Steve Charles, MD is one of the world’s leading vitreoretinal surgeons and has developed many of the techniques and devices used by vitreoretinal surgeons worldwide. He has performed over 30,000 vitreoretinal surgeries, lectured in 50 countries and operated in 25, delivered 16 named lectures, and over 1000 speaking trips. He authored a leading textbook in the field which is now in the 5th edition and in 5 languages and authored over 150 articles in the medical literature and 47 book chapters. He is a Fellow in the American College of Surgeons and International College of Surgeons and a member of the Retina Society, Macular Society, American Society of Retinal Specialists, Club Jules Gonin, American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, American Academy of Ophthalmology, American-European College of Ophthalmic Surgery, Euro-Lam, and the Dowling Society. He is on the Board of Governors of the ARVO Foundation for Eye Research He is on the editorial board of Retina and a reviewer for Ophthalmology, Archives of Ophthalmology, American Journal of Ophthalmology, and British Journal of Ophthalmology, writes a column for Retina Physician and is an editor for eMedicine. He is a mechanical and electrical engineer and has 106 issued or pending patents. He is a consultant for Alcon Laboratories and the principal architect of the Alcon Accurus and Alcon Constellation Vision System. He is the Founder of MicroDexterity Systems, developing robots for dexterity enhancement for minimally invasive knee and hip replacement, spine surgery, and skull base neurosurgery. He is the President of Infinity Research, Inc; a medical device and avionics consulting company. He is a cofounder of CamPlex LLC, developing advanced visualization technology for surgery. He is on the board of Zeroto510 a medical device venture capital firm. He has received the Wacker Medal from the Club Jules Gonin, the first Founders Medal from the Vitreous Society, was inducted into the University of Miami School of Medicine Medical Alumni Association Hall of Fame, and was named by Ocular Surgery News as one of the top ten innovators in the past 25 years. He is consistently listed in Best Doctors in America and Becker’s Top 34 Ophthalmologists in America. He is a Clinical Professor at the University of Tennessee and an Adjunct Professor at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons.
After four years in engineering school, he completed medical school at the University of Miami School of Medicine. He did research all four medical school years at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute. After a medical internship at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami he completed a residency at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute followed by a two year Clinical Associate appointment at the National Eye Institute (NIH); focused on vitreoretinal surgery, angiogenesis research, and medical device engineering.
He is an Airline Transport Pilot, Multi-engine, Instrument rated pilot with Type ratings in Citation 500 ,560 and 650 jets and currently owns and flies a Citation VII.
