Translating Research into Leading Edge Treatment

Ground-breaking and innovative clinical and scientific research is at the heart of all that we do for patients at Montefiore Medical Center's Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences.

Roy S. Chuck, MD, PhD leads a team of nationally recognized physicians and researchers that emphasizes a "bench to bedside" approach to advanced medical care.

Pioneering, Minimally Invasive Surgery Restores a Patient's Vision

To treat an elderly patient with corneal decompensation—a serious condition that can result in blindness and produce severe pain—Jimmy K. Lee, MD performed the first ever Descemet's Membrane Endothelial Keratoplasty corneal transplant in the New York City area.

Montefiore surgeon-scientists developed the national eye banking practices that the team used during this pioneering surgery. A donor cornea was used to prepare the 10-micron tissue (1/10 thickness of a single hair fiber) that was transplanted into the patient's eye. This minimally invasive, sutureless technique rapidly restored the patient's vision and shortened her recovery time to mere weeks.

Montefiore Medical Center's Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences' physicians and researchers providing comprehensive eye care, while they regularly redefine cutting-edge treatment.