Thomas C. Lee, MD, directs the Retina Institute in The Vision Center at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) while also contributing greatly to the Armenian EyeCare Project.
Educated at the prestigious Cornell University Medical College, Dr. Lee completed his medical degree in 1992 and graduated with honors in research as a Howard Hughes Scholar. He pursued his residency in ophthalmology at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Cornell University followed by a retina fellowship at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Lee was director of the pediatric retina services and associate director of the Robert M. Ellsworth Ocular Oncology Center at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Cornell University before he became an Associate Professor at the University of Southern California’s Eye Institute.
Devoting his career to providing the most advanced pediatric ophthalmic care, Dr. Lee is internationally known for his efforts to deliver state-of-the art eye care to under-serviced regions.
His contribution to the Armenian Eye Care Project has been immeasurable as Dr. Lee works closely with Armenian physicians and directs a telemedicine and remote learning portal to reduce blindness in babies through patient screening and physician education. Through this telemedicine technology, Dr. Lee supervises ophthalmic exams and complex ophthalmic surgeries remotely.
Dr. Lee’s primary area of interest is pediatric retinal disorders, including Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP), Coats Disease, and Retinoblastoma (RB), as well as developing innovative imaging techniques. Dr. Lee pioneered the use of Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography (SD-OCT) to identify retinal detachments at the earliest possible stage. He was also the first to use an intraocular endoscope to perform complex surgery in pediatric retinal detachments resulting from ROP, familial exudative vitreo-retinopathy (FEVR), X-linked retinoschisis, and trauma.
