David T Tse, MD

David T. Tse, M.D., is a thought-leader in oculoplastic surgery and orbital diseases who pioneered the use of intra-arterial neoadjuvant chemotherapy in treating a lethal lacrimal gland malignancy to improve long-term disease-free survival substantially. He founded the Nasser Al-Rashid Orbital Vision Research Center at Bascom Palmer, the first cure-based orbital research laboratory of its kind in the world, assembling a broad range of research scientists and clinicians focused on finding novel therapies for orbital diseases with significant morbidity and mortality, orbital cancers, traumatic optic nerve injury, and clinical applications for stem cells and biomedical studies.

Tse holds five U.S. patents and ten provisional patents, one of which describes the composition and methods for treating traumatic optic neuropathy. He developed and introduced to the marketplace an integrated orbital tissue expander to stimulate anophthalmic socket bone growth to address hemifacial deformity in children born without an eye. Another innovation is the use of facial topographic mapping, 3-D printing, and silicone casting of orbital prostheses to address the principal barriers to an affordable custom prosthesis worldwide: access and cost. His laboratory is at the leading edge of transformative eye disease research – whole eye transplantation.

He has 72 visiting professorships and delivered 20 named lectures. He edited the Color Atlas of Ophthalmic Surgery: Oculoplastic Surgery and has authored 71 book chapters and over 130 peer-reviewed scientific articles. He is a member of the American Ophthalmological Society and on the Editorial Board of the American Journal of Ophthalmology and the Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. He served as a Director of the American Board of Ophthalmology from 2001-2009. Dr. Tse precepts an American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery approved fellowship and has trained 32 fellows.