UCSF names new chair of ophthalmology
Stephen D. McLeod, MD -----
Stephen D. McLeod, MD, professor of clinical ophthalmology at UCSF, has been named chair of the Department of Ophthalmology in the UCSF School of Medicine.
A member of the UCSF faculty since 1998, McLeod has a long record of achievements in ophthalmology research, patient care and medical education. McLeod was selected after a nationwide search for a successor to Creig Hoyt, MD, who retired in January after 36 years at UCSF. McLeod has served as interim chair since Hoyt’s retirement.
“Dr. McLeod’s skills and leadership as a translational scientist will serve the Department well as we focus on both basic sciences and ways to apply lab findings into better ways to diagnose and treat visual disorders,” said David Kessler, MD, vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine.
As chair, McLeod will help further the clinical, research and educational goals of the Department. Rated among the top 10 ophthalmology programs in the nation, the Department is renowned for its basic and clinical vision research as well as its teaching programs, and has the largest surgical eye care program in Northern California. “This is truly one of the world’s great departments of ophthalmology, and it is a privilege to be able to lead such an impressive group of researchers, educators and clinicians who share a dedication to understanding, preventing and treating visual disorders,” said McLeod.
McLeod’s research bridges the disciplines of cornea and external disease, cataract, and refractive surgery, and includes the diagnosis and management of infectious keratitis, the development of materials for the artificial cornea (keratoprosthesis,) and the development of intraocular lens devices that restore accommodation or dynamic change in focus after cataract surgery.
He has published extensively in these areas, and serves as a consultant to the FDA ophthalmic devices panel. He is co-editor of the online edition of the Archives of Ophthalmology and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Refractive Surgery. He has served the American Academy of Ophthalmology in many roles and is currently chairman of the Preferred Practice Patterns Refractive Surgery Panel that is charged with setting the Academy’s standards for refractive surgery.
McLeod was born in Jamaica and spent his childhood in Jamaica and the United Kingdom. He first came to the United States as an undergraduate at Dartmouth College, where he completed an AB in biology, graduating magna cum laude. He obtained his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and went on to internship in internal medicine at the Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, followed by residency in ophthalmology at the Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary of the University of Illinois at Chicago. McLeod then completed a fellowship in cornea, external disease and refractive surgery at the Doheny Eye Institute of the University of Southern California.
McLeod returned to the Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary as director of refractive surgery, where he initiated the university’s excimer laser refractive surgery program. He was recruited to the Department of Ophthalmology at UCSF in 1998, where he initially served as co-director of the Division of Refractive Surgery and vice chairman for clinical affairs. McLeod will earn an annual salary of $439,000.
UCSF is a leading university that consistently defines health care worldwide by conducting advanced biomedical research, educating graduate students in the health professions and life sciences, and providing complex patient care.
NOTE: Additional information on compensation for Dr. McLeod is available upon request from the UCSF News Office (415-476-2557).