Dr. Heping Xu is Professor and Director of the Aier Eye Institute at the Aier Academy of Ophthalmology, Central South University. Previously, he was Head of the Ocular Immunology Laboratory and Director of the Biological Resource Unit at Queen’s University Belfast, UK. With over 30 years of experience, his research integrates clinical expertise, ocular drug discovery, and fundamental cell biology and immunology, focusing on retinal ageing and age‑related retinal diseases. His work has been funded by major funding bodies, such as the UK Medical Research Council, EU Horizon 2020, the Wellcome Trust, and JDRF. He has authored over 160 peer‑reviewed papers (>12,000 citations; h‑index 61) and supervised more than 30 trainees.

Dr. Xu joined AOPT in 2017 and has actively contributed to a variety of the association’s activities, including the AOPT biannual meetings (as a program organizer, symposium chair, and presenter). He serves on the Editorial Board of several scientific journals, including Experimental Eye Research, Current Eye Research, Journal of Ocular Pharmacology and Therapeutics (JOPT), AOPT’s official journal. He was an AOPT Trustee (2017‑2021) and is an elected Fellow of AOPT (FAOPT, Class of 2021).