MEDIA
Caregiver Profile
Caregiver Profile
Meet Dr. David Hunter
MEDICAL SERVICES
Specialties
Departments
Programs
Languages
-
English
EDUCATION
Undergraduate Degree
- Rice University , 1979 , Houston , TX
Graduate Degree
PhD
- Baylor College of Medicine , 1984 , Houston , TX
Medical School
- Baylor College of Medicine , 1987 , Houston , TX
Internship
Transitional
- Framingham Union Hospital , 1988 , Framingham , MA
Residency
Ophthalmology
- Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary / Harvard Medical School , 1991 , Boston , MA
Fellowship
Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus
- The Wilmer Ophthalmological Institute, Johns Hopkins University , 1992 , Baltimore , MD
Philosophy of Care
Having trained as an engineer before going to medical school, I realized that the more we learn about how something works, the better we are able to fix it. As a doctor and surgeon, I try to use those same principles, taking each case as unique, trying to understand as much as possible the nature of the problem before setting out to try to correct it. That approach can, in some cases, lead to entirely new treatments. But I’ve also learned that listening and educating is as much a part of being a doctor as any sort of medicine or surgery. Not every condition can be cured, but if I can at least transmit my understanding of the diagnosis and of what to expect in the future, then the healing can begin.
PROFESSIONAL HISTORY
David G. Hunter, MD, PhD is 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 in electrical engineering from Rice University and a PhD (in Cell Biology) and MD 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, Johns Hopkins University, where he remained on faculty 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 at Children's Hospital Boston has grown to become the largest pediatric ophthalmology department in the nation and perhaps the world, with 30 full-time faculty, including 15 full-time and 4 affiliated MD 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 has created 7 endowed chairs as well as 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 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.
Notable Resources
CERTIFICATIONS
- American Board of Ophthalmology
