New Chief and Chair Department of Opthalmology

Stephen P. Christiansen, MD, has been named as the new Chief and Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology, effective March 2, 2009.

Dr. Christiansen is currently a Professor of Ophthalmology and Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis and serves as Director of the Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus Service there.  Prior to that, he was Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock.

Dr. Christiansen received his medical degree from the Medical College of Wisconsin at Milwaukee and completed a residency in ophthalmology at the University of Kentucky, Lexington.  He was a Fellow in pediatric ophthalmology at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami.  Dr. Christiansen is the author of 78 peer-reviewed scholarly articles in addition to book chapters, abstracts and other educational media.  He is the recipient of numerous awards for academic and scientific achievement, and is a Diplomate of the American Board of Ophthalmology.

Dr. Christiansen is actively involved in both clinical and basic scientific research in pediatric ophthalmology.  He has national leadership roles in NIH-funded clinical studies of strabismus (misaligned eyes), infantile cataract and retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), and is further supported by the NIH for his studies of new drug treatments for strabismus.  His principal clinical interests lie in the management of childhood and adult strabismus, pediatric cataract, ROP, and retinoblastoma.

Please welcome Dr. Christiansen to Boston University Medical Campus and Boston Medical Center.