Marena Patronas, MD is a board-certified ophthalmologist and fellowship-trained vitreoretinal surgeon specializing in diseases of the retina and vitreous. She is an Associate Physician and Surgeon at the Virginia Retina Center and serves as Associate Clinical Professor at The George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences.

Her clinical practice focuses on the diagnosis and surgical management of complex retinal conditions, including diabetic retinopathy, retinal detachments, epiretinal membranes, macular holes, retinal vascular disease, and age-related macular degeneration. Dr. Patronas is fluent in English and Greek, and basic Spanish.

Prior to her current roles, she served as Assistant Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, where she taught ophthalmology residents and medical students. During that time, she was the certified ophthalmologist for the multicenter Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications (EDIC) trial, the long-term follow-up to the landmark Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT). She also participated research examining the effects of chemotherapeutic agents on the eye and retina.

Dr. Patronas earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and her Doctor of Medicine from Georgetown University. She completed a transitional-year internship at Flushing Hospital Medical Center in Queens, New York, followed by an ophthalmology residency at St. Vincent Catholic Medical Center–Manhattan (New York Medical College). She then completed a vitreoretinal surgery fellowship at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School. She previously practiced with Retina Associates in Cleveland and the Retina Group of Columbus before relocating to the Washington, DC metropolitan area. She is a member of the American Society of Retina Specialists.

A DMV native, Dr. Patronas is committed to giving back to the local community she has long called home. She and her husband, Robert Najarian, MD, an orthopedic surgeon with Inova, are the parents of three daughters.