William J. Lipham, MD, FACS, received his undergraduate degree from University of Wisconsin-Madison and his medical degree from Baylor University, School of Medicine. After his first year of medical school, Dr Lipham was selected to participate in a prestigious Howard Hughs scholarship program; performing research at the National Institutes of Health. He received numerous honors for his research work during that time period. After medical school he traveled to Vietnam with several American Eye Surgeons who taught local doctors how to surgically reconstruct eyelids and faces of patients who had suffered severe trauma. This experience sparked an interest in becoming an ophthalmologist specializing in plastic and reconstructive surgery. He performed his residency in ophthalmology at the world-renowned Bascom Palmer Eye Institute of the University of Miami Medical School and completed a two year specialty fellowship training program in oculoplastic surgery at Duke University Eye Center. He plays an important leadership role in regional and national ophthalmology organizations and has been selected as a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.