The Ocular Inflammatory Disease Center, under the direction of Dr. Gary N. Holland, was established in 1985 to coordinate research, educational activities, and patient-care services related to a broad spectrum of inflammatory eye disorders, including uveitis, infectious corneal ulcers, endophthalmitis, autoimmune diseases of the cornea and ocular surface, and the ophthalmic manifestations of HIV disease. The Center has a long history of participating in clinical studies and drug-therapy trials that have furthered  the understanding and treatment of these diseases.

Center faculty members were the first to describe cytomegalovirus retinitis as an ophthalmic manifestation of AIDS; today the Center is a nationally recognized site of expertise for AIDS-related ophthalmic disease.

Other special clinical and research programs have been developed in the following areas: ocular toxoplasmosis, uveitis in children, birdshot chorioretinopathy, immunogenetics of inflammatory eye diseases, unusual corneal infections, and mediators of intraocular inflammation.