Christopher A. Girkin, M.D, MSPH, FACS
Dr. Christopher A. Girkin, MD, MSPH, FACS is the chairman of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Ophthalmology. He completed a fellowship in neuro-ophthalmology at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins and was a Heed Glaucoma Fellow at the Hamilton Glaucoma Center at the University of California, San Diego. He joined the UAB faculty and founded the Glaucoma Service in 1999, becoming chairman of the department in 2012. Dr. Girkin has authored or coauthored over 350 journal articles, abstracts, and book chapters and serves on the editorial board for several ophthalmic journals including the American Journal of Ophthalmology, Journal of Glaucoma, and Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science. His research explores the morphometry and biomechanics of the optic nerve. His laboratory has received continuous funding from the NIH for 14 years, in addition to the CDC and several foundations. Dr. Girkin has served as the Secretary for the American Glaucoma Society and as program chair for several national and international meetings. He currently Chairs the AAO Basic Science Review Course for glaucoma. He has been awarded the American Glaucoma Society Clinician-Scientist Award, the Research to Prevent Blindness Clinician-Scientist Award, EyeSight Foundation Eminent Scholar Award, the Ronald Lowe Medal, the AAO Senior Achievement Award and the “Best Doctors in America” award yearly since 2003.
