Abdulfatah M. Ali, MD Curriculum Vitae
Dr. Ali has practiced medicine in Denver for the past 3 years. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. He completed his medical school training and internship at St. Luke’s Medical Center. His ophthalmology residency was completed at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. He completed his cornea/refractive and anterior segment fellowship training with the Corneal Consultants of Indiana in Indianapolis.
Dr. Ali has participated in several corneal research projects and is currently participating with on going research studies being done in our office. He has had extensive training and certification in the area of refractive surgery, specifically with the Visx and Intralase Lasers. Along with Dr. Johnson, he was one of the first surgeons in Denver to perform DSEK and Intralase assisted corneal transplants (IEK). He is certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology and is an active member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery and is a member of multiple state Ophthalmic societies.
E. Randy Craven, MD Curriculum Vitae
Dr. E. Randy Craven is a native of Denver, Colorado, and graduated summa cum laude from Regis University. He attended the University of Colorado School of Medicine and completed his internship at Presbyterian Hospital in Denver. Dr. Craven continued his education at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas, where he completed his residency in 1987 and then further specialized with a glaucoma fellowship at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Dr. Craven is a Diplomat of the American Board of Ophthalmology and was selected by his peers as one of the Best Doctors in America from 1995 to 2006. He is a nationally known expert on scanning laser ophthalmoscopes (used in early diagnosis and follow-up in glaucoma) and glaucoma medications. Dr. Craven has been involved in the development of surgical techniques as well, one of which bears his name. (The "Craven Bleb" is a technique used to correct filtering blebs which have developed problems.)
As an Associate Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, Dr. Craven serves on many committees and review boards for ophthalmology. He is respected both nationally and world-wide for his research in glaucoma, and he is an internationally recognized speaker regarding glaucoma and other areas of ophthalmology.
C. Starck Johnson, MD Curriculum Vitae
Dr. Johnson graduated from Cornell University and completed his medical school training at Harvard Medical School. His internship was completed in Medicine at Boston University and he completed his ophthalmology residency at the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center. Before returning to Denver to join Dr. Ali, Dr. Johnson did a corneal fellowship at Duke University.
Dr. Johnson has published multiple articles in the corneal field and also participates in many of our current research projects. Along with Dr. Ali, he was one of the first surgeons in Denver to perform Intralase assisted corneal transplants (IEK). He is certified in the use of multiple lasers to perform LASIK refractive surgery, including Intralase, Alcon Ladar, Allegretto Wavelight, and Visx.
John Samples, MD Curriculum Vitae
John R. Samples, M.D. is formerly Professor of Ophthalmology at the Oregon Health and Sciences University (OHSU) and the Casey Eye Institute in Portland, OR. He was been director of medical student education in ophthalmology at OHSU for 20 years. Dr. Samples’ education includes undergraduate degrees in psychology and biology from Stanford University, a Masters from Stanford University in biology (neurobiology) and his medical degree from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). His residencies include neurology and ophthalmology at the Mayo Clinic, where he was chief resident in ophthalmology. He completed a fellowship in cornea and external disease with Perry Binder, M.D. and in glaucoma with E. Michael Van Buskirk, M.D. at OHSU. He also completed several other shorter glaucoma fellowships. He joined the faculty at OHSU in 1984 and progressed up the ranks to Professor and Director of the Glaucoma Service in 1994.
Dr. Samples has been actively involved within the professional community including the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), American Glaucoma Society, and the American Society for Cell Biology. Among his professional activities, Dr. Samples has been a Member of the AAO’s Basic and Clinical Science Course Committee, seeing the committee through two rewrites of the glaucoma book, and the AAO’s Ophthalmic Technology Assessment Committee. He has given a course on the Cell Biology of Glaucoma at 18 annual meetings of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. He has been a course Director and Organizer for Ocular Surgery News course entitled Glaucoma for the General Ophthalmologist. He has organized numerous meetings including an annual mini fellowship in glaucoma held in Napa Valley under the sponsorship of University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and a Trabecular Meshwork Study Club held annually in conjunction with the American Society for Cell Biology. He has been active in ophthalmology research with funding from the NEI, and has 130 peer-reviewed publications to his credit as well as numerous book chapters, abstracts, and one text on ophthalmic genetics. Dr. Samples has been invited to lecture internationally including Taiwan, China, Peru, Turkey, Canada, Japan and Brazil and has received numerous awards including the AAO Senior Achievement Award (2005) and the AAO Honor Award (1990).
Three of the nine known autosomal dominant genetic loci for open angle glaucoma were initially discovered and described in his practice at the Casey Eye Institute in Portland, GLC1C, GLC1F and GLC1G. He has also coauthored the report of the first genetic abnormality to be found in angle closure glaucoma. For the last ten years, Dr. Samples has organized the Oregon state society (Oregon Academy of Ophthalmology) annual meeting as the chair of the society’s education committee
The single accomplishment of which Dr. Samples is most proud is that he was repeatedly cited as the most frequently consulted doctor, by phone, at Oregon Health and Sciences University of all doctors throughout the University during the late 1990’s. Dr Samples entered private practice at St. Vincents Hospital joining Drs. Patrick Chan, John Topinka, John Wilkins and Elizabeth Donohue on Jan 1, 2008. His book, edited with Dr. Paul Shacknow, The Glaucoma Book is due out in 2008.
Specialty Eye Care Ophthalmologists, Abdulfatah M. Ali, M.D., E. Randy Craven, M.D., C. Starck Johnson M.D. and John Samples, M.D. - Locations in Denver and South Suburban area of Colorado.