Legendary retinal surgeon and innovator Steve Charles, MD, has a long list of accomplishments. He’s performed more than 40,000 vitreoretinal surgeries, lectured in more than 50 countries, and operated in 25 of those countries. He’s also authored 150-plus medical articles and the go-to text, Vitreous Microsurgery, which is coming out in its sixth edition (with a complete rewrite of every chapter). Dr. Charles speaks five languages, has degrees in mechanical and electrical engineering, and was a fellow at the National Institutes of Health. He also has, at last count, 106 issued or pending patents. 

Dr. Charles has been in practice for 46 years and has no plans for retirement. He continues to perform more than 700 vitrectomies during his 52-week work year. He hasn’t been on vacation in 25 years, spends his nights, weekends, and holidays studying engineering or stem cell biology, doesn’t have a house, a wife, or pets, but instead he has jobs and that’s the way he prefers it. 

Click “play” and listen in on a fascinating discussion about:

• How Dr. Charles’ background in engineering became the foundation for solving problems by building better medical and surgical devices. 

• How his relationship with industry began and why he chose to formalize an exclusive consulting agreement with Alcon over the past 30 years. 

• The many techniques and technologies that he has developed that have been adopted by thousands of surgeons around the world. 

• Where he thinks there’s room to improve in techniques and technology today.