University of Washington Department of Ophthalmology

08/06/2026

Lisa Olmos de Koo, MD, MBA, is the first holder of the Richard S. Munsen, M.D. Professorship in Ophthalmology, created a year ago by Dr. Munsen and his wife, Deidra Wager, together with generous support from a small group of grateful patients.

Dr. Olmos de Koo is the division director of vitreoretinal surgery and director of fellowship education in the University of Washington Department of Ophthalmology. She joined the faculty in 2016.

The Richard S. Munsen, M.D. Professorship is designed to support retina clinician-scientists who, like Dr. Olmos de Koo, are committed to balancing patient care, academic research, and medical education. By investing in emerging leaders in retinal care, the fund ensures that Dr. Munsen’s values—compassion, excellence, and service—continue to shape the future of ophthalmology.

“I’m truly honored to be the first Munsen Professor,” Dr. Olmos De Koo said. “Rick devoted his career in ophthalmology to advancing retina care and research and that’s what we are doing at UW.”

Dr. Olmos de Koo has been working on retinal prosthesis research for nearly 15 years, dating back to the original ‘Argus II’ device developed in Southern California. More recently, she has been working with an international team based at Stanford University developing the PRIMA prosthesis. The wireless microchip implanted in the back of patients’ eyes restored some vision for a group of people suffering from an incurable, progressive retinal disease, according to a study published last year in the New England Journal of Medicine, co-authored by Dr. Olmos de Koo.

Dr. Munsen began his practice in Seattle in 1980 at the Eye Clinic of Seattle and went on to become the founding partner of Vitreoretinal Associates in 1982, where he practiced until 2006. That same year, he joined the UW Department of Ophthalmology as a clinical assistant professor and clinician at the UW Medicine Eye Institute, seeing patients two days per week and spending the rest of his time performing surgeries and mentoring medical trainees. In 2011, Dr. Munsen played a key role in establishing the Community Advisory Board for the Eye Institute, helping strengthen ties between the clinic and the broader community.

07/16/2026

UW Medicine Ophthalmology faculty members have been honored as among Top Docs 2026 by Seattle magazine
None paid to be included, and all were nominated by their peers.

UW Ophthalmology faculty honored as Top Docs by Seattle Magazine are:

Christopher Chambers, MD (oculoplastics); Professor; Division Director, Oculoplastic and Reconstructive Surgery

Philip Chen, MD (glaucoma); Professor; Grace E. Hill Endowed Chair; Vice Chair for Clinical Services, Chief of Ophthalmology, Harborview Medical Center

Eric Duerr, MD (comprehensive and glaucoma); Assistant Professor

Shu Feng, MD (comprehensive), Associate Professor; Director of Medical Student Education

Courtney Francis, MD (neuro-ophthalmology); Professor; Division Director, Neuro-Ophthalmology; Medical Director, UW Medicine Eye Institute

Eugene May, MD (neuro-ophthalmology); Professor of Clinical Practice

Raghu Mudumbai, MD (glaucoma and neuro-ophthalmology); Associate Professor; Division Director, Glaucoma

Miel Sundararajan, MD (cornea and external disease and uveitis), Assistant Professor, Division Director, Cornea and External Disease

Russell Van Gelder, MD, PhD (uveitis); Boyd K. Bucey Memorial Professor and Chair; Director, Roger and Angie Karalis Johnson Retina Center; Director, UW Vision Science Center

Jennifer Yu, MD, PhD (comprehensive); Professor of Clinical Practice; Director, 4W Ophthalmology Clinic at Harborview; Director of Trauma and Consult Services at Harborview

06/25/2026

Our own cornea specialist, Assistant Professor Minh T. Nguyen, MD and third-year resident Dany Hage, MD, display impressive adaptability and precise technique in this patient who presented with a mature white cataract and a dense corneal scar from a prior infectious keratitis in the video posted by American Academy of Ophthalmology -- see the link below.

06/22/2026

We celebrated our four graduating residents - Drs. Amanda Hoyer, Cameron Ward, Marc Toral, and Grant Howell at the annual dinner at the Women's University Club. We are so proud of you as you move on to fellowships elsewhere!

06/16/2026

Emily Chew, MD, the Director of the Division of Epidemiology and Clinical Applications (DECA) and Distinguished Investigator at the National Eye Institute, the National Institutes of Health, was honored as the recipient of the 2026 Roger Johnson Award for Macular Degeneration research. She presented two lectures as part of the 52nd annual Resident Alumni Day on June 13 at the South Lake Union campus.

