Ronald Gaster, MD discusses the corneal crosslinking (CXL) procedure for keratoconus at the Discovery Eye Foundation’s 2012 Orange County Vision Symposium.
Ronald N. Gaster, M.D., F.A.C.S., is Professor of Ophthalmology in Corneal, Refractive and Cataract Surgery at the Gavin Herbert Eye Institute, University of California, Irvine, where he is a former acting Chair of the department. He has been honored by his peers by being selected for Woodward and White’s Best Doctors in America every year since 1996, including 2012, and was awarded an American Academy of Ophthalmology Honor Award and the Achievement Award. He has also received the Orange County Medical Association Physician of Excellence Award for many years, including 2009-2012, which is published by Orange Coast Magazine as Best Doctors in Orange County. Dr. Gaster has been selected to Los Angeles Magazine as one of southern California’s SuperDoctors for 2012 and by U.S. News and World Report as a 2012 Top Doctor. Additionally, he was nominated by U.C. Irvine School of Medicine as Clinician of the Year for 2011. He has also received the Outstanding Teacher of the Year award by the UCI ophthalmology residents on several occasions.
Dr. Gaster’s primary clinical and research interests are in corneal, cataract and refractive surgery and Corneal Cross-linking for keratoconus and post-LASIK ectasia. He has pioneered the use of the femtosecond laser at U.C.I. for corneal transplantation and has also lectured extensively on Corneal Cross-linking and the femtosecond laser.
Dr. Gaster has nearly 70 publications in peer-reviewed journals and medical textbook chapters. He divides his time between Orange County and Beverly Hills at the Cornea Eye Institute where he is a Principal Investigator in a clinical trial on Corneal Cross-linking under the auspices of the FDA.
Dr. Gaster was elected President of the Orange County Society of Ophthalmology from 2002-2004 and serves on the Board of Directors of the California Academy of Eye Physicians and Surgeons. He travels nationally and internationally to give lectures and teach ophthalmic microsurgery. Dr. Gaster has also donated his time on several medical missions to third world countries where he has taught the local ophthalmologists advances in corneal and cataract microsurgery.