Dr. Theo Seiler teaches general ophthalmology and is a specialist in corneal and refractive therapy, physiologic optics, lasers in ophthalmology, and anterior segment surgery. Born in Ravensburg, southern Germany, he studied medicine, mathematics, and physics at the Universities of Heidelberg and Berlin. From 1976 to 1980, Dr. Seiler served as a professor of physics at the Peter-Silbermann College in Berlin. In 1981, he returned to medicine and began his residency at the Department of Ophthalmology at the Free University of Berlin. His doctorate followed in 1984 with a thesis on “Linearity of tonometry,” where he then rose to senior assistant and lecturer in 1985. He was named a professor of ophthalmology in 1990. In 1993, Dr. Seiler was named professor and chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology at Technische Universität of Dresden, which is a unique interdisciplinary center focusing on research and teaching. In 2000, Dr. Seiler assumed the position as professor and chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. In October 2002, he founded the Institute for Refractive and Ophthalmic Surgery (IROC) in Zurich and became the chairman in 2008.
Along with being a member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and International Society of Refractive Surgery, Dr. Seiler also served on the International Society of Refractive Surgery executive board. Dr. Seiler is also a member of the German Ophthalmological Society (DOG), the Swiss Ophthalmological Society, the American Society of Refractive and Cataract Surgery (ASCRS), the European Cornea Society, and served as board member for the DOG and EuCornea.
His earliest awards include the Achsenfeld-Award (DOG) in 1987 and the Binkhorst Award (AAO) in 1994. More recently, he was inducted in to the ASCRS Hall of Fame in 2014 and received the Bahcesehir University Medal of Science in 2016.