Bascom Palmer names Eduardo C. Alfonso, MD, its new chairman

Miami-Eduardo C. Alfonso, MD, is the new chairman of the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Dr. Alfonso is the fifth chairman to be named in the institute’s 47-year history.

Dr. Alfonso is a cornea specialist with a special interest in corneal transplants. He is the medical director of Bascom Palmer’s Ocular Microbiology Laboratory.

Dr. Alfonso grew up in Puerto Rico before moving to the United States to attend college. A graduate of Yale College (Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa) and the Yale University School of Medicine, Dr. Alfonso first joined the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in 1981 as an ophthalmology resident. He completed fellowships at Harvard Medical School in Boston; corneal and external diseases at the Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary; ophthalmic pathology at the David G. Cogan Eye Pathology Laboratory; and research at the Howe Laboratory of Ophthalmology. He joined the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute faculty in 1986 as assistant professor and became professor of ophthalmology and the Edward W.D. Norton Professor in Ophthalmology in 1998. He now will hold the Kathleen and Stanley J. Glaser Chair in Ophthalmology.

“The University of Miami Miller School of Medicine is indeed fortunate to have someone as talented as [Dr. Alfonso] at the helm of Bascom Palmer. His intellect, integrity, and vision make him the perfect choice to lead the nation’s best eye hospital into the 21st century,” said Pascal J. Goldschmidt, MD, senior vice president for medical affairs and dean of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and chief executive officer of the University of Miami Health System, who announced the appointment.