Vicente Diaz, MD, MBA, is an ophthalmologist with specialized training in ocular immunology and infectious diseases. In addition to treating such ailments as cataracts, dry eye, and glaucoma, he treats all forms of autoimmune disease that occur in and around the eye, using such techniques as immune-modulatory therapy, a treatment used to modify an immune response.
“Giving or saving the sight of a patient is a feeling that will never get old,” Dr. Diaz says. “After all these years, I still get emotional when I take off the bandages of a patient that was once blind and see them smile with the delight of seeing once more.”
Dr. Diaz was one of the first doctors in Connecticut to provide femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery (FLACS). Compared with traditional cataract surgery, FLACS is a safer, more precise way to treat cataracts because it allows for less ultrasound energy for breaking up the cataracts, he says. He also uses such leading-edge technologies as ORA aberrometry to obtain the best possible measurements for a cataract surgery, and various lens implant models so that he can tailor the outcome to the patient’s needs.
As director of ophthalmology for the Connecticut Burn Center at Bridgeport Hospital, Dr. Diaz also sees the most cases of Stevens Johnson Syndrome (SJS) in Connecticut. SJS is a rare, serious disorder that attacks the skin and mucus membranes, and can lead to loss of sight—and life.
Dr. Diaz became interested in medicine as a child, when his mother brought him to her doctor’s appointments as a translator. “The realization that a living could be made while easing the suffering of others was astonishing to me,” he says. “Later in my career, I learned that I could augment my impact through leadership and research to help not just those I can lay hands on, but many more.” He chose ophthalmology because he found it to be a fascinating field that was rapidly evolving. “The eye is the nexus where so many specialties converge: rheumatologic disease, endocrine disease, cancers, and cardiovascular disease can all be diagnosed and evaluated in the eye,” Dr. Diaz says.
In addition to his work as a clinician, Dr. Diaz is a co-investigator on several Food and Drug Administration clinical trials of novel immunomodulatory therapies for inflammatory diseases. He is a co-investigator for a study of intraocular sirolimus for the treatment of non-infectious uveitis. He is also in the process of launching a clinical trial to study amniotic membrane in the treatment of pterygium, a benign tumor related to sun exposure.
Dr. Diaz is also chief of ophthalmology for the Yale Health Plan, addressing the eye needs of Yale faculty, students, employees, and their families.
