About Us

Paul S. Bernstein, MD, PhD is a tenured Associate Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences in the Retina Division at the Moran Eye Center, University of Utah School of Medicine. Dr. Bernstein graduated summa cum laude from Harvard University, where he also received his MD and PhD in pharmacology. After interning at New England Deaconess Hospital, he completed an Ophthalmology residency and a fellowship in retinal cell biology at the Jules Stein Eye Institute of UCLA School of Medicine, followed by a fellowship in vitreoretinal surgery and research at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. During his residency in Ophthalmology at Jules Stein, he was a recipient of the Jules Stein Resident Research Award. Long interested in macular pigments, Dr. Bernstein has pioneered a method for measuring carotenoid pigment levels. Along with his colleagues, he holds several patents on the non-invasive resonance Raman imaging method for quantifying pigments in the living human macula, and has authored numerous papers on that topic. In addition, Dr. Bernstein's interests include the ocular effects of oxidative stress, and the relationships between dietary carotenoid intake, optical density of the macula and the risk of age-related macular degeneration. Dr. Bernstein is the recipient of numerous awards and grants, and is extensively published.

David S. Boyer, MD is a Board-certified ophthalmologist specializing in treatment of diseases of the retina and vitreous and is senior partner at Retina-Vitreous Associates Medical Group with offices in the greater Los Angeles area. Dr. Boyer is also a clinical Associate Professor at the University of Southern California, and has an extensive research background. After graduating from the Chicago Medical School, he completed his ophthalmology residency at USC County Medical Center in Los Angeles and a fellowship at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia. Dr. Boyer has been the recipient of the Jules Stein Living Tribute award and the Honor Award from the American Academy of Ophthalmology Board of Trustees. A member of multiple medical societies and research boards, Dr. Boyer serves as Co-Chair of the Residency Program at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital, as President and Program Chairman of the Los Angeles Eye Society, and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Discovery Fund for Eye Research. Over the past three decades, Dr. Boyer has presented numerous abstracts and invited lectures at various national and international symposia. He has authored a number of scientific papers and a medical text chapter, and is currently an investigator for several clinical trials.

Dr. Coleman is a Professor of Ophthalmology in the Jules Stein Eye Institute of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA as well as Professor of Epidemiology in the UCLA School of Public Health. She holds the Frances and Ray Stark Endowed Chair at UCLA and is Director of the Jules Stein Eye Institute Mobile Eye Clinic. Dr. Coleman received her medical degree from the Medical College of Virginia, completed her fellowship training in glaucoma at the Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University, and received a PhD in Epidemiology from UCLA in 1997. Dr. Coleman's research is focused on the diagnosis, treatment, and societal impact of glaucoma, cataracts, and age-related macular degeneration (AMD), including the study of lifestyle limitations imposed on patients with these eye diseases. Currently an at-large member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology's Board of Trustees, she is a recipient of the Academy's Senior Achievement Award and Secretariat Award. Dr. Coleman is a consultant to the US Food and Drug Administration Ophthalmic Devices Panel, and she chairs the Glaucoma Subcommittee of the National Eye Health Education Program of the National Institutes of Health. Since 2003, she has served as Executive Editor of Glaucoma for the American Journal of Ophthalmology and currently serves as president of Women in Ophthalmology. She was coeditor of "Management of Cataracts and Glaucoma", published in 2004. With contributions to numerous studies and peer-reviewed journal articles and other publications, Dr. Coleman continues to serve as an investigator for a number of ongoing studies and clinical trials.

Dr. Koch is a Professor and The Allen, Mosbacher, and Law Chair in Ophthalmology at the Cullen Eye Institute, Baylor College of Medicine. He is the Editor of the Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, Past President of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, and Past President of the International Intra-Ocular Implant Club. He has authored over 100 articles and book chapters on the topics of cataract and refractive surgery. He has given several named lectureships, including the Binkhorst Lecture at the American Academy of Ophthalmology Annual Meeting, the Lans Lecture at the International Society of Refractive Surgery Annual Meeting, the Ronald G. Michels Memorial Lecture at Johns Hopkins University, the Jules Stein Lecture at UCLA, and the First Gold Medal Lecture, at the Australian Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery in Queensland, Australia. Dr. Koch was named as one of the top 10 refractive surgeons in the United States in a recent survey conducted by Ophthalmology Times. He is also named as one of the Nation's leading medical specialists in America's Top Doctors.

Dr. Koch received his MD from Tufts University School of Medicine in 1977. He completed an internship at the Rhode Island Hospital of Providence in 1978 and completed his residency as Chief Resident at the Manhattan Eye Ear and Throat Hospital in 1981. Dr. Koch founded Koch Eye Associates in 1981 and serves as it’s Medical Director. He is also the Chief Medical Editor of Ophthalmology Management. Dr. Koch was one of the first refractive surgeons in America performing keratomileusis in 1979, keratophakia in 1980, and radial keratotomy in 1983. He has helped popularize many advances in cataract surgery, including techniques that permit surgery to be performed comfortably without anesthetic injections, and with vision recovery beginning only a few minutes after the operation is completed. He has won many awards including the Mericos H. Whittier Foundation's Lifetime Achievement Award and the American Academy of Ophthalmology's Honor Award. Dr. Koch has written many textbooks on eye surgery, which are the standard reading materials for residency programs in the US and abroad. He has also written many journal articles, book chapters, and specialty editorials. Dr. Koch has been named one of the Top 100 Ophthalmologists and one of the Top 15 Cataract Surgeons in North America by Ophthalmology Times and he has been cited in each issue of the Best Doctors in America.

A summa cum laude graduate of Colgate University and SUNY Upstate Medical University Syracuse, Dr. Pflugfelder did his ophthalmology residency at Baylor College of Medicine. He performed a Cornea fellowship at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute of the University of Miami School of Medicine, was appointed to the faculty in 1985 and promoted to Professor in 1998. In 2000, he joined the faculty of the Baylor College of Medicine's Cullen Eye Institute as a Professor and Director of the Ocular Surface Center, where he was awarded the James and Margaret Elkins Chair in 2001. He has published over 140 peer-reviewed articles and over 45 book chapters and monographs, primarily in the field of cornea diseases and surgery. Dr. Pflugfelder co-edited the textbook: "Dry Eye and Ocular Surface Disorders", published in 2004 and is on the editorial boards of the journals Cornea, American Journal of Ophthalmology, Eye & Contact Lens and The Ocular Surface. Included in the last three editions of "Best Doctors in America", he received the American Academy of Ophthalmology Senior Achievement Award in 2000 and a Research to Prevent Blindness Senior Investigator Award in 2002. Dr. Pflugfelder has served as chairman of the American Academy of Ophthalmology's Lifelong Education for Ophthalmologists Committee and the Preferred Practice Pattern Committee on Corneal and Ocular Surface diseases. His research interests include the role of inflammation in dry eye and corneal bioengineering.

Dr. Sheppard received his Masters degree in Medical Science and his MD from Brown University on a full Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship. After an internship in pediatrics at the University of Virginia, he spent four years with the US Navy as 6th Fleet Medical Officer and Chief of Family Practice. He completed his residency in ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh Eye and Ear Institute and a three-year fellowship in corneal diseases, uveitis, third world blindness, and ocular immunology at the Proctor Research Foundation at the University of California, San Francisco. In 1989, Dr. Sheppard joined Virginia Eye Consultants and the ophthalmology, microbiology, and immunology faculty of Eastern Virginia Medical School, where he now serves as Ophthalmology Program Director and Clinical Director of the Thomas R. Lee Center for Ocular Pharmacology. Dr. Sheppard served as an Associate Examiner for the American Board of Ophthalmology for 7 years and is now a Mentor examiner. He has participated as principal investigator in over 45 clinical research trials for major pharmaceutical companies and the FDA. Dr. Sheppard has been the author of over 100 peer review abstracts, journal articles, and chapters. Dr. Sheppard received the American Academy of Ophthalmology Honor Award in 1995.