Stephen C. Kaufman

Biography

Dr. Stephen C. Kaufman, MD, PhD is The Vice-Chairman, Professor and Director of Cornea and Refractive Surgery at the State University of New York - Downstate. Previously, he was the Lyon Chair for Research in Ophthalmology, Professor and Director of the Cornea and Refractive Surgery Fellowship Program in the Department of Ophthalmology, at the University of Minnesota. A patent holder for a diagnostic method using confocal microscopy, Dr. Kaufman's research interests focus on cornea and anterior segment diseases, refractive surgery, cornea transplant and improved graft survival, and corneal stem cell replacement. Dr. Kaufman is a VISX and LASIK instructor, who trains ophthalmologist and residents in refractive surgery. He is the Chairman of the American Academy of Ophthalmology's Knowledge Base Committee for Cornea, sits on the Executive Board of the Cornea Society, serves on the Medical Advisory Board of the Eye Bank Association of America, is Chairman of the Mid-West Cornea Association and serves on other American Academy of Ophthalmology, Eye Bank Association of America and Cornea Society committees. He has lectured internationally and published and presented over 300 papers.

Research Interest

I obtained my Ph.D. after my clinical degree in the field of Anatomy and Cell Biology with specific emphasis on the cornea. Over the last fifteen years, I have been involved in in vivo confocal microcopy and was the primary author of the American Academy of Ophthalmology's white paper on confocal microscopy. I completed work on an NIH National Eye Institute KO8 grant concerning corneal wound healing and graft rejection. Since that time, I have worked on both clinical and basic science research projects. I currently have projects involving limbal stem cell expansion, cryopreservation and cornea wound healing. I have also continued clinical research involving tissue adhesives, the pharmacologic treatment of presbyopia, keratoconus and collagen cross linking.