Dr. Eduardo C. Alfonso

Biography

 Eduardo C. Alfonso, M.D., the Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, director of the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute and holder of the Kathleen and Stanley J. Glaser Chair in Ophthalmology, is known for his clinical expertise and research in eye diseases, corneal surgery and ocular microbiology. Physician, surgeon, professor and researcher, Dr. Alfonso is an internationally known expert on ocular infectious diseases and he is the medical director of Bascom Palmer’s Ocular Microbiology Laboratory. In 2006, he documented an increase in the incidence of an aggressive form of fungal corneal infection that was related to soft contact lens use. His findings drew considerable media attention throughout the world and significantly reduced the number of new infections. Born in Cuba, Dr. Alfonso grew up in Puerto Rico before moving to the U.S. to attend college. He received a Bachelor of Science degree (Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa) from Yale Collegeand medical degree from Yale University School of Medicine. He first joined Bascom Palmer in 1981 as an ophthalmology resident. Following his three-year residency, he completed fellowships at Harvard Medical School: a corneal and external disease fellowship at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary ; ophthalmic pathology at the David G. Cogan Eye Pathology Laboratory ; and a research fellowship at the Howe Laboratory at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary at Harvard University School of Medicine. A board-certified ophthalmologist, he joined the Bascom Palmer faculty in 1986 as assistant professor and became professor of ophthalmology and the Edward W.D. Norton Professor in Ophthalmology in 1998.

Research Interest

 ophthalmology