Mark Michels, MD, FACS is a board-certified ophthalmologist as well as the Founder and Managing Partner of Retina Care Specialists. There, he completed his undergraduate studies in Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences and graduated with honors. He completed his medical training there as well earning Honors for Research and the Faculty Award for Research. After completing a rotating internship in Atlanta, Georgia, Dr. Michels completed three years of Ophthalmology training at Emory University where he also served on the faculty of the Yerkes Regional Primate Center as Collaborative Scientist. Dr. Michels served as Visiting Assistant Professor at the UCLA Jules Stein Eye Institute in Los Angeles, California and completed his two-year Vitreo-Retinal Diseases and Surgery fellowship as a Heed and Abe Meyer Fellow. While at UCLA, he won the Clinical Fellow Research Award.
Dr. Michels has been practicing in Palm Beach County since 1991. In addition to serving as an Adjunct Clinical Assistant Scientist with the Schepens Eye Research Institute of Boston, he has served four terms as President of the Palm Beach County Ophthalmology Society receiving the Society’s first Ophthalmologist of the Year Award. He has also served in many capacities as an officer of the Florida Society of Ophthalmology where he served as President in 2001. Dr. Michels won the John Brayton Leadership Award as well as the Curtis Benton Outstanding Young Ophthalmologist Award. Dr. Michels has also served as President of the Florida Society of Retinal Experts from 2004-2006.
Most recently, Dr. Michels has continued to develop the research program at Retina Care Specialists along with Adrian Laviña, MD and Paul Gallogly, MD. Dr. Michels co-authored the benchmark article on Lucentis for wet macular degeneration which was published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine and was announced as the sixth most important medical publication of 2006. Dr Michels has authored over 50 medical articles, book chapters and published abstracts. Along with the team at Retina Care Specialists, Dr. Michels is Principal Investigator in 12 active national clinical trials and several other studies on diseases impacting people in our community. Dr Michels has been recognized as a South Florida Super Doctor by his peers as published in the New York Times supplement on January 20, 2008.
