David G. Hunter, M.D., Ph.D. is the ophthalmologist-in-chief and the Richard M. Robb Chair of Ophthalmology at Children’s Hospital Boston, president of the Children’s Hospital Ophthalmology Foundation, and professor and vice chair of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Hunter obtained a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from Rice University and a Ph.D. (in cell biology) and M.D. from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. After he completed an ophthalmology residency at Harvard’s Mass. Eye and Ear Infirmary, he was a fellow at the Wilmer Ophthalmological Institute at Johns Hopkins University. He remained on faculty there until he was selected to become ophthalmologist-in-chief at Children’s in the early 2000’s.
During his time at Children’s, the Department of Ophthalmology has grown to become the largest pediatric ophthalmology department in the nation and perhaps the world. There are 30 full-time faculty members, including 15 full-time and 4 affiliated M.D. ophthalmologists and 6 pediatric optometrists, with pediatric subspecialists in nearly every aspect of ophthalmology, as well as 7 full-time research faculty. The department also created seven endowed chairs and an endowed international observership to support clinical and basic research, teaching, and the worldwide dissemination of advances in pediatric ophthalmology and strabismus.
Dr. Hunter is a co-author of the textbook Learning Strabismus Surgery and of the best-selling review manual Last Minute Optics (now in its second edition). His lectures on optics and refraction for ophthalmologists-in-training around the world are now available free of charge in podcast format.