Ocular Therapeutix, Inc. announced senior leadership changes to strengthen the Company's alignment around the development of its late-stage ophthalmology product portfolio. The realignment was affected to enhance Ocular's ability to execute its strategy of building a comprehensive portfolio of assets to treat a broad range of ocular surface and back-of-the-eye retina diseases. The Company has announced that Peter K. Kaiser, M.D. has agreed to advise the Company in a newly created role of Chief Medical Advisor, Retina.

In this role, Dr. Kaiser will advise on clinical development strategies for Ocular Therapeutix's retina programs including OTX-TKI, currently in Phase 1 development in the United States and Australia for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD) and other retinal diseases. Dr. Kaiser is also expected to advise on pre-clinical development work for Ocular's gene therapy delivery and complement inhibition development programs. Dr. Kaiser has agreed to serve in this role on a part time consulting basis while continuing as Chaney Family Endowed Chair in Ophthalmology Research and Professor of Ophthalmology at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine and Cole Eye Institute. Rabia Gurses Ozden, M.D., currently serving as the Company's Senior Vice President, Clinical Development, has been promoted to the role of Chief Medical Officer, effective July 1, 2022, to lead the clinical development of Ocular Therapeutix's current and growing pipeline of programs focusing on the front and back of the eye.

Dr. Gurses Ozden has 15 years of experience in clinical development, clinical operations, and pharmacovigilance in pharmaceutical and medical device development with proven capabilities in global program and project management as well as experience interacting with the FDA, EMA, PMDA, and CFDA for regulatory filings, and new clinical endpoint development. Prior to joining Ocular in 2021, Dr. Gurses Ozden served as the Chief Development Officer at Akouos, Inc. Previously, she served as Chief Medical Officer of Nightstar Therapeutics plc, a gene therapy company focused on rare inherited retinal diseases that was acquired by Biogen. Michael Goldstein, M.D., currently serving as Chief Medical Officer, President of Ophthalmology will depart from the Company to pursue additional business interests outside of the Company on June 30, 2022, but he has agreed to continue to work with the Company part-time as a consultant in a newly created role of Chief Strategy Advisor where he will continue to be available to assist with pipeline development activities.

Dr. Kaiser is a world-renowned ophthalmologist and researcher with over 25 years of experience in leading ophthalmology roles across the field including in academic, research, clinical and business settings. Dr. Kaiser currently works in the vitreoretinal department of the Cole Eye Institute at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio where he is the Chaney Family Endowed Professor of Ophthalmology Research at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine. Dr. Kaiser has been honored to receive the Lew R. Wasserman Award from the Research to Prevent Blindness and the Macula Society's Young Investigator Award.

Complementing his research endeavors, Dr. Kaiser serves on numerous scientific advisory boards and addresses his research interests as an invited speaker at national and international conferences. He is a major contributor to the medical literature having authored 7 textbooks, 30 book chapters, and more than 400 peer-reviewed manuscripts. He is Editor-in-Chief of Retinal Physician, Associate Editor of International Ophthalmology Clinics, and serves on the editorial boards of American Journal of Ophthalmology, Retina, Retina Today, and Ocular Surgery News.

Dr. Kaiser has been recognized with the American Society of Retina Specialists Honor and Senior Honor Awards, along with the American Academy of Ophthalmology Achievement, Senior Achievement, and Lifetime Achievement Awards. He has been named one of the 150 Top Innovators in Retina by Ocular Surgery News, selected as a charter inductee of the Retina Hall of Fame in 2017, and appeared on The Ophthalmologist's Power List 2018 and 2020 as one of the top 100 most influential people in the world of ophthalmology. Dr. Kaiser graduated magna cum laude with Highest Honors from Harvard College and magna cum laude from Harvard Medical School.

He completed an internal medicine internship at Massachusetts General Hospital, an ophthalmology residency at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, and a vitreoretinal fellowship at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute.