Dr. Donald S. Minckler earned his medical degree at the University of Oregon Medical School. Following medical school, he completed a one-year internship at theNaval Hospital in San Diego and then trained as a US Navy Flight Surgeon at the School of Aviation Medicine in Pensacola, Florida.

Minckler began a residency in anatomic pathology at the University of Washington, but later changed to ophthalmology. He completed a two-year fellowship in ophthalmic pathology at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington, DC, and a glaucoma fellowship at Shaffer Associates and the University of California, San Francisco. He has also completed a master of science degree in biomedical and clinical investigations at USC. He is board-certified in anatomic pathology and ophthalmology.

Dr. Minckler is a was a professor of ophthalmology and pathology, and the director of glaucoma and ocular pathology at UC Irvine’s Department of Ophthalmology and the Gavin Herbert Eye Institute. Dr. Minkler is now retired and is an advisor for UCI’s Department of Ophthalmology and the Gavin Herbert Eye Institute.