age at examination was 6 (3) years for the 11 total patients. A total of 9 patients had a diagnosis of strabismus, and 5 patients had undergone strabismus surgery. FEVR was present in 5 of 11 patients and in 9 eyes. The presence of disease requiring treatment was identified in 6 eyes, including 1 retinal detachment. Detailed genotype analysis of the patients found no clearly delineated high-risk loci in CTNNB1 in association with high severity of FEVR. Conclusions and Relevance: In this case series study, nearly all patients with CTNNB1 syndrome required ophthalmic care for refractive error and strabismus, and a subset also required treatment for FEVR. These findings support consideration of ultra-widefield fluorescein angiography among individuals with CTNNB1 syndrome when feasible, including the use of sedation if such an assessment is not possible in the office setting.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Salmon patch maculopathy: An amblyogenic complication of pediatric sickle cell retinopathy

  American Journal of Ophthalmology Case Reports · 2024-10-25

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Purpose: To report a case of a large foveal sub-internal limiting membrane hemorrhage from sickle cell retinopathy in a pediatric patient. Observations: A five-year-old boy with sickle cell disease (SCD) type SS (HbSS) and numerous complications was referred after a failed vision screening and was found to have a large yellow subacute sub-internal limiting membrane hemorrhage overlying the fovea in his right eye. There were several other peripheral salmon patches noted. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) revealed temporal inner retinal macular thinning in both eyes. Serial imaging showed rapid improvement over time of the hemorrhages, though amblyopia persisted. Conclusions and importance: We describe an unusual amblyogenic presentation of non-proliferative sickle cell retinopathy in five-year-old patient with HbSS due to a foveal salmon patch. Numerous vision-threatening complications are possible in SCD, highlighting the need for early vision screening.

  PublisherDOI

• P289: Vitreoretinopathy is common in children with CTNNB1 mutations

  Genetics in Medicine Open · 2024-01-01

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Autosomal dominant, typically de novo, mutations in CTNNB1 cause various CTNNB1-related disorders. The CTNNB1-related neurodevelopmental syndrome is characterized by developmental delays, spasticity, low tone, microcephaly, oral-motor feeding problems, gastrointestinal issues, nociception, and various ophthalmic disorders. There have been reported cases of vitreoretinopathy in CTNNB1-related disorders. Vitreoretinopathy is characterized by abnormally developed or absent peripheral retinal vasculature, neovascularization, vitreous hemorrhage, exudation, and in advanced cases retinal detachment and blindness.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Alfredo Dubra

  Stanford University

  39 shared

• Joseph Carroll

  Medical College of Wisconsin

  33 shared

• Jonathan C. Tsui

  31 shared

• Tomas S. Alemán

  University of Pennsylvania

  29 shared

• Brian L. VanderBeek

  25 shared

• Albert M. Maguire

  Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

  25 shared

• Yusufu N. Sulai

  Meta (United States)

  24 shared

• Robert F. Cooper

  Cranfield University

  24 shared

Labs

• Drew Scoles LaboratoryPI

Education

• Vitreoretinal surgery fellowship, Opthalmology

  Beaumont Hospital - Royal Oak

  2022

• Residency, Ophthalmology

  Scheie Eye Institute

  2020

• Internship, Internal Medicine

  Lankenau Medical Center

  2017

• MD, School of Medicine and Dentistry

  University of Rochester

  2016

• PhD, Biomedical Engineering

  University of Rochester

  2015

• BS, Biomedical Engineering

  University of Rochester

  2008

Awards & honors

• ASRS