The late Dr. Roger H. Johnson endowed this award, which is given every other year through the UW Department of Ophthalmology. The award aims to stimulate clinical and basic science research on the pathogenesis or treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Dr. Chew is also the Chief of the Clinical Trials Branch in the division. Her research interests include phase I/II clinical trials and epidemiologic studies in retinovascular diseases such as age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, and other ocular diseases.

She has worked extensively in large multicenter trials led by staff from her division, including the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS), the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS), and the Age-Related Eye Disease Study 2 (AREDS2), which she chairs.

She works on other clinical trials in collaboration with other institutes within NIH such as the Actions to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes (ACCORD) Trial and she chairs the ACCORD Eye Study. She directs the clinical portion of the international study, Macular Telangiectasia Project.

06/16/2026

Thuy Doan, MD, PhD, the Harry William Hind Professor at UCSF, gave the Alumni Spotlight Lecture at Resident Alumni Day on June 13. Dr. Doan obtained her MD at Stanford University and her PhD in Neurobiology & Behavior at the UW. She also completed her ophthalmology residency and uveitis fellowship at the UW.

Dr. Doan is a uveitis specialist who focuses on diagnosing and treating infectious and inflammatory eye diseases. As the Director of the Ralph & Sophie Heintz laboratory at the Proctor Foundation, she works alongside a global team of specialists in epidemiology, ophthalmology, biostatistics, and genomics. Together, they study the complex interactions between human microbiomes, including those of the eyes, gut, and respiratory system, and their responses to treatments like antibiotics. Additionally, they optimize diagnostics and identify biomarkers critical to disease progression. The Doan Lab seeks to identify mechanisms by which mass drug distribution to preschool children in Sub-Saharan countries leads to an improvement in childhood mortality. Dr. Doan and her team carefully track antibiotic resistance in these communities to better inform public health policies.

06/13/2026

So honored today to dedicate the Carlson Family | Dawn's Light Foundation Research Center on the second floor of the UW Medicine South Lake Union F building.

Chris and Jenny Carlson have a deeply personal connection to genetic research. Chris spent more than 15 years as a researcher at Fred Hutch, where his work focused on uncovering how genetic variations contribute to common diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, and neurological conditions. That scientific lens became even more meaningful when a family member was diagnosed with an Inherited Retinal Disease (IRD) in 2021. Since then, the Carlsons have dedicated themselves to championing research, expanding access to clinical trials, and strengthening the therapeutics and treatment pipeline for individuals affected by IRDs.

The Carlsons established Dawn’s Light Foundation, named in honor of Jenny’s mother—a woman they lovingly describe as a “guardian of lost causes.” Following their family member’s diagnosis, they felt a renewed urgency to support research that could meaningfully change the future for IRD patients and accelerate the development of new treatments.

During the last two years, their philanthropic leadership has played a pivotal role in advancing IRD research within our department. This center is building on that momentum, strengthening our clinical trials infrastructure and expanding the physical and personnel capacity needed to support a rapidly growing research portfolio.

Chris and Jenny Carlson joined Bucey Chair Russ Van Gelder for today's ribbon cutting, attended by faculty, staff and members of the Community Action Board.

Learn more on our website: https://ophthalmology.washington.edu/news/dawns-light-foundation-gift-to-create-new-clinical-trials-space-at-slu/

06/09/2026

Unfortunately you have to be an AAO member to read the full article, but that's our own Dr. Jen Yu with fourth-year resident Dr. Marc Toral in this post!

Is the crisis in on-call coverage at a turning point? Here’s why some ophthalmologists share a guarded optimism.

06/02/2026

University of Washington School of Medicine - WWAMI MD/PhD student Nayoon Gim, who recently completed her PhD in Bioengineering with a focus in Data Science under supervision of Department of Ophthalmology faculty, has won the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Replication Prize (Track 2: Replication Exemplars) for developing a framework to improve the speed and reproducibility of clinical and epidemiologic research using large public biomedical datasets, a form of clinical research that analyzes patterns in patients’ electronic medical records to better understand diseases, treatments, and health outcomes.
Learn more about Nayoon's research:

Committed to the alleviation of suffering from eye disease

05/22/2026

Our residents spent Thursday morning learning cataract surgery skills during a PHACO wet lab in the WISH Lab under the supervision of Drs. Chen, Lomazow, Sundararajan and Taravati. University of Washington School of Medicine - WWAMI