Leadership Transition in the School of Medicine

As Dean Talmadge E. King, Jr., MD recently announced in a message to the School of Medicine, Stephen D. McLeod, MD has announced he is stepping down as Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at UCSF, after nearly 15 years in the role and more than 20 years with the organization. He will join the American Academy of Ophthalmology as their Chief Executive Officer early in the new year. Jacque Duncan, MD, will serve as the interim chair of the department, effective January 1, 2022.
 
A UCSF faculty member since 1998, Dr. McLeod is a highly respected clinician-scientist, specializing in refractive surgery, cataract, and corneal disease. His 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, and the development of intraocular lens devices and cataract surgery technology. He has nearly 200 peer-reviewed publications in these areas.                                                

Under Dr. McLeod’s direction, the Department of Ophthalmology at UCSF more than doubled clinical care visits, tripled research funding, and successfully completed a $200 million capital and research base expansion program. The research program was the leading recipient of National Eye Institute (NEI) funds for the last three years running.

Prior to his tenure at UCSF, Dr. McLeod was a resident, assistant professor and then director of refractive surgery at the Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He was a fellow at the Doheny Eye Institute in Los Angeles and received his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University. He received his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College.

Highly engaged in his profession, Dr. McLeod has a long history of American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) service, beginning as a member of the Preferred Practice Patterns Committee, a panel of experts that produce guidelines that serve as the gold standard for quality eye care and advancing to become the AAO’s Secretary for Quality of care. He has been a member of the Board of Trustees since 2017, when he was appointed Editor-in-Chief of Ophthalmology, widely considered to be the premier journal in the field. Dr. McLeod served on the Board of Directors of the American Board of Ophthalmology and is currently on the Council of the American Ophthalmological Society. He is a former chair of the Ophthalmic Devices panel of the FDA and is a former member of the National Eye Advisory Council for the National Institutes of Health.