Marguerite McDonald, MD, FACS, was the Director of the Southern Vision Institute in New Orleans from 1993 until Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005. She is a Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at New York University School of Medicine in Manhattan, and is also an Adjunct Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at Tulane University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans. Dr. McDonald was a Professor of Ophthalmology and Director of the Corneal Service at the Louisiana State University Eye Center in New Orleans. She is currently a Senior Consultant for Abbott Medical Optics and several other pharmaceutical and device companies, and was previously the Medical Director for Alcon/Summit/Autonomous. Dr. McDonald was also a Principal Investigator for the Chiron Technologies (now Bausch and Lomb) and Nidek EC 5000 lasers. Dr. McDonald is board certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology.

Dr. McDonald received her medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and later completed an internship at Lenox Hill Hospital and an ophthalmology residency at Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital, both in New York City. She then performed a fellowship in corneal and external diseases with Dr. Herbert E. Kaufman at the LSU Eye Center, where she joined the faculty in 1981. Dr. McDonald has been the Principal Investigator of three National Eye Institute grants for the study of refractive surgery: radial keratotomy, epikeratophakia, and excimer laser photorefractive keratectomy, as well as numerous industrial grants. In New Orleans, Dr. McDonald headed the research team investigating the use of the excimer laser for the correction of optical errors, and in 1987, performed the world’s first excimer laser treatment to reduce the need for glasses and contact lenses. In 1993, she performed the world’s first excimer laser surgery for farsightedness.

In addition, Dr. McDonald performed the world’s first Summit/Autonomous wavefront-based excimer laser surgeries; these cases were also the first wavefront-based laser surgeries in the United States. Dr. McDonald was the second physician in the United States and the third physician in the world to perform conductive keratoplasty (CK) for farsightedness. Dr. McDonald was the Medical Monitor of the U.S. clinical trials that led to the FDA approval of CK. Dr. McDonald was also the first North American surgeon to perform Epi-LASIK in September, 2003.

Dr. McDonald has been honored by selection to the editorial boards of several publications, including the Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, the Refractive and Corneal Surgery and the Journal of Refractive Surgery. In 1997, she was elected to the Executive Committee of the prestigious American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS), and was elected its first female President for the 2002-2003 term. For 2009-2010, Dr. McDonald is serving as the first female President of the International Society of Refractive Surgery of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (ISRS/AAO), the largest refractive surgery society in the world. She is also the Medical Editor of the society’s official newsletter, Refractive Outlook.