David A. Saperstein, MD

I have dedicated my career to caring for people with retinal problems. After completing my fellowship at Emory University in Atlanta, I was offered a position on the faculty there. I immediately began to take part in many clinical trials and as a result I have been either a primary investigator or on a steering committee for most of the clinical trials studying new treatments for diseases like Age Related Macular Degeneration (both Wet and Dry), Diabetic retinopathy, Macular Hole, Retinal Detachment and inherited retinal disease. Taking part in these studies requires extra in-depth training to understand the nuances of both the disease and the various approved and experimental treatments. I take pride in being able to translate this knowledge into everyday language to help my patients understand why they are having trouble with their vision, what treatments are available and what the future holds for their individual problem. In addition to the medical treatment of retinal disease, I have been doing retinal surgery since 1993. As the chief retinal surgeon at both Grady Hospital in Atlanta and Harborview Hospital in Seattle, I have performed thousands of straightforward and complex retinal surgeries. I was also responsible for teaching retinal surgery to young physicians on the faculty of both Emory and University of Washington. This forces you to understand every nuance of each procedure. Because of my expertise I have been asked to write chapters on retinal surgery for textbooks. I have also had the good fortune to develop new drugs, surgical and low vision devices for which I hold several US and foreign patents. The drugs I have developed are currently in clinical trials for inherited retinal diseases and aging changes in the retina.