Christopher E. Starr

Christopher E. Starr, MD, FACS, is an associate professor, director of ophthalmic education, co-director of the cornea, cataract & refractive surgery fellowship, and director of the refractive surgery service at Weill Cornell Medicine, New York-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City.

His research interests include dry eye and ocular surface disease treatment and diagnostics, keratoprosthesis, innovative cataract, and refractive surface ablation techniques, and advanced keratoconus screening. He has published over 10 textbook chapters, 40 peer-reviewed manuscripts as well as hundreds of scientific presentations, abstracts, posters, lectures, films, and articles.

He is a regular medical contributor on national television and radio shows including CBS This Morning, Today Show, Fox News, Inside Edition, and Sirius/XM and is frequently interviewed for ophthalmic articles online and in print media (New York Times, Washington Post, New York Magazine, Prevention Magazine, Reuters and many others). He is also a spokesperson for the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

He is a three-term member of the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) Cornea Clinical Committee and is the inaugural moderator of the international ASCRS Corneal EyeConnect online forum. He served on the medical advisory board of the Eye bank for Sight Restoration and served a term as the Manhattan district representative of the New York State Ophthalmological Society. He is a member of over 20 ophthalmic societies and is a 2011 founding member of the American and European College of Ophthalmic Surgeons (AECOS) and Millennial Eye.

He was named a Global Ambassador of the Tear Film & Ocular Surface Society (TFOS) and is a subcommittee member of the influential TFOS Dry Eye Workshop II & III and a Co-Chair of the TFOS OSD Lifestyle Epidemic publication.

His corneal research has earned him the Walter Stark Research Prize at Johns Hopkins, and his dedication to resident education earned him the Teacher of the Year Award at New York University. Georgetown University honored him with a Visiting Professorship in 2019.

His seminal publication in the Journal of Cataract & Refractive Surgery, an algorithm for the preoperative diagnosis and treatment of ocular surface disorders was labeled “the single most useful document of its kind yet to be published in the field” by the ophthalmic press. This paper has revolutionized the worldwide approach to diagnosing and managing ocular surface diseases in the context of refractive and cataract surgery.

Other recent awards include The Ophthalmologist’s Power List, New York Magazine Best Doctors (10 times) and Castle Connolly America’s Top Doctors, Best Doctors in America, America’s Top Ophthalmologists, SuperDoctors, Premier Surgeon’s PS250 & PS300 Awards, and Avvo.com & Arrive Magazine named him one of ten Top Ophthalmologists in the Northeast US. In 2020 he was given the inaugural “America’s Most Honored Doctors” award which is only given to the top 1% of physicians.

He is a graduate of Brown University (undergraduate), Cornell University Medical College (medical school), Harvard University/Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary (residency), and Johns Hopkins University/Wilmer Eye Institute (fellowship). Dr. Starr has served on the editorial boards of The Ocular Surface, Refractive Eyecare, Advanced Ocular Care, Cataract & Refractive Surgery Today, Current Ophthalmology Reports, Ophthalmology 360, and Millennial Eye amongst others